HUN 
long as they are inclined to hunt. The firft caft I 
bid my huntfman make is generally a regular one; not 
choofing to rely entirely on his judgment: if that fliould. 
not fucceed, he is then at liberty to follow his own opi¬ 
nion, and proceed as obfervation or genius may direbt. 
When luch a call is made, I like to fee fome mark of good 
fenfe and meaning in it ; whether dowti the wind, or to¬ 
wards fome likely cover or ftrong earth. However, as it 
is at beft uncertain, I always wifti to fee a regular call; be¬ 
fore I fee a knowing one ; which, as a Lift refource, lliould 
not be called forth till it be wanted ; the letting hounds 
alone is but a negative goodnefs in a huntfman; whereas 
it is true this laft (hows real genius ; and, to be perfect, it 
mull be born'with him. There is a fault, however, which 
a knowing huntfman is too apt to commit: he will find 
a frefti fox, and then claim the merit of having recovered 
the hunted one. It is always dangerous to throw hounds 
into a cover to retrieve a loft (cent; and, unlefs they hit 
him in it, is not to be depended on. 
“ When houftds are at fault, gentlemen are too apt 
tbemfelves to prolong it. They fhouid always ftcp their 
horfes fome diftance behind the hounds; and, if it be pof- 
fible to remain filent, this is the time to be fo. They 
fliould be careful not to ride before the hounds, or over 
the fcent; nor fhouid they ever meet a hound in the face, 
unlefs with a defigti to ftop him. Should you at any time 
be before the hounds, turn your horfe’s head the way 
they are going, get out of their track, and let them pafs 
by you. In dry weather, and particularly in heathy 
countries, foxes will run the roads. If gentlemen at 1 ’uch 
times will ride clofe upon the hounds, they may drive 
them miles without any fcent. High-mettled fox-hounds 
are feldom inclined to ftop whilft horfes are clofe at their 
heels. No one fhouid ever ride in a direction, which, if 
perfifted itj, would carry him amongft the hounds, unlefs 
he be at a great diftance behind them. 
“The firft moment that hounds are at fault is a critical 
one for the fport-people, who fliould then be very atten¬ 
tive. Tliofe who look forward may perhaps fee the fox ; 
or the running of fheep, or the puriuit of crows, may give 
them fome tidings of him. Tliofe who liften, may fome- 
times take a hint which way he is gone from the chatter¬ 
ing of a magpie ; or perhaps be at a certainty from a dif- 
tant halloo : nothing that can give any intelligence; at 
fuch a time, ought to be neglected.- Gentlemen are too 
apt to ride all together: were they to fpread more, they 
might fometimes be of fervice; particularly tliofe who, 
from a knowledge of .the fport, keep down the wind; it 
would then be difficult for either hounds or fox to efcape 
their obfervation. You fliould, however, be cautious how 
you go to a halloo. The halloo itfelf muft in a great 
meafure direft you; and, though it afford no certain rule, 
yet you may frequently guefs whether it can be depended 
upon or not. At the fowing-time, when boys are keep¬ 
ing off the birds, you will fometimes be deceived by their 
halloo; fo that it is beft, when you are in doubt, to fend 
a whipper-in to know the certainty of the matter.’’ 
Hounds ought not to be calf as long as they are able to 
hunt. It is a common, though not a very juft idea, that 
a hunted fox never flops ; but Mr. Beckford informs us, 
that he has known them to ftop even in wheel-ruts in the 
middle of a down, and get up in the middle of the hounds. 
Tlie.greateft danger of lofing the fox is at the firft finding 
him, and when he is finking; at both which times he fre¬ 
quently runs fliort, and the eagernefs of the hounds will 
as frequently carry them beyond the fcent. When a fox 
is firft found, everyone ought to keep behind the hounds 
till they are well fettled to the fcent; and, when the hounds 
are catching him, the people fhouid be as filent as pof- 
fible, that the hounds may eat him eagerly after he is 
caught. In fome places they, have a method of treeing 
him ; that is, throwing him acrcfs the branch of a tree, 
and fiuffering the houpds to bay at him for fome minutes 
before be is thrown among them; the intention of which 
is to make them more eager, and to let the tail-hounds 
Vol. X. No. 678; 
HUN ip 5 
come up; during this interval they alfo recover their 
wind, and eat him more readily. But Mr. Beckford ad- 
vifesnot to keep him too long, as he fvppofes the hounds 
have no appetite to eat him longer than while they are 
angry with him. 
