a term used indifferently for a puddle, a water-course in the streets, a house for a pack of hounds, and the pack or cry of hounds themselves.

Mr Beckford, in his Essay on Hunting, is very particular in describing a kennel for hounds; and a kennel he thinks indispensably necessary for keeping those animals in proper health and order. "It is true (says he) hounds may be kept in barns and stables; but those who keep them in such places can best inform you whether their hounds are capable of answering the purposes for which they are designed. The sense of smelling is so exquisite in a hound, that I cannot but suppose that every trench is hurtful to it. Cleanliness is not only absolutely necessary to the nose of the hound, but also to the preservation of his health. Dogs are naturally cleanly; and seldom, if they can help it, dung where they lie. Air and fresh straw are necessary to keep them healthy. They are subject to the mange; a disorder to which poverty and naivety will very much contribute. The kennel should be situated on an eminence; its front ought to be to the east, and the courts round it ought to be wide and airy to admit the sunbeams at any time of the day. It is proper that it should be neat without and clean within; and it is proper to be near the master's house, for obvious reasons. It ought to be made large enough at first, as any addition to it afterwards may spoil it in appearance at least." Two kennels, however, in our author's opinion, are absolutely necessary to the well-being of hounds: "When there is but one (says he), it is seldom sweet; and when cleaned out, the hounds, particularly in winter, suffer both while it is cleaning and afterwards as long as it remains wet."

When the feeder first comes to the kennel in a morning, he should let out the hounds into the outer court; and in bad weather, should open the door of the hunting kennel (that in which the hounds designed to hunt next day are kept), least want of rest should incline them to go into it. The lodging-room should then be cleaned out, the doors and windows of it opened, the litter shaken up, and the kennel made sweet and clean before the hounds return to it again.

The floor of each lodging-room should be bricked, and sloped on both sides to run to the centre, with a gutter left to carry off the water, that when they are washed they may soon be dry. If water should remain through any fault in the floor, it must be carefully mopped up; for damps are always very prejudicial.

The kennel ought to have three doors; two in the front and one in the back; the last to have a lattice-window in it with a wooden shutter, which is constantly to be kept closed when the hounds are in, except in summer, when it should be left open all the day.

At the back of Mr Beckford's kennel is a house thatched and furzed up on the sides, big enough to contain at least a load of straw. Here should be a pit ready to receive the dung, and a gallows for the flesh. The gallows should have a thatched roof, and a circular board at the posts to prevent vermin from climbing up. He advises to inclose a piece of ground adjoining to the kennel for such dog-horses as may be brought alive; it being sometimes dangerous to turn them out where other horses go, on account of the disorders with which they may be infected. In some kennels a stove is made use of; but where the feeder is a good one, Mr Beckford thinks that a mop properly used will render the stove unnecessary. "I have a little hay rick (says he) in the grave-yard, which I think is of use to keep the hounds clean and fine in their coats. You will frequently find them rubbing themselves against it. The shade of it is also useful to them in summer. If ticks at any time be troublesome in your kennel, let the walls of it be well washed; if that should not destroy them, the walls must then be white-washed."

Besides the directions already given concerning the situation of the kennel, our author recommends it to have a stream of water in its neighbourhood, or even running through it if possible. There should also be moveable stages on wheels for the hounds to lie on. The foil ought at all events to be dry.

To KENNEL, a term applied by fox-hunters to a fox when he lies in his hole.