THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 189 



will tread in the steps of their forefathers. A receptacle 

 of this kind, which has balked you once, will as surely 

 prove a future source of annoyance. This, with the 

 exception of main earths, which may occasionally be 

 neglected, can generally be provided for. We have 

 in the vale of Hexton, and Shilhngton, many very 

 large drains in the chalky lands, extending the 

 whole length of the field, for the purpose of carrying 

 off the torrents from the hills, which otherwise might 

 alluviate the soil. Mr. Smith, in his glossary, calls 

 a drain " Under ground, where foxes often rmi to." 

 The word has much the same acceptation in our 

 country ; and a terrible nuisance it has occasionally 

 proved, marring the promise of the finest runs, shortly 

 after a fox has betaken himself to the bottoms. It is 

 next to impossible to dig out, unless a corps of sappers 

 and miners were on the spot to excavate the land from 

 one extremity to the other. These drains should each 

 be faced with an iron grating ; or, should this be con- 

 sidered too troublesome or expensive, they may, at least, 

 be guarded against the ingress of anything approaching 

 to the size of a fox, by stakes driven perpendicularly 

 in front of the entrance. To this proceeding it is not 

 likely that the proprietor will raise any tenable ob- 

 jection. 



Having in this chapter endeavoured to render an 

 account of one fox, I shall not draw for a second ; pre- 



