107 



but to bear down direct upon his staring com- 

 panion, who, it is ten to one, has got more in his 

 head than he has in his nose, in order to put 

 him again upon the haunt, that might to more 

 advantage have been steadily footed out in the 

 first instance, without this touch of over- wisdom, 

 which, if often repeated, would become but a 

 very troublesome kind of a vagary. 



In discussing the above questionable instance 

 of sagacity, I have been led away from what we 

 have now more immediately in view, the con- 

 firmation of point, into the business of approach 

 to game, and footing out the haunt. The alterna- 

 tions, indeed, of stop and of advance, under the 

 immediate command of the tutor, are so imme- 

 diately blended in the sum of a perfect point, 

 that it is not very easy to separate them : yet 

 it may not be improper to suggest, that some 

 degree of firmness in the one should be obtained, 

 before you can fairly put the pupil upon the 

 practice of the other, in order to teach that 

 caution in approach which will finally precede 

 the point itself; otherwise you will have him to 

 reclaim to his duty through a forward action 

 too nearly related to the rattle of the springer. 

 I make this distinction principally with the view 

 of expressing my disapprobation of a practice 

 not unfrequently adopted with a puppy, when 



