"For my own part, I intend to hunt twice a week, during my stay with Sir Roger; and shall prescribe the moderate use of this exercise to all my country friends, as the best physic for mending a bad constitution, and preserving a good one." - Spectator,

Of all the field sports the chase may be regarded as the most magnificent; and we suppose it may be seen in its most perfect style at Melton Mowbray, in England; whether we refer to the dashing scarlet and the beautiful green uniform of the hunt, - the reckless daring of the rider, - the high form and finish of the hunter, - the practised skill of the huntsman, - the number and tip-top condition of his pack, - or, lastly, to the fine open country for the line of chase. All combine to display the athletic manly form, physical capacity and game spirit of man, horse and dog, to the greatest possible advantage, making the most splendid exhibition of rural enjoyment that the imagination can conceive, or the heart of man enjoy. How it is, we cannot so easily describe; but there is certainly, as the Frenchman says, a je ne scai quoi of excitement, a sort of hallucination, about the chase, that borders on madness, delightful madness 1 beginning with the mount, kindling as you ride to cover, fairly taking fire at the first challenge, when some well-known old truth-teller strikes the trail, and swelling as the cry increases, truly to a "whirlwind of emotion;" when, at last, it tells you "the game is up," and Reynard is "tally ho'd" as he slyly breaks cover down the wind; the fit of ecstacy sometimes remaining on, until, peradventure, without a check, the echoing horn almost too soon announces " the death!" But we dare not trust imagination, memory, or pen upon the subject A few practical suggestions is all that is permitted us. The reader is not to consider us as here making any pretensions to a regular work on the natural history and varieties of the fox-hound, or his peculiar game.

Long after Shakspeare's time, his description of Hip-politas's dogs, their music and style of action, was still applicable to the fox-hound then in use.

"My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, So flew'd, so sanded; and their heads are hung With ears that sweep away the morning dew; Crook-kneed, and dewlapped like Thessalian bulls. Slow in pursuit, bat matched in month like bells, Each under each; a cry more tuneable Was never halloo'd to. nor cheer*d with horn, In Crete, in Sparta, nor in Thessaly."

Then it took the old short-legged Talbot hound a whole day to kill his game. Reynard was worried down, rather than run into, as now. But we are not sure that in this case, more than in some others, change is synonymous with improvement. The modern hound, of shorter ear, and higher form, and chopping note, may be said to "put the issue on a brush," running with a speed that could not be followed, had not a corresponding change been effected in the hunter by the infusion of more Wood. Instead of dwelling, as formerly, at every loss, and circling backward, to make it off, the pack, spreading, forward at the instant, like the ribs of a lady's fan, and moving all ahead, " hit it off" again almost before it is lost, keeping the chase always afoot Thus the most gallant fox is sometimes blown and heart-broken, in the very hurst, without one chance to rest, and roll, and listen and recruit, in hope of escape from his ruthless pursuers.

Advanced as England is in science, in art, and in arms, the accomplishments of the well-bred Englishman are no where more conspicuous than in his enjoyment of field sports, and the magnificence of all the appointments thereunto appertaining. But the elegant leisure of the aristocratic sportsman of that monarchy, with their expensive and perfect fixtures and conveniences, are not to be realized or expected in our own " hard-fisted democracy." Prudence prescribes, and necessity enforces more simple and economical arrangements for every species of field amusement; and to that consideration we must conform in these brief practical hints for American sportsmen.

The first thing to be attended to with young dogs of all kinds is, to make them know their names well, and to answer to them, before training; and for this they should be rewarded. After hounds have learned to follow, they should be coupled, and led often out among sheep, and carefully taught that of all things a sheep is the most sacred, too much so even to be looked at! "A cat may look upon a king;" but a dog must never look at a sheep; for, if he once tastes of its blood, like a married man ( it is said) who once goes astray, there will always danger on that point, as long as your dogs can wag tail Bring up your dog, as well as your child, in the way it should walk. Young hounds will be more tractable and attentive if often taken out by people wh6 are on foot They should always be "entered" or broken at their own game. If broken, as some break them, to hares, it imposes the necessity of breaking them over again, just as children, foolishly indulged, and sometimes even encouraged, in speaking ungrammatically, and otherwise behaving naughtily, require to be untaught and reinstructed, the former often proving the more difficult task of the two.

Close attention to shape is as necessary in the hound as in the hunter, to insure both speed and lastingness proportioned to the work which an old red fox is sure to cut out for them. " Let his legs," says Beckford, " be straight as arrows; his feet round, and not too large; his chest deep, and back broad; his head small; his neck thin; his tail thick and brushy; if he carries it well, so much the better." A small head is more comely, but we should not object to a large head in a hound, especially in that part of it where the power of smell is located.

If, in company with an old hound or two to teach them, fox cubs could be turned out to young dogs,- it would materially advance their education. Having been, in this way, blooded to their true game, it will afterwards be more difficult to repress than excite their ardour. Every means of encouragement should be used in the early stages of the training of the fox-hound; and punishment should not be administered till after they have made some progress, for fear of nipping a good plant in the bud. In flogging, the voice should be used at the same time, to indicate and impress deeply on his mind the nature of the offence committed, as " ware rabbit," - "ware sheep," so that whenever he sees hare or sheep, the lash may ever be associated in his recollection with the sight of them, or the sound of the same words.

" Beckford's Thoughts on Hunting" contains more ample instructions, and may be recommended as the first and best prose work on the subject. Every gentleman sportsman, and lover of high-bred dogs, (as all such sportsmen are,) is supposed to be familiar with Gay's poem on *' Rural Sports," and Somerville's on the " Chase." Both are well adapted to beguile a day of dirty weather, and to form, perhaps, the best substitute for, - if any thing on the " earth beneath" can be compared with, - the thing itself, when, mounted on a sure and gallant steed, fond, like his master, of the chase, and carrying him firmly at the stern of the pack, all well together, with heads up, and tails down, they are running now, after occasional losses, in breathless and almost mute assurance of victory 1

What Lord Chatham once said of a battle, is particularly applicable to a good fox chase. It should be sharp, short, and decisive. Hence, in view of the uncleared and difficult country over which the chase lies for the most part, in our country, the gray fox gives us the best sport One thing should be borne in mind, that care should be taken in breaking in young dogs, and with all dogs, in the commencement of the season, to choose a good scent-lying day, and be careful of all circumstances which may contribute to insure a taste of blood. Thus a stimulus is given, the effect of which will be enjoyed throughout the season. As in some other undertakings, confidence goes a long way towards insuring a successful issue to the enterprise.