THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 257 



desperate fight they will make over the country upon 

 their rough hobbies, whenever they have opportunity. 

 Still, an aversion to foxes is born with the majority of 

 the craft, notwithstanding the now well-established and 

 indisputable fact, that pheasants and foxes will flourish 

 abundantly together. 



" Lapis et agnis quanta sortito ohtigit* 

 Tecum raihi discordia est." 



This is exactly descriptive of the sort of innate feeling 

 with which a thorough-bred gamekeeper regards a fox ; 

 and it cannot be denied, that there are times and sea- 

 sons when " Mr. Reynolds" tries his patience. Some 

 affirm that the cunning rogue will watch the incubation 

 of hen pheasants, deferring the slaughter of the old bird 

 till the repast is enriched, not only by poached eggs, but 

 by the callow brood, just ready to break the bondage of 

 the shell. No fox-hunter — I may say, no sportsman — will 

 grudge the little loss which they may occasion, of a few 

 birds, which might have served for the diversion of some 

 one man. The direction of one doubly-perforated piece 

 of iron, cannot stand in competition with the sport of 

 hundreds on horseback ; but this is not to the point, or, as 

 the keeper himself would say, " neither here nor there ;" 

 — "f/e gustihus non est disputandum ;' — we must not 

 quarrel with a man's taste, if he be determined to protect 

 every head of his game from all invaders. I would 



* " ov£i \vKoi rt Km apvig bf^iofpova 9vn6v ixovaiv, 

 dXXa KaKcc (pf)ot'tov<n diaj-iinpeg aWijXoimv.'^ 



Homer's II. 

 17 



