LORD MIDDLETON. 141 



A thousand authentic anecdotes have been told, by 

 different writers, of the fox ; but we do not remember one 

 that records such a remarkable instance of the strength and 

 perseverance of that animal, equal to this : — Within our 

 remembrance, a vixen deposited her cubs in a retired place 

 very near to the walls of Warwick Castle. One of the 

 domestics, aware of the circumstance, frequent!)- visited the 

 spot, merely from a wish to see how the dam provided for 

 her offspring in that place. To his great astonishment, 

 however, he soon found that the dam kept a larder almost 

 as well stored as that of his master's cook, and could boast 

 of being provided, in her way, with as great a variety of 

 dainties. The remains of hares, rabbits, partridges, ducks, 

 fowls, and of some small birds, lay strewed about the 

 kennel ; and the havoc increased daily imtil the cubs had 

 in part left the place. ' The business of the victualling-office 

 department is devlish well managed, at any rate,' exclaimed 

 our informant, one day, as he picked up a fine young cock 

 turkey, within three or four paces of the kennel, under one 

 of the shrubs. The bird was not bitten any where but on 

 the neck, and the finder, acting practically upon the adage, 

 that there is no harm in taking from a thief, bore off the 

 prize; and, making some of his fellow- servants acquainted 

 with his good luck, they had it dressed for supper at a 

 public-house in the town. The turkey weighed 17lb. and 

 as one of a similar description was lost from a farm house 

 about a mile off at that time, M'e may presume it was the 

 same, and that the vixen fox had not only dragged or 

 carried the turkey the whole of that distance, but had 

 swam with it across a wide part of the river Avon. 



