OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 107 



those that frequently are. Some years ago, when 

 hunting with the Duke of Grafton's hounds in 

 Suffolk, they came to a check all in a moment 

 at a barn near some cross roads ; they were left 

 alone, and made a fling of themselves, in a perfect 

 circle, without hitting the scent ; many gentle- 

 men exclaimed " It is all over now, Tom ; the 

 only chance you have is to make a icide cast^ 

 "No," answered the huntsman, "if the fox is 

 not in that barn, my hounds ought to be hung." 

 Dick Foster, the whipper-in, noAv huntsman to 

 Mr. Villebois (and a very good one he is), was 

 ordered to dismount and see if he could discover 

 the fox ; he returned and said he was not there." 

 Tom Rose still was positive ; at last he was 

 viewed on a beam in the barn, and they killed 

 him, after a further run of about a mile. I men- 

 tion this trivial circumstance to shew you clearly, 

 that if the hounds had been hurried up either 

 of the roads on a wild cast, made by an ignorant 

 huntsman, the fox wovild inevitably have been 

 lost. They say changing countries is much against 

 hounds ; from a good scenting country to a bad 

 one certainly is against them, but from a bad 

 one to a good one I should imagine to be quite 

 the reverse. Sam Lawley, at the time he hunted 

 the late Lord Vernon's hounds, when he Avent 

 into the Bosworth country, had nothing to do 



