^94 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



fox-hourids in the same manner; but it will not do; nor 

 could k please you if it would. Tak'e away the spirit of 

 ) fox-huntinp, and it is no lonfirer fox huntini^: it is stale 

 small- beer compared to brisk champagne. You would also 

 find in it more fatigue than pleasure. It is said, /here is a 

 pieasure in being mad, zvhich oily madmen knozv ; and it is 

 the enthusiasm, 1 believe, of fox hunting, that is its best 

 support : strip it of that, and you had better leave it quite 

 alone. 



The hounds themselves also differ in their manner of 

 ' bunting. The beagle, who has always his nose to the 

 pround, will puzzle an hour on one spot, sooner than 

 leave the scent ; while the fox-hound, full of fife and 

 spirit, is always dashirg and trying forward: — a high- 

 bred fox-hound, therefore, shews himsdf to most advan- 

 tage' v.'hen foxes are at their strongest, and run an end. 

 A pack of harriers- will kill a cub better, perhaps, than 

 a pack of fox-liounds ; but, when foxes are strong, they 

 liave not the method of getting on with the scent which 

 fox-hounds have, and generally tire themselves before tlie 

 fox. To kill foxes, when they are strong, hounds must 

 fun, as well as hunt : besides, catching a fox by hard 



