THE PARTRIDGE. 117 



instruction, he must be flogged, and that soundly, till brought to a 

 proper appreciation of your supreme authority. 



Some dogs, as individuals, require far more correction than 

 others; the lash, consequently, should be employed with a tem- 

 pered hand; no dog ought to be punished except he is made 

 perfectly sensible of his misconduct, and, being once fully ap- 

 prised of his improprieties, should never, through negligence or 

 sickly sympathy, be allowed to escape the most condign and 

 immediate chastisement. 



The fear of punishment at the hands of man has a wonderful 

 influence over the actions of all animals; but over none is this 

 controlling power more forcibly exercised than in the canine race. 

 The castigation, to-be-sure, may oftentimes be of the lightest 

 character — an angry look, a harsh word, or a single blow ; still, the 

 faithful creature feels it all, and that very acutely, and by his 

 meek submission expresses repentance, and by his servile crouch- 

 ing acknowledges the utter helplessness of his position. 



It were quite unnecessary for me to tell the sensible sportsman 

 never to kick or strike a dog with a heavy bludgeon ; but we fear 

 lest there may be some of our readers who have not properly 

 thought over this matter, as we have occasionally witnessed scenes 

 in the field that have fairly thrilled us with horror. A reckless, 

 headstrong dog, we grant, is quite enough to try the temper of 

 the most self-governed man in the world, but nevertheless should 

 not be quite sufficient to cause him to kick him in anger or shoot 

 him in desperation and rage. If we cannot control our own actions 

 by the aid of education and our reasoning faculties, how should 

 we expect a dumb brute to do it, who has had so much less 

 tutoring and possesses but a tittle of the intellectual strength 

 bestowed on us ! 



The natural instinct or bent of inclination is, we all know, very 

 powerfully coercive in its operations over the actions of the brute 

 creation : how difficult then must it ever be for a high-strung, full- 

 blooded dog to suppress the spontaneous impulse that urges him 

 to spring upon game when under his very nose, or race after it when 



