DESPICABLE FEROCITY OF FOX-HTJ NTING. 381 



and (Puss probably not suspecting him to be an enemy), somehow 

 succeeded in catching hold of her with his teeth. He then, as if 

 elated with his prize, galloped about the field at a great rate, occa- 

 sionally dropping the hare from his mouth, but seizing her again be- 

 fore she could find the use of her legs. Some labourers, who were 

 at work in an adjoining field, and witnessed the transaction, imme- 

 diately put in a claim to the possession of the hare, and chased the 

 ass several times round the field before they could come up with 

 him ; and even then he did not resign his prize without a contest." 



There is not a single point on which the fox-hunter can safely 

 stand upon his defence. Admitting the atrocity to be wholesome, 

 we confidently suggest the following substitute : In order to enjoy 

 that benefit of hard exercise in the open air, which any given noble 

 Duke, Marquess, or Member of Parliament derives from fox-hunt- 

 ing, daily during the season, from twelve till four, let him take a 

 spade, and dig, for the spring crop, some poor devil of a cottager's 

 garden, who, with a wife, and heaven knows how many children, is 

 breaking stones to make the roads smooth as a billiard-table, for 

 aristocratic wheels to pass over, at tenpence a-day. 



Somerville, the poet-laureat of the chace, says, in his dissertation 

 on the building of the Kennel, 



" Let no Corinthian pillars prop the dome 

 A vain expense, on charitable deeds 

 Better disposed, to clothe the tatter* d wretch 

 Who shrinks beneath the blast to feed the poor, 

 Pinch'd with afflictive want !" 



We will venture to go a step beyond the poet on this point, and 

 vehemently exclaim, " Don't expend a penny in building a kennel at 

 all, but give your surplus money to the poor." It is a disgrace to the 

 country, to see palaces, or even comfortable habitations, erected for 

 hounds, while houseless and helpless human beings are perishing by 

 the way-side. Dogs are of no earthly use in this country, but to 

 pamper the bloated pride, and administer to the vile propensities of 

 our tory tyrants. When social institutions were in their infancy, 

 dogs were not to be despised. At present, except, perhaps, for the 

 dominion of sheep, they are not merely useless they are encum- 

 brances and pests. If all the breeds of hounds, pointers, setters, bull- 

 dogs, terriers, Danes, poodles, and pugs, were discontinued, we 

 should sustain no loss, but, on the contrary, obtain an advantage. 

 Hydrophobia, that incurable and most terrific destroyer, would be 

 conquered, and we should save a quantity of food, tantamount to the 

 wants of many thousand destitute human beings. Pigs may be made 

 to point and stand to " birds ;" and even when used, like oxen, for a 

 few years, in the field, they would afford toothsome food. Men and 

 boys may, perhaps, be taught to draw trucks ; orphans and found- 

 lings are, probably, more legitimate objects of tenderness, nurture, and 

 attachment, than disgusting bloated pugs ; and warehouses may, we 

 submit, be quite as efficiently guarded by honest men of whom there 

 are thousands out of employ as by fat mastiffs, few of which are proof 

 against poison enshrined in pieces of boiled liver and not one of 



