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which the tyro may obtain knowledge, and the experienced renew the pleasures that are past. It is written in elegant and appropriate language, and conveys much information tested by practical experience. Numerous anecdotes are introduced, which give a charm to the matterof-fact details, and nothing is left untold that can instruct the lower or confirm the upper form in their knowledge of "the Noble Science." If Mr. Radcliffe "has unconsciously gone over ground trodden by another, it tends only to shew that the mode of treatment cannot be very dissimilar, where both are impressed with the same exalted view of the subject." Similar observations may be made by different writers, as distant and unacquainted astronomers may, by their telescopes, discover similar phenomena: and (Mr. R. says) "it is not necessary that a painter should expunge the effect of a rainbow from his landscape because he finds that the idea had previously been adopted by another artist."

Mr. Radcliffe differs materially from some of the positions laid down by Mr. Smith in his Diary of a Huntsman, one of which (on scent) we shall quote, because it is on a subject of great interest to all followers of the Noble Science," and the arcana of which have puzzled -we say it with all deference-wiser heads than either of the Gentlemen who have vouchsafed their opinions.

Of all glorious uncertainties (says our Author), none is greater than that of scent-the one great thing needful in hunting next to the animal to be hunted. Without scent there can be no sport with dogs, except for those who can substitute the amusement of coursing for sport. There are as many signs and indications of good or bad scent as there are prognostics as to changes of weather, and they are about as much to be depended upon. By many certain symptoms we form well-founded expectations of a downfall, which are often realised; but anticipations of rain are not unfrequently as unsubstantial as the clouds which had a share in their creation. Thus it is with scent, which may be termed "constant only in inconstancy." When hounds roll upon the grass; when in drawing covert they whip their sterns so that each appears crimson-pointed; when the dew hangs on the thorn* ; when gossamer is floating on the surface of the ground; when there are harsh drying winds, or frequent storms; under any of these, or a hundred other adverse circumstances, we do not hesitate to pronounce the impossibility of any chance of scent, and it is not often that we find ourselves agreeably deceived; but still, the exceptions are so numerous as to set at nought anything like invariable rule. Even in gossamer, even in storms (which I take to be more certainly fatal to scent than any other state of weather), under a burning sun, or amidst flakes of falling snow, instances are not wanting of scent lying breast-high. Philosophy is at fault in any attempt to define the causes; it is useless to speculate on probabilities, or take anything for granted, when we know that scent may vary with the fleeting moments-that it changes with the soil, and that no one can speak positively to the point till a fox is found, and hounds have had a fair chance of settling to a scent, if it exist. It is to be remarked, that when hounds go soberly to covert, with their mouths fast closed, instead of staring about them and shewing disposition to frolic-when, in the place of boisterous winds and lowering storms, we have high clouds with cool and gentle zephyrs when no white frost has rendered the surface of the earth treacherous and adhesive-above all, when the quicksilver in the barometer

"When the dew hangs on the thorn,

The huntsman may put up his horn."-Old Proverb.

