2 Ikings of tbe t)unttnc(*3fielD 



place of honour among beasts of the Chase ? And 

 when were hounds first entered solely to fox? These 

 are questions more easily asked than answered. Fox- 

 hunting, as we understand the term, is probably not more 

 than a hundred and fifty years old. 



The squires of the early part of the seventeenth 

 century had little respect for the fox. So far from 

 Reynard's being preserved, there was a price set upon 

 his head. The sum of one penny was paid by the 

 parish authorities for every fox's mask, and these 

 trophies were nailed to the door of the Parish Church. 

 This curious fact I find stated in the diary of Nicholas 

 Assheton of Downham, near Clitheroe, in Lancashire, 

 written in the years 1617 and 161 8. From the same 

 source I learn that there was no close time for foxes, 

 and they were as often coursed by greyhounds as 

 hunted with hounds. If a fox could not be found, a 

 rabbit or a badger would suit the sportsman just as well. 

 Here is an entry of the diarist to the point : — 



^ June 2\th. — To Worstow Brook. Tryed for a foxe : 

 found nothing. Towler lay at a rabbit, and wee stayed 

 and wrought and took him. Home to Downham to 

 a foot race. 



'■June 2$th. — I hounded and killed a bitch foxe. After 

 that to Salthill. There wee had a bowson (badger). 

 Wee wrought him out and killed him.' 



From which I gather that the hounds, like their 

 master, were not particular what game they hunted. 



With the eighteenth century the fox rose into greater 

 prominence, though still ranked far below both the stag 

 and the hare in the category of sport. 



