NUMBER IN A PACK 145 



hunt the fox is thus censured even by Somerville in his 

 day:— 



That numerous pack, that crowded state. 

 With which the vain profusion of the great 

 Covers the lawn, and shakes the trembhng copse — 



Pompous incumbrance ! a magnificence 

 Useless, vexatious ! for the wily fox. 

 Safe in the increasing number of his foes, 

 Kens well the great advantage, shrinks behind. 

 And slily creeps through the same beaten track. 

 And hunts them step by step, their views escaped. 

 With inward ecstasy, the panting throng 

 In their own footsteps puzzled, foiled, and lost. 



My doctrine, therefore, as to sixteen or eighteen couples 

 being ample to kill any fox, backed by these authorities 

 (and Beckford, I believe, also), is clearly no novelty, 

 although my practice in this respect resulted from actual 

 observation and experience ; for having when in my 

 teens commenced hunting the fox with a lot of hounds 

 — under twelve couples for my first season — the good 

 luck attending my dehut in the field with this short com- 

 plement taught me one great and necessary lesson in 

 fox-hunting, which was my guide in after-years — that 

 success does not depend on numbers. As to feeding my 

 hounds twice after a hard day's work, I can adduce 

 authority for that also, from The Noble Science, to 

 show that others agree with me in thinking that hounds 

 ought not to be fed at once, by which some are sent 

 gorged, whilst others are sent empty, to bed, just to suit 

 an idle huntsman's convenience, or save him a little extra 

 trouble. Mr. Delme Radcliffe thus expresses himself on 

 the subject : — 



'' The feeding of hounds, as regards their condition, 

 is one of the most essential proofs of a huntsman's skill 



