258 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



and preserve them for the like purpose. They, too, 

 would do harm enough. There would at all events 

 be some show of manliness in hunting them as 

 dangerous animals, and they would be quite as 

 useless as the fox when killed." 



The " Knight of the most noble Order of St. 

 Francis " had been in his younger days a keen fly- 

 fisher, and therefore he is made to give an account 

 of his opinion on that head. Mr. De Bracy has to 

 admit his former devotion to the gentle art. " ' But/ 

 asks Sir Plantagenet, ' you think differently now ? ' 



" Mr. De Bracy. I do ; that is to say, I find much 

 more pleasure in other things. 



" Sir Plantagenet. Then you do not blame those 

 who do follow those pursuits ? 



" Mr. De Bracy. Far from it ; as I said before, I 

 have not a word to say against them when practised 

 in moderation and in the old-fashioned and sports- 

 man-like manner. 



"Sir Plantagenet. Then what difference do you 

 draw between fox-hunting, shooting, and fly-fishing ? 



"Mr. De Bracy. All the difference in the world. 

 Shooting and fishing are useful for procuring good 

 food for the use of man. The fox is of no use. 

 There is also the cruelty in his case, which there is 

 not in the others. 



" Sir Plantagenet. But there is cruelty in the case 

 of wounded birds sometimes ? 



" Mr. De Bracy. There is suffering I do not call it 

 cruelty to some, and every one is sorry for it. It 

 is a drawback from the pleasure of every sportsman. 



