BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



Again the crowd attack. Tl)at spear has pierc'd 



His neck ; the crimson waves confess the wound. 



Fix'd is the bearded lance, unwelcome guest 



Where'er he flies; with him it sinks beneath. 



With him it mounts ; sure guide to ev'rv foe. 



Inlv he CToans, nor can his tender wound 



Bear the cold stream. So ! to von sedgy bank 



He creeps disconsolate; his numerous foes 



Surround him, hounds and men. PiercVl thro' and thro' 



On pointed spears they lift him high in air; 



Wriggling he hangs, and grins, and bites in vain : 



Bid the loud horns, in gaily-warbling strains, 



Proclaim the felon's fate; he dies, he dies. 



Kejoice, ye scaly tribes, and leaping dance 



Above the waves, in sign of liberty 



Restored ; the cruel tyrant is no more.' 



Otter-hunting had gone out of fashion in the earUer years 

 of the nineteenth century. It ' was formerly considered 

 excellent sport,' says Daniel by way of introducing his account 

 of the method. He proceeds to say that it ' has still however 

 its staunch admirers, who are aj^parently as zealous in this 

 pursuit as in any other we read of. In 1796, near Bridgenorth, 

 on the River Ware, four otters were killed ; one stood three, 

 another four hours before the dogs and was scarcely a minute 

 out of sight. The hearts, etc., were dressed and eaten by many 

 respectable people who attended the hunt and allowed to be 

 very delicious.' I wonder what that ' etc' covers. 



On the other hand, there were those who held a very poor 

 opinion of it. Mr. T. B. Johnson, who wrote the Hunting 

 Directory in 1826, says : ' It is at present but little followed. 

 Of all field amusements otter-hunting is perhaps the least 

 interesting. Foxhounds, harriers, or indeed any kind of hounds, 

 will pursue the otter : though the dog chiefly used for the 

 purpose has been produced by a cross between the southern 

 hound and the water spaniel. Those who have never witnessed 

 otter-hunting, may form a tolerable notion of the business by 

 imagining to the mind a superior duck-hunt.' 



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