OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 129 



Imagine all at once in the middle of a thick brake 

 that you hear Wellington challenge, — " Welling- 

 ton has found him !" — and before the huntsman 

 has time to say, " Hark to Wellington, my brave 

 fellows ! " the whole pack joins him in an instant, 

 the fox is halloo'd, and they go away close at 

 his brush. It is indeed a glorious sight to see one- 

 and-twenty couples of powerful animals going 

 with velocity, " best pace," over a country, all 

 crowding a-head and exerting their energetic 

 powers to the utmost, not a hound out of his 

 place, like a Lacedemonian phalanx, all intent 

 on victory, and so steady that nothing can take 

 off their attention, — five-and-fifty minutes, with- 

 out a check, — and then, whoo-whoop, they " kill 

 him." 



The annual meeting of the masters of fox- 

 hounds, I always considered, if followed up with 

 spirit, as likely to be of great advantage to the 

 sport, from the rank, fortune, and respectability 

 of those gentlemen. I was indeed in hopes, at 

 some of those meetings, a plan to prevent the 

 great destruction of foxes might not only have 

 been proposed, but carried into execution. At the 

 agricultural meetings " breeding " is encouraged 

 " in all its branches," and prizes given to the 

 breeders of the best animals. Why not encourage 

 the breed of hounds ? At the annual meeting, 

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