260 WILD SCENES AND WILD HUNTERS. 



ceeds in digging out the poor fox, he will receive from five 

 to seven dollars for the valuable skin, which would be a con- 

 siderable advance upon what he gets for fair and honorable 

 labor. 



Alas ! poor Reynard, for all the dignity of ancient asso- 

 ciations, 



" To what base uses do we come at last." 



The countryman throws off his coat, goes doggedly to work, 

 and, after hours of digging, perhaps succeeds in dragging out 

 and knocking the poor beast upon the head, and then swings 

 the inglorious trophy upon his back to trudge away, triumph- 

 ing in the prospective dollars. It may be he has to smoke 

 poor Reynard to death in his hole, or else knock him on the 

 nose as he rushes forth to the fresh air. 



Truly this may be called " Crucigera," the cross-bearing 

 variety of the genus, since it is subjected to such unorthodox 

 and savage modes of persecution, which certainly entitle it to 

 the crown of martyrdom, if not to the meeker glory of bear- 

 ing the cross for the sins of all its wicked and witty family. 

 Indeed, all the twelve tribes, in whatever part of the world 

 they are found, may be said to "bear the cross" of slander 

 and unmerited abuse from the whole quadrupidal kingdom. 



But Reynard having somehow mysteriously, got a bad name 

 for himself, is made amenable for all the cunning, sly, 

 audacious things done among the animals, and is therefore 

 considered, and really known to be, a grievously wicked per- 

 son. 



"It is no harm to abuse a poor devil whom the world 

 unites in abusing," is the magnanimous motto of the mob, 

 and poor Reynard has the full benefit of it, in an amount of 

 obloquy and buffeting which would surely have been sufficient 

 to chasten and reform the life of any but such an incorrigible. 



I rather think he glories in bearing the cross, and courts 

 martyrdom. I can perceive no symptoms of amendment. 



