DOCILITY OP FOX-nOUNDS. 11 



with which they would spring out of the lodging- 

 room, nearly knocking the old man off his legs ; 

 but he bore these onsets, or outsets, with the most 

 imperturbable good humom^, patting their heads 

 all the while, they, apparently, venting threats, both 

 loud and deep, against their venerable master. 

 Poor old Philip ! a better judge of breeding or 

 hunting hounds never existed, or a cleverer or 

 kinder kennel huntsman. 



I may here mention an instance of the extreme 

 docility and generous disposition of fox-hounds of 

 this class, notwithstanding their outward rudeness 

 of address and ferocity of character when excited 

 by ill treatment. One of my children, a boy be- 

 tween four and five years old, was missed one 

 afternoon, and no one could tell what had become 

 of him ; every place was searched in vain, when 

 his nurse, knowing his partiality for playing with 

 the whelps in the green yard) ran down to the ken- 

 nel, in dread of finding him either bitten or half 

 eaten up by some of the brood-bitches, which 

 were so savage, when they had whelps, that no 

 stranger might pass that way. To the girl's 

 horror, her young charge was discovered under a 

 thatched hurdle, playing with some puppies, while 

 their mother kept watch at the mouth of her den, 

 and it was not without much coaxing that she 



