THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 263 



keeper will dissolve the amity ? The obedient dog, gentle 

 when unprovoked, flies to the well-known summons : how 

 changed from what he was ! — Roused from his peaceful 

 state, and cheered by his master's voice, he is now urged 

 on with a relentless fury, that only death can satisfy— the 

 death of the very deer he is encouraged to pursue \ and 

 which the various scents that cross him in his way can^ 

 not tempt him to forsake. The business of the day over, 

 see him follow, careless and contented, his master's steps, 

 to repose upon the same lawn where the frightened deer 

 again return, and are again indebted to his courtesy for 

 their wonted pasture — wonderful proofs of obedience, 

 sagacity, and penetration ! — The many learned dogs and 

 learned horses, that so frequently appear and astonish the 

 vulgar, sufficiently evince what education is capable of; and 

 it is to education that I must chiefly attribute the superior 

 excellence of the buck-hound, since I have seen high- 

 bred fox-hounds do the same, under the same good mas- 

 ters. But, to return to my subjedt — • 



Young foxes that have been much disturbed, will li^ 

 at ground. I once found seven or eight in a cover, where, 

 the next day, I could not find one s nor were they to bp 



