142 OBSERVATIONS ON FOX-HUNTING 



employment with the pack, then Mr. Calvert's, 

 so far back as 1727. 



In answer to your observation, that the pack 

 of hounds that kill the greatest number of foxes 

 are considered the best, I acknowledge they are, 

 if you make a fair calculation of the number of 

 days they hunt, and the stock of foxes they 

 have, — but no fox should be counted before the 

 1st of November, or after the 10th of March. I 

 remember one season being very successful in 

 cub-hunting ; this was reported to the invincible 

 huntsman, (Mr. J. A.) who was a little jaloux, — 

 his answer was, " I never kill them while they 

 suck." There is certainly no merit in killing 

 CUBS ; a pack of beagles, if there were no hares, 

 would seldom miss one. 



A most extraordinary instance of discipline in 

 hounds occurs to me, which I ouglit to have 

 mentioned when speaking of that unrivalled 

 sportsman, the late Mr. Meynell. He met in the 

 Harborough country, at a small patch of gorse 

 on the side of a hill, in a very large pasture 

 field : the hounds feathered as they went in, 

 and found instantly. The covert being only about 

 two acres, and open, Mr. Meynell immediately 

 saw that the fox was in danger of being chopped ; 

 he therefore called out to Jack Raven, the hunts- 

 man, " Jack, take the hounds away ; " and at 



