Thoughts upon hunting. 359 



and, if the rules which are here given may any way tend to 

 preserve that friendly animal, the hound, from one unneces- 

 • sary lash, 1 shall not think they have been written in vain^. 

 It never was my expe6lation to be able to send you a com- 

 plete treatise : Thoughts upon Huntings in a series of familiar 

 Letters, were all that 1 proposed to myself the pleasure of 

 sending. The trouble I have taken in writing them enti- 

 tles me to some indulgence 5 nor need I, therefore, whilst 

 I endeavour to render them of use, stand in any fear of cri- 

 ticism. Yet if any man, as idle as I have already declared 

 myself to be, should take the trouble to criticise these Let- 

 ters, tell him this : — An acquaintance of mine, who had be- 

 stowed much time in improving his place, whenever he 

 heard it found fault with, asked " Where the critic lived ? 



* Strangely unfortunate should I think myself, if, while I profess to 

 be a friend to dogs, I should prove their bitterest enemy ; and if those 

 Tules, which were intended to lessen, should increase their sufferings j 

 convinced as 1 am by experience, that a regular system of education is the 

 surest means to render corrcdiion unnecessary. Hard is that heart (if any 

 such there be), which can ill-use a creature so afFeftionate and so good j 

 Vih-O has renounced his native liberty to associate with man, to whose ser- 

 vice his whole life is dedicated ; who, sensible of every kindness, is grateful 

 for the smallest faVour j while the worst usage cannot estrange his aiFec- 

 tion, in which he is, beyond all example, constant, faithful, and disinte- 

 rested; who guards him by night and amuses him by day, and is, per- 

 haps, the only companion that will not forsake him in adversity. 



