" EARTH "-STOPPING. 65 



interruptingly ; "but what's that what have you 

 got there ? " 



"This, sir? Lor' blesh ye! this is the earth 

 where that ould vixen lived as gave you such a 

 run last winter : I've know'd a litter o' seven whelps 

 reared in this hole, an'' heard 'em yelping an' howl- 

 ing o' the summer evenings as if the' wondered 

 when upon airth cub 'untiug 'ould begin ! " 



This was the climax, usually. 'No martyr ever 

 suffered more than I used to carry home to break- 

 fast imo sub pectore, by way of travesty to 'my 

 over-night's imaginative enjoyment at the paper- 

 prospect of large inclosures and unimpeded plough- 

 shares. 



But the day of compensation came at last ; and 

 with it came my first discovery of the extraordinary 

 sluep-siglitedness of spade-and-mattock-wielding hu- 

 manity. Not till the fence was clear away, bank, 

 thorns, pollards, ash-trees, rabbit-holes, fox-earths, 

 and all, did I hear the exclamation 



"Well! this is a wonderful alteration to be sure; 

 why, I never thought to see it look in this way! 

 It's quite a beautiful field now!" 



"One cheer for THE MAP after all!" quoth I to 

 myself, as at next candle-light, down I sat again 

 over the bird's-eye view of acres which I now 



