GAME -PRESERVING UNDER DIFFICULTIES 11 



took up the running again on the men. The men and the dog 

 all turned down a narrow path into the village of Harlington, 

 and in another hundred yards they would have been safe in the 

 houses : it was with no small delight then, that, when I reached 

 the corner, I saw one of the men fixed, and the dog lying in the 

 path before him with a significance of manner, that if he moved 

 he would be fastened on. I came up, collared the offender, and 

 returned to Cranford House in triumph with my prisoner. I 

 have never satisfactorily comprehended why Grumbo did not 

 seize this man ; and the only way I can account for it is, that 

 the dog had still some doubt whether the cow or the man was 

 the game of the day. By use and method, this dog was made 

 to do everything. There are many qualities in animals, in 

 which they are supposed by the vulgar to be deficient, but which 

 are only inert for the want of being properly called forth. 

 Whipping and ill-usage will not bring such gifts to light ; it can 

 only be done by kindness and example. 



At the time that I possessed Grumbo, my brother Moreton 

 and myself preserved the game at Cranford ; and for the size of 

 the covers and estate, no place had such a stock of pheasants 

 and hares. It was but a thousand acres in all, on the outside of 

 which Brentford, Isleworth, Twickenham, and indeed London, 

 furnished a certified set of marauders, to destroy all living things 

 that did not return home to our covers before the 1st of 

 September. 



At break of day, on the 1st of September, for an hour there 

 was a running fire, indeed 



" A squadron's charge each leveret's heart dismayed, 

 On every cover fired a bold brigade." 



To remedy this evil, we drove the outskirts in, so soon as the 

 gathering of the corn would permit us ; and on the 1st of 

 September I always went forth and began to bag every hare and 

 partridge I could get near, at break of day. During the pre- 

 servation of the game, of course, we occasionally met with some 

 difficulties. In the first instance, an old farmer and tenant, who 



