2,70 



THOrCHTS UPON HUNTING, 



LETTER XX. 



IN my seventeenth Letter, I gave you the opinion of 

 my friend **** — *' that a pack of fox-hounds^ {f ^^/^ entirely 

 *' to themselves, zvould never lose a fox.'' — I am always sorry 

 when I differ from that geiitleman in anything; yet lam 

 so far from thinking they never would Jose a fox, that 1 

 doubt much if they would ever kill one. There are 

 thnes when hounds should be hel/^-d, and at all times 

 th-^y mu>t be kept forward. Houads will naturally tie on 

 a cold scent, when stopped by sheep, or other, impedi- 

 lUiiUs i and, when they are no longer able to get forward, 

 will oftentimes hunt the old scent back again, if they find 

 that they can hunt no other. It is the judicious encou- 

 raging of hounds to hunt, when they cannot run, and 

 the preventing them from losing time by hunting too 

 much when they might run, that distinguishes a good 

 sportsman from a bad one*. Hounds that have been well 



* In hunting a pack of hounds, a proper medium should be observed ; 

 for though too much help will make them slack, too little will make them 

 tie on the scent, and hunt back the heel. 



