234 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING/ 



Montaigne says be true, *' that there is a certain general 

 " claim of kindness and benevolence which every creature 

 " has a right to from us" — surely we ought not to suffer 

 unnecessary severity towards an animal to vvhom we are 

 obliged fof so much diversion : and what opinion must 

 Vve have of the huntsman who inflids it on one to 

 whom be owes his daily bread*? 



If any of my hounds be very riotous, they are taken 

 but by themselves on the days when they do not hunt, 

 and properly punished; and this is continued whilst my 

 patience lasts, which, of course, depends on the value of 

 the dog. It is a trial between the whipper-in and the 

 dog, which will tire first ; and the whipper-in, 1 think, 



* " Perhaps it is not the least extraordinary circumstance in these 

 " flogging ledures, that they should be given, with Montaigne, or any 

 ** other moral author whatever, in recolieftion at the same instant !'* 

 (vide Monthly Review.) — Perhaps it is not the least extraordinary cir- 

 cumstance in these criticisms, that fhis passage should have been quoted 

 as a proof of the author's inhumanity. — The critic ends his striflures 

 ■<vith the following exclamation — *■' Of a truth, a sportsman is the most 

 ** uniform consistent charaftcr, from his own representation, that we 

 *' ever contemplated!"- — and yet, perhaps, there are sportsmen to be 

 found, possessed of as tender feelings of humanity as any critic what- 

 soever. The motto prefixed to these Letters, if it had been attended to, 

 jmiglit have entitled the author to Biore candour than the critic has thought 

 fit to bestow upon hirp. 



