I believe I have now mentioned most of the ordinary kinds of country amusements in which a lady can properly indulge; as I must confess I should not like to see you hunting or coursing, though I have heard of some ladies doing so. It is quite natural that a lady should like to see the hounds throw off, as nothing can be more animating than such a scene; but that is, I think, all that can be allowed. As, however, your husband is most probably fond of sporting, it may be as well to mention a few of the terms used by sportsmen when speaking of the chase, that you may understand what is meant, if your husband should give you any account of the day's sport, without troubling him by asking continual explanations. When sportsmen are speaking of dogs, they say a brace of greyhounds if they mean two, or a leash if they mean three; but they say a couple of hounds, or a couple and a half if they mean three. In speaking of a fox-chase, they say they have unkenneled a fox when they have merely found a wild one. A sharp burst is when the hounds go off very fast at first; but a check is when they lose the scent. If the fox is by any accident turned back, he is said to be headed. The place where the fox is likely to be found is called the cover, and when the hounds are taken into it to try if they can find the fox, they are said to be drawing the cover. The scent left by the fox is called the drag. When the hounds find the scent they generally utter a cry, which is called giving tongue; and when the whole pack go off after the fox, uttering this sound, they are said to be in full cry. The foot of the fox is called the pad, and his tail the brush. Some sportsmen, instead of saying a pack of fox-hounds, say a kennel, and only say a pack of harriers, or a pack of beagles; the latter being a very small kind of harrier. In hare-hunting, sportsmen say they have started the hare from her form, when they have found one. When a hare returns to the place from which she started, it is said she doubles. The tail of the hare is called the scut, and that of the dog is sometimes called the stern; but this last term, I believe, only relates to dogs used in hunting. You will observe, my dear Annie, that though I have mentioned a few sporting terms, with the meanings that are, I believe, generally assigned to them, I would advise you never to make use of them in conversation; as nothing can be more unfeminine than for a woman to use terms only adapted to manly amusements. I am sure your husband would dislike to hear you ape the sportsman; as men, with very few exceptions, always feel disgust at a masculine woman. BOOK VI. COUNTRY DUTIES. LETTER XIX. RELATION BETWEEN A LANDED PROPRIETOR AND THE COTTAGERS ON HIS ESTATE.--HOW TO RELIEVE THE POOR.--ESTABLISHING SCHOOLS.--TEACHING THE DAUGHTERS OF THE POOR TO MAKE CLOTHES, AND TEACHING THEM COOKING.--EMPLOYING THE POOR.--ASSISTING THE POOR IN ILLNESS.--MAKING CLOTHES FOR THE POOR.