RIDING OVER WHEAT. 291 



columns is, that I flatter myself they apply to the subject, and 

 are what the lawyers would call ' cases in point.' 



" I am informed upon the indisputable authority of an inti- 

 mate friend, who was well acquainted with the late Lord 

 Y — b — h, that his Lordship was in the constant habit of making 

 compensation to all the farmers of the country over which he 

 hunted, who could lay claim for any injury done to their crops. 

 After a very wet season, he sent for one farmer in particular, 

 the proprietor of a field by the side of a favourite covert, to 

 which, owing to the scarcity of foxes in other parts of the hunt, 

 they had been obliged to have constant recourse. At the end 

 of the season this field was literally destroyed, to all appearance 

 — not a vestige of a blade of wheat being visible, and the soil 

 in every part resembling that of a muddy lane. — ' I have sent 

 for you,' said Lord Y — b — h to the farmer, ' to offer you the 

 fair value of the wheat field, which was so trampled upon last 

 season, that T fear you must have been wholly disappointed of 

 your harvest.' — ' On no account, my lord (replied this true 

 specimen of an English farmer), — upon no account can I con- 

 sent to take a farthing of remuneration. So far from the dis- 

 appointment, for which I was prepared, never in any previous 

 year have I had so good a crop as has been reaped this harvest in 

 that very field, which, at the close of hunting, looked truly- 

 unpromising enough.' 



" To this I shall add but one more, from the numberless 

 instances which I could quote from my own observation. I 

 was expressing my opinion upon this topic very lately to Lord 

 G — e, and was rejoiced to find one so competent to judge of 

 agricultural matters thoroughly agreeing with me. He assured 

 me that, on his estate in Sussex, he had a field, last season, 

 sown with a peculiar sort of wheat, remarkable for its tender- 

 ness, and on that account he had endeavoured to preserve it. 

 Owing, however, to chance, he found this impossible. The 

 hounds ran frequently over it, and, upon one occasion, killed their 

 fox in the centre (near a bush which enabled him to mark the 

 spot), followed, of course, by every horse within reach of the 

 scene. To his surprise, the crop very much exceeded his utmost 

 expectations, and was thicker and finer on and around the 

 spot where, by the death of the fox, it had been more trampled 

 upon than in any other part. 



19—2 



