228 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



to all I have ever heard or seen, blank days have 

 been only to be apprehended in the worst weather ; 

 after blustering nights, succeeded by bad mornings, 

 when there has been httle chance of a fox having en- 

 countered the roughness of the night, and as httle pros- 

 pect of sport, if found. The idea of his being above 

 ground, in bad scenting weather, and out of the way, in 

 good, is truly laughable to us, because, in our country, 

 the result is diametrically opposite. With us, it is, 

 " better day, better deed," and we never make so sure 

 of finding as upon a day most propitious for the pur- 

 pose. Moreover, such an assertion is, at best, most 

 illogical, as it goes to prove, that what we have sup- 

 posed a good hunting day, is, in plain English, a bad one. 

 If a fox be wanting upon a good scenting day, it is far 

 more probable that the weather was favourable for his 

 nocturnal rambles, and that the earth-stopper, instead 

 of being in bed, did his duty in barring him out before 

 his return home, and did not, in sea phrase, batten him 

 down under hatches. A fox, which has been more than 

 once hunted, need not wind anything, to fancy some- 

 thing in the wind, on finding no admittance, even on 

 business, in his own threshold. His knowledge of 

 scent, like that of Hudibras, enables him to " smell a 

 rat," and he may frequently shew that he is "up to 

 snuff," by making himself scarce ; may leave his lodg- 

 ing in the scrubs, to lie in clover, or on beds of down. 