is on the ascendant-we may fairly hope for scent; but we must not be too confident-not unduly elated by such auspices, or dejected by the reverse. The sine quâ non of scent must be considered, more or less, a matter of chance; but it may not be uninteresting to consider how, and in what manner, it is yielded by the fox in chase. I have been led into a notice of this subject by the propagation of such an idea as that the scent is derived, not from the body or breath, but from the pad alone. Mr. Smith has industriously endeavored to prove such assertion by the very means which, in my humble opinion, afford the strongest confirmation of the contrary. There is, perhaps, no greater mistake throughout the whole Diary of a Huntsman. In expressing my most unqualified rejection of such hypothesis, it will be necessary to follow closely the line of argument adduced in its support. Mr. Smith commences his observations on scent, after the account of a famous run, which he attributes to the circumstance of a fox having luckily found the earth stopped that he had tried at starting. He proceeds to say, "It will probably be noticed, that in the above run the scent was good, which, of course, a fox must be aware of, as he lives by hunting; and this was probably the cause of his trying to go to ground." I have before alluded to what appears to me another most mistaken notion, or at all events one which is not so supported as to have a claim to general credence. I then stated some reasons for believing a fox (in choice of ground, &c.) to be totally unconscious of the scent he leaves. I think it nothing extraordinary that a fox, disturbed by a "roar in his kennel," should seek the sanctuary of his earth, without pausing to consider whether the scent was bad enough to admit of his trusting his precious carcase to the open air. Possibly, while taking his siesta, he might have dreamed of a good scentmight have had a night-mare, from visions of former cub-hunting in darkness; but if he were so wonderful a product of his species that upon his conquest the huntsman could exclaim" Veni, vidi, vici !”—“ now, I don't care if I never kill another fox!"-it is surely matter of surprise that, with his information concerning the state of the scent, he had not also acquired a hint as touching any obstructions to his free entrance at the front door of his family mansion, during his temporary absence at his suburban villa. "Yet this one would have gone to ground five minutes after being found, if he could." Why, if he would not, where is the use of an earth-stopper? It would have been far more remarkable, had he attempted to go to ground at the end of fifty minutes, as a fox, when thus heated, will frequently refuse an open earth; but, when first found, his point is almost invariably to the head of earths, which of course are stopped. It may, very probably, be imagined, if not noticed, that the scent was good; for it is no improbable conclusion, relating to a run of sixteen miles; but that a fox must of course be aware of this circumstance, is to say that "who drives fat oxen must himself be fat."

It may be fact within the experience of Mr. Smith," that on many days when hounds cannot find, and on which days the scent has been proved to be capital, that foxes are under ground;" though I am at a loss to guess how he reconciles this opinion with that given in his chapter on Earth-stopping, wherein he says, that “most foxes almost always lay under ground, in bad weather particularly ;" and I must say, that, according to all I have ever heard or seen, blank days have been only to be apprehended in the worst weather; after blustering nights, succeeded by bad mornings, when there has been little chance of a fox having encountered the roughness of the night, and as little prospect of sport, if found. The idea of his being above ground in bad scenting weather and out of the way in good, is truly laughable to us, because, in our country, the result is diametrically opposite. With us, it is, "better day, better deed," and we never make so sure of finding as upon a day most propitous for the purpose. Moreover, such an

VOL. XIX.-SECOND SERIES.-No. 111.

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assertion is, at best, most illogical, as it goes to prove, that what we have supposed a good hunting day is, in plain English, a bad one. If a fox be wanting upon a good scenting day, it is far more probable that the weather was favorable for his nocturnal rambles, and that the earth-stopper, instead of being in bed, did his duty in barring him out before his return home, and did not, in sea phrase, batten him down under hatches. A fox, which has been more than once hunted, need not wind anything, to fancy something in the wind, on finding no admittance, even on business, in his own threshold. His knowledge of scent, like that of Hudibras, enables him to "smell a rat," and he may frequently shew that he is " up to snuff," by making himself scarce; may leave his lodging in the scrubs, to lie in clover, or on beds of down. But to come to the question of body scent.-Mr. Smith says, that a fox "will lay" (lie, I suppose the printer means, unless he thinks the fox is laying again in a mare's nest) till hounds "almost tread on him," "which is one proof, that the scent does not come from the body or breath of the animal, but from the touch; and, by his laying quiet in his kennel, the scent does not exude from under him, that is, from the ground he lays upon, &c." Why-leave a ferret, a pole-cat, or any other fumiferous animal, in a state of quiescence, he emits no scent: excite him but for an instant, it is then non redolet sed olet," then that his smell may be designated by a harsher term. It is precisely the same with a fox reposing in unconfined space. The air around him is then not impregnated with the effluvia from his body, which betray the proximity of some luckless captive, doomed in chains to waste his sweetness on an out-house. It is not till he is roused, that his fuming vapors rise,

66

"And with the ambient air entangling mix."

