INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 3 



my readers to the subject, humbly assuring them that 

 they will not meet with a long and elaborate account 

 of the natural history of dogs used in the chase, nor a 

 tedious and philosophical treatise on the different pro- 

 perties of medicines used in the kennel, but merely the 

 straight-forward and plain course pursued in a hunting 

 establishment, with the most approved methods of 

 breeding and rearing the fox-hound, and preparing that 

 noble animal for the chase. No wild theories will be 

 introduced, but such information, as has been gleaned 

 by the writer during his hunting career, will be 

 humbly offered for their perusal. 



A subject so extensive and worthy of investigation 

 I could have wished to be taken in hand by some 

 person better qualified than myself; for my own part I 

 have had little experience in authorship ; but having 

 been in the habit of keeping a pack of fox-hounds, 

 I have enjoyed many favourable opportunies of 

 making myself fully acquainted with a knowledge of 

 the various branches of the science gained by such an 

 occupation, and I have neglected no opportunity of 

 deriving what information I could, from those incidents 

 which circumstances have thrown in my way ; fully 

 compensated should I be if one single instance should 

 occur, of either amusement or information being 

 derived from a perusal of this my undertaking. Mr. 

 Beckford has designated the pursuit of hunting by the 

 title of an art ; and although I have classed it amongst 

 the sciences, I hope the critic will excuse my enthu- 

 siasm, as Mr. Locke in his celebrated essay, in speaking 

 of the operations of the mind, compares its searching 

 after truth, to hunting and hawking, the pursuit of 



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