THE NOBLE SCIENCE, 239 



conscience, large enough, and as much as any hounds 

 could hunt fairly, in four days per week ; but till the 

 year 1835, it had, for upwards of twenty years, been 

 enriched by a considerable slice of Bedfordshire, of 

 which we had remained during the whole of that period 

 in undisturbed possession, and of which we should natu- 

 rally have been most tenacious. As soon, however, as 

 this portion became needful to the Oakley Hunt, it was 

 reclaimed by them upon the due advance of proof, that 

 our right had been never otherwise established than as a 

 right on sufferance ; the grant having been originally 

 made under cover of a distinct stipulation, that it might, 

 at any time, be resumed at pleasure. The validity of 

 this claim was beyond dispute ; and much that is dis- 

 agreeable would probably be spared, if all concessions 

 were guarded by such restrictions, or formally and 

 finally consigned by a deed of gift, wherever there is 

 the remotest possibility of any misunderstanding of the 

 wide distinction between " meum et tuimi." There can 

 be no harm, but, on the contrary, much good, in the 

 feeling of give and take, which may enable the master 

 of one country to offer, as an accommodation, or con- 

 cede to the request of another, the permission to draw 

 any particular covert upon certain occasions, attended 

 with advantage to the one, and devoid of prejudice to 

 the other ; but from such circumstances as these it will 

 not do to found a precedent. It is highly necessary 

 that the nature of such grant should be highly under- 

 stood at the time, or the lapse of a very few years may 