With refpeft to the merits and demerits of hunting, 
many opinions have beep freely given. Among the poets, 
as well as profe writers, there is milch of praife, as well 
as depreciation, of this ancient fport. Frederic the Great, 
king of Pruffia, delivered his fentiments on this fubjebt in 
the following words : “ The chace is one of the molt fen- 
fual of pleafures, by which the powers of the body are 
ftrongly exerted, but thofe of the mind remain unem¬ 
ployed. It is an exercife which makes the limbs ftrong, 
abfive, and pliable; but leaves the head without improve- - 
ment. It confifts in a violent defire in the purfuit, and 
the indulgence of a cruel pleafure in the death of the 
game. I am convinced, that man is more cruel and fa- 
vage than any bead; of prey. We exercife the dominion 
given us over thefe our fellow-creatures in the moft ty¬ 
rannical manner. If we pretend to any fuperiority over 
the beads, it ought certainly to confift in reafon; but we 
commonly find that the moft paflionate lovers of the chace 
renounce this privilege, and converfe only with their 
dogs, horfes, and other irrational animals. This renders 
them wild and unfeeling ; and it is probable that they 
cannot be very merciful to the human fpecies. For a man 
who can in cold blood torture a poor innocent animal, 
cannot feel'much compaflion for the diftrefles of his own 
fpecies. And, befides, can the chace be a proper employ¬ 
ment for a thinking mind ?” 
Anciently many perfons in England held their lands of 
the king by the tenure and fervice of keeping a pack of 
harriers. See Cart. 12 Edw. I. For the law relating to 
“ Trelpaft in Hunting,” fee the article Game, vol. viii. 
p. 232. 
HUN'TING, adj. Belonging to the chace, ufed in the 
chace. 
HUN'TING CREEIy, in Virginia, runs eaft into Pa- 
towmack river, at the louth corner of the territory of 
Columbia. 
HUN'TING-C'REEK TOWN, a town of the Ame¬ 
rican States, in the northern part of' Dprchefter county, 
Maryland: fourteen miles north-north-weft of Vienna, 
fixteen fouth by weft of Denton, and eighteen north-eaft 
of Cambridge. 
HUN'TING-HORN,yi A bugle; a horn ufed to cheer 
the hounds: 
Whilft a boy Jack ran from fchool. 
Fond of his hunting-horn and pole. Prior. 
HUN'TING ISLANDS, a clufter of fmall iflands, in 
the Atlantic Ocean, near Port Royal, in the State of 
South Carolina. 
HUN'TING-MOON, f. The lunation in which the 
moon about the full rifes nearly at the fame time for 
feveral nights together ; the harveft-moon. 
HUN'TING-NAG,yi A horfe to hunt on.—He makes 
his ignorance pafs for refolve, and, like a hunting-nag, 
leaps over what he cannot get through. Butler. 
HUN'TING-SEAT, f. A temporary refidence for the 
purpole of hunting.—Near it is a houie built by one of 
the grand dukes for a hunting-feat, but now converted into 
an jnn. Gray. 
HUN'TINGDON, \_Hunterfdune, the Mount of Hunters.] 
the capital of Huntingdonfliire, and an ancient borouglr, 
diftant fifty-nine miles from London, upon the north 
road. It is paved and lighted; and is built upon a gra- 
dually-rifing gisund, clofe to the river Oufe, over which 
there is an excellent free-ftone bridge of fix arches. In 
the centre of the town, on one fide of a .large fiquare, 
ftands a very neat and commodious edifice where the 
aflizes are held ; it bonfifts of two courts, one for criminal 
and another for .civil caufes. Alfo a fpacious aflembly- 
room, ornamented in the modern tafte. The town is go- 
6 H verned. 
