380 DESPICABLE FEROCITY OF FOX-HUNTING. 



ation, all proper honours would be awarded to his exertions to get 

 off that, (shifting the scene with Shakspearian celerity, to allow us 

 the benefit of an extract or two in point) among the exalted portion 

 of his pursuers the Giraffes and Emus, " bellows to mend was the 

 order of the day/' that " he crossed the road near Tetbury, and, 

 sinking the wind through Cherrington Park, was headed near Hamp- 

 ton ; and being thus obliged to vary his direction to Cowcomb, he 

 took a peep at Lord Bathurst's woods ; and after having occasioned 

 the most beautiful hunting ever heard of gratifying at once the 

 oldest and the best he was run into and killed atCharford thereby 

 making good his distance of sixteen miles, that the fair Diana 

 of the hunt, who has honoured every cover in the county with her 

 smiles our amiable arid accomplished townswoman, Mrs. John Codd 

 accepted his brush ?" 



What could Captain Berkeley think of this ? Let him bless his 

 stars if ever he should have any that Providence has made him 

 a Member of Parliament, and not a fox. 



Those benevolent beings, who know nothing about the matter 

 good, easy souls ! are deluded with the idea, that fox-hunting is, in 

 some degree, justifiable, because its object is the destruction of a 

 species which preys on the poor farmer's poultry. Such, however, 

 is not the fact. The Squirearchy have preached no crusade against 

 foxes. In their opinion, extermination would be a calamity a 

 crime of most stupendous atrocity. Instead of wishing to destroy, 

 they encourage the breed. The more foxes, the more fun ! They 

 are anti-Malthusians in this particular. Propagation is most assidu- 

 ously protected. The more prosperous the poultry-pest, the more 

 valuable the estate. Foxes and farmers are the living jewels of the 

 land: the latter pay " my lord" ten thousand per annum, to enable 

 him to hunt the former in proper style. If foxes could pay like 

 farmers, and farmers could run like foxes, he would just as soon hunt 

 farmers as foxes. He's not particular. 



Some years ago, a great land-owner in the north actually planted 

 a large district of highly-cultivated land with gorse, for the avowed 

 purpose of increasing his covers ; and in a very recent bit of sporting 

 intelligence, touching " the Bodminton Country" hunted by the 

 Duke of Beaufort, occurs this conclusive and highly gratifying pas- 

 sage : " The handsome way in which the gentlemen and farmers 

 have preserved the foxes for his Grace throughout the country is 

 highly flattering to all parties, and to the lovers of the chase more 

 particularly." 



Our natural historians will scarcely admit that any affinity exists be- 

 tween men and apes. We, however, think differently. M. Andral, in 

 his " Lectures on Mental Alienation," reported in the Lancet, states, 

 that suicide had been known to occur among the inferior animals. 

 " Asses," he said, " when overworked, have been known to refuse 

 all food, and thus died of inanition." But a stronger similitude in 

 propensity has been developed the ass enjoys sporting as keenly as 

 any noble duke. " On Thursday week/' says the Chester Chronicle, 

 " a donkey belonging to Mr. J. Warburton, of Bowdon, while ' study- 

 ing botany and grass/ in his master's field, espied a hare on her form, 