Now, as to "the most convincing and satisfactory proof" of this most extraordinary doctrine, I must have recourse to the Diary itself, page 192: "But the most convincing and satisfactory proof that the scent does come from the touch of the animal is, that when the ground carries, after a frost, and there is even a burning scent on turf, and sound hard ground, until the hounds get on a fallow, or ploughed ground, when they will feel the scent for a few paces only, and it will entirely go until they are held across the plough-field; and when they are again on turf, or sound ground, or going through the fence, they will hit off the scent immediately, as the foot is clean and touches the ground, which is accounted for by the foxes' feet gathering earth as soon as they tread on the ploughed ground, which, on being pressed, adheres to the bottom of the feet (which is called carrying), consequently prevents the feet from touching the ground, until this, which forms a clog, and is sticking to the feet, is worn off by a few steps on the sound ground, after leaving the ploughed land.”

I have been compelled to quote the whole of this long-winded sentence, pausing only at its first round period, that I may not, according to a prevailing fashion of the day, by halving of the text, appear guilty of a wilful perversion of its meaning. Having sifted it, and measured it by inches, feet, and paces,

"Till one, with moderate haste, might count an hundred,"

the only inference at which the limited powers of my comprehension have been enabled to arrive is this that it is a sentence of excommunicationa total ejection of the body of the fox from communion with the air. But how is this supported? We are reminded of the fact, which all must admit, that when the ground is in such a state that a pedestrian might carry off nearly enough land upon his shoes to entitle him to a vote for the county, that the feet of a fox, or hounds, are in like manner encumbered. It is also evident (for I do not, by any means, deny that there is, in proportion, as much scent in the pad as in any other part), that when a fox takes with him,

instead of leaving behind, those portions of the earth immediately subjected to contact with that matter which he,

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there must be far less scent than when there is the effect of contagion from the earth, to add to the infection of the air; but because many hounds require to be lifted over ground that carries, does it prove that there is no scent from the body or breath of the animal, but from the touch?" On the contrary, unless it is pretended that every particle of scent is lost on such occasions, it goes to prove, that the only scent with which many other hounds can and do, persevere (hounds, I mean, which are not constantly lifted), notwithstanding the clogs which prevent the feet of the fox from touching the ground, must be in the air.

Mr. Smith proceeds to say, that "another proof, that the scent by which the fox is hunted does not come from the body, but from the touch, is, that when hounds are running across an open country, downs, and such like, in very windy weather, it cannot be supposed that the scent would remain stationary, but that it would be scattered by the wind, and that it arises from the touch, that is, the pad of the fox touching the ground.” This, again, to my erring judgment, seems to prove the reverse of his own proposition. If the scent depended only upon those parts of the soil, or herbage, which had been touched, is it likely that it would be carried so far from these particular substances as to serve twenty yards wide of the line, which is frequently the case? Who has not seen, if he be an observer, hounds running harder upon the other side of a hedge-row, not the side on which the fox passed, than those which are actually upon the line? Does not this prove, that the particles of scent which have emanated from the body of the animal, have been floating on the air-that if long grass, or bushes, appear to yield strengthening evidence of the touch, it is because

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"To every shrub the warm effluvia cling,

Hang on the grass, impregnate earth and skies."

My firm belief is, that there is always a pad scent-always a certain degree of scent from the pad, retained by all ground, more or less susceptible of the impression-that the duration of this scent depends upon the kind of soil, and its evaporations. Were it not for this scent, there would often be none whatever, which is actually the case when the ground is foiled by a flock of sheep. But this is only the scent to which the hounds are reduced when there is no other-when that which they seek to find floating in the air is dispersed, or rarified, by the meridian sun's intenser heat "it is the scent which serves them to hunt, but not to run. They can plough the ground with their noses, and potter on the line, and on the line only, with the scent of the pad. The scent with which they run, breast high, with heads erect, is that which pervades the air some eighteen inches above the surface of the earth;-the scent which improves while " the panting chase grows warmer as he flies;"-it is the same which floats above the bodies of the birds, and enables the pointer, instead of stooping for his game, to stand in a more exalted attitude, with his head and stern at right angles. Should any one, for the sake of argument, inquire, why, if the scent be chiefly in the air, it does not serve equally along a hard road? I should attribute the difficulties occasioned by Mac Adam, quite as much to the loss of impending vapour, as to the want of retaining power in the surface, and consequent diminution of pad scent. Moreover, hounds will very often fly along a road, and, in the month of March, when the whole country has been in a pulverised condition, they have held the ultra pace, enveloped in clouds of dust. Any one who has observed stag-hounds following the deer cart, which has preceded them some ten minutes, will have little doubt of a scent from a body which has never been nearer in contact with the earth upon which they tread than the

