THE EARTH-STOPPER 109 



is. First of all, it's ten to one that the old blunder- 

 buss will go off; secondly, if it does go off, it's twenty 

 to one but the farmer misses, and the fox will know 

 just as well as him that he has got something in his 

 hand, and will take good care not to let him come 

 within reach." Good logic in the mountains, but not 

 in the vales. Contrast it with the doings in Hertford- 

 shire as described by Mr. Delme Radcliffe, who truly 

 says that a fox there is worth his weight in gold. 

 Speaking of the fees to keepers he says : — 



" In the first place, I condemn the fixed price set 

 upon each day's amusement, the extravagance of the 

 terms upon which hounds leave their kennel, as likely 

 to operate, at some time or other, seriously against 

 bye-days ; and as an increase of contingent expense 

 which might well be spared. Secondly, I assert, that 

 with all the good will and support of the nobility, 

 squirearchy, and yeomanry, the Master of Hounds in 

 this, or any other similarly circumstanced country, is 

 virtually at the mercy of Gamekeepers and Earth- 

 stoppers. For every fox that is found, from one 

 end of the country to the other, the sum of one 

 sovereign is booked, allowed, and regularly paid. 

 The fees of Earth-stoppers, from half-a-crown to ten 

 or fifteen shillings, according to the number of stops 

 within the province of each, amount on the average 

 to four pounds per diem. Thus, supposing that the 

 sport is limited to the finding of one fox, we start 

 with an expense of five pounds as the smallest tax 

 upon the day, independent of all the inevitable wear 

 and tear. So long as the subordinates have as much 

 interest in foxes as farmers have in their stock or any 

 kind of property, it is not to be wondered that the 

 animal abounds ; and it is equally clear that it would 

 be better that they should cost two sovereigns each, 

 than that the stock should be diminished, seeing that 

 there is no medium — that they are, or are not, that 

 they are altogether preserved, or utterly destroyed — 



