FOX HUNTING. 9 



General Washington was born on February 

 22d, 1732, so that he was fifty-five years of age 

 when he was still riding vigorously to hounds and 

 keeping the diary of his hunts. From Washing- 

 ton Irving's Life of General Washington we learn 

 that at the age of sixteen he was tall, athletic, 

 and manly for his years, and that he became the 

 hunting companion of Lord Fairfax, who was a 

 staunch fox hunter and kept horses and hounds 

 in the English style — that he found Washington 

 to be as bold as himself in the saddle and as eager 

 to follow the hounds; aiid that it was probably 

 under the tuition of this hard riding old noble- 

 man that the youthful Washington imbibed that 

 fondness for the chase for which he was after- 

 wards remarked. 



CHAPTER II. 



RED FOXES. 



The red fox hunted in the Atlantic States, 

 in which English, Irish, or French gentlemen 

 first settled, who were lovers of the hunting 

 sport, was probably brought here by them, with 

 the fox hounds, that they might indulge in this in- 

 vigorating and exciting pastime on horseback, as 

 they had been accustomed to in the old country. 

 Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania seem to be 



