THE FOX. 219 



could exceed the astonishment of the Italians when they witnessed 

 the arrival of our hounds and horses. They could not by any chance 

 be made to comprehend the meaning of so much expense, parade, 

 and ostentation ; and the rustics of the Campagna could not believe 

 the testimony of their own eyes, when they beheld men in scarlet 

 dresses, first searching for a paltry fox, and then pursuing it over their 

 rough and swampy country, at the risk of limb and life. A few of 

 these simple rustics, imagining that there must be something very 

 agreeable to Englishmen in the flesh of a fox, or valuable to them 

 in its fur, bethought themselves that the present opportunity was a 

 good one to put a little money into their own pockets, and to bene- 

 fit the neighbourhood by thinning the noxious vermin. Wherefore, 

 without the aid of hounds and horses, these poor men soon captured 

 a brace of foxes, which they carried to the new hunting establishment, 

 and claimed a small reward for their well-timed services. Let us 

 fancy for a moment the dismal faces of the master and his huntsman, 

 when the two foxes were taken dead out of the bag, and placed at 

 their feet. They raved and swore in such a manner that the poor 

 countrymen, without waiting for the expected reward, took to their 

 heels as fast as they could go, and deemed themselves fortunate in 

 being able to escape with a sound skin. Ever since this scene 

 occurred, I can well conceive the horror and contempt in which 

 the Italian boors hold our scarlet-coated gentlemen, whom they 

 believe to have come from the far North to teach them a new 

 mode of thinning foxes, at the risk of life, by rashness and by 

 falls from horseback. Whilst we ourselves were in Rome, the 

 master of the hunt took a random leap, and broke his neck on the 

 spot. 



Some five and fifty years ago, I was at a fox-hunt which I shall 

 never forget. We threw off with customary pomp and zeal, but 

 ended with a farce ludicrous in the extreme. It so affected the 

 noble owner of the hounds, that he lost all temper, and made 

 grimaces as though he had been stung by pismires. In the after- 

 noon, after a good run, we found ourselves on the extensive line of 

 covers, which stretch from Newmillerdam up to Woolley Edge, 

 through Kings Wood and Bush Cliff. The fox was obstinate, and 

 would not break cover, but stuck closely to the woods at Newmiller- 



