162 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



the rabbits tlio poorer classes would be driven 

 by starvation to the butcher instead of to the 

 poulterer or dealer in rabbits, or they must eke 

 out an existence on potatoes and bread. 



Now, holding to the theme of the waste lands 

 which the revilers of all that is respectable put 

 forward, I grant that, at the present moment, 

 there is an enormous acreage of hitherto un- 

 productive land — unproductive of food, of pleasure, 

 or of profit that might be turned into sites for 

 warrens^ and by the sites inillions of i)ounds of 

 delicate and wholesome meat might thus be added 

 and made cheaply available to the poor. The skins 

 of rabbits pay well, the meat from the rabbits can 

 always be sold at a remunerative though at a cheaj) 

 price ; and then the paunches of the rabbit can 

 be made to do, — as to my certain knowledge they 

 are at this moment made to do in parts of Ireland, 

 — they will keep a poor man's j)ig till he is " top^Dcd 

 up " witli a little meal for fattening. There are 

 districts in Ireland where the labouring classes 

 are glad to kill the rabbits for a proprietor, in 

 instances where they have increased too nnicli, 

 and tlie proprietor cannot spare the time of other 

 servants to do it; the reward of these labourers 



