THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 147 



mous account of the fox which had afforded " the hunt- 

 ing of that day." 



Some amusing stories are on record, of the supply of 

 refreshments, and of the scenes which such occasions 

 furnished. It must be remembered, that this '' beginning 

 of their end" was not later, probably, than the hour of 

 our own commencement ; but a party of our forefathers, 

 in the act of besieouno^ a main earth, must have formed 

 a humorous subject for the pencil of an artist. 



The practice of taking into the field a number of 

 hounds, such as Somerville, in his day, censures as 



" That numerous pack, tliat crowd of stats, 

 With which the vain profusion of the great 

 Covers the lawn, and shakes the trembling copse," — 



has long been discontinued, for the very reasons described 

 by the same poet.""'" Hounds should work in concert; 

 eighteen or twenty couples are enough for any but very 

 large woodlands ; they should spread well, so as to draw 

 closely every quarter, but it is useless to think of hurry- 

 ing over, or, as it is termed, letting them run through 

 more than a certain portion at once. Nothing is more 

 disheartening to fox preservers, and gamekeepers, than 

 drawing over their foxes ; there are some days when a 



* " Pompous encumbrance ! a magnificence 

 Useless, vexatious ! for the wily fox. 

 Safe in the increasing number of his foes, 

 Kens well the great advantage : shrinks behind, 

 And slily creeps through the same beaten track. 

 And hunts them, step by step ; then views escaped 

 With inward ecstasy, the panting throng 

 In their own footsteps puzzled, foiled, and lost." 



10—2 



