RIOTOUS HOUNDS 127 



on deer, hares, or any other scent they might cross ; and 

 I conclude the truth of the matter is this, that the hunts- 

 man is actually afraid to take them out to exercise with 

 the horses after the hunting season, for fear of their 

 breaking away from him ; in fact, I was told they com- 

 mitted every kind of excess, worrying sheep, running 

 sheep-dogs, and almost every living animal they caught 

 sight of. 



Idleness is the parent of vice in the canine as well as 

 in the human species, and here is a strong exemphfication 

 of it — a fine pack of fox-hounds ruined by ignorance or 

 want of energy in their huntsman. They were described 

 to me as a dashing, high-spirited lot of hounds, and when 

 they did hold to their fox, seldom failing to catch him ; 

 all they required was a firm, determined master, who 

 would keep them out of the kennel from sunrise until 

 sunset, every day in the week, until they had learnt 

 better manners. Rest to such dare-devils is ruin. Within 

 one month I would have engaged to make these madcaps 

 do anything I told them (except speak), pass by every 

 covert in the country without attempting to break into 

 it, and, confirmed in vice as they were, draw through 

 riots of all kinds without a tongue being heard. Patience 

 and perseverance would accomplish this, although in 

 such a case we should have to use a httle whipcord at 

 first starting. I should have taken them out in the 

 morning from five o'clock until nine, putting the worst 

 in couples together — not a quiet hound with a vicious 

 one, lest Jack's thong should fall on the innocent ; trot 

 them briskly along, and when they return to the kennel 

 give them a little lap for breakfast. At ten o'clock 

 take them out again on foot into villages and farm-yards, 

 where they might see cur dogs and sheep, one whipper-in 