bottom of the vehicle; and I should be sorry to find myself in the skin of a fox, which might be conveyed in a wheelbarrow over a country, if a good pack of hounds had to make the most of any scent they may find unconnected with the touch. It is very commonly, and justly, remarked, that when all the Field (and probably the horses themselves also) are sensible of the smell of a fox, little scent can be expected for hounds; the fact is, that there is then not sufficient weight of atmosphere to condense the volatile particles exuded from his body: instead of remaining motionless, they are too quickly refined, and soar aloft. If all this be not absolutely logical proof that the scent borne upon the breezes does not owe its existence entirely and solely to "the touch, that is, the pad of the fox touching the ground," it must, I think, go far to upset the theory of any one who will maintain, that if the fox had touched nothing, and could have been suspended in mid-air, he would have left no other than visible signs of his identity. But to come now to "the most convincing and satisfactory proofs" on my side of the question: Is it only that eagerness of excitement which will occasionally elicit a whimper from young hounds? Is it the confident anticipation of what is awaiting them on the other side of a river, which causes the oldest hounds in the pack to throw their tongues with joy, when stemming the current of some rapid stream? or is it that they greedily inhale the scent, nowhere more stronger than where the

"fuming vapours rise,

And hang upon the gently purling brook ?"

Surely, there must be little enough of touch, or pad scent, in the middle of the water! yet with what avidity will terriers and spaniels follow upon the scent of a rat or water-bird across a river! I have been dwelling like an old Southern hound upon the subject-have been minute, perhaps even to prolixity in detail; but I shall be excused by all who bear in mind, that if

brevis esse laboro, Obscurus fio;"

and that it is not enough to say, that amongst all highest extant authorities* I have found none dissenting from my view of the case, unless I also adduce something in shape of fact to serve for the groundwork of my own argument, and the foundation of such support. I will however inflict only one more instance upon the reader, in proof that the touch has neither more nor less to do with the scent than I have already represented, and that scent does, instead of "does not, come from the body." One instance, such as the following, is alone sufficiently suitable to my purpose; it was related to me very recently by Lord Tavistock himself:

It not unfrequently happens, in parts of the Oakley country, that the meadows are completely inundated by the irrigations of old Ouse, when that winding river, swollen by winter torrents, pays small deference to the banks which form the prescribed boundaries of its course.

It is not in depth, but in extent, that these floods offer any impediments to those who like to see where they ride, however indifferent they may be to the number of fathoms deep over which they are rowed. This coverlid, although it may comprise some acres on each side of the stream, is nothing more than a flowing sheet of water, thrown loosely off the bed of the river, for the benefit of the alluvial soil within its precincts. It never has

*Mr. Bell, Professor of Zoology at King's College, says, "The fox has a subcaudal gland, which secretes an extremely fetid substance."-Cloquet, in the French Encyclopædia, says, "In the vicinity of the posterior parts of the dog (tribe to which foxes belong) are two small pearshaped receptacles, from the inside of which a thick unctuous matter exudes of a fetid odour, which escapes through an opening in their margin, by the assistance of several clusters of muscular fibres, in which these receptacles are enveloped." The same author, in speaking of the fat of these animals, says, "In general it is nearly fluid, and, like the rest of the animal's body, possesses an almost insupportable fetid odour."

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