322 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



ample of the Squire of C n. I have not selected 



him as a solitary instance of joint game and fox preserv- 

 ing in the whole of our country, there were many others 

 who followed his example, but they were proprietors of 

 fox coverts, which this gentleman was not — he had no 

 such thing as a real fox covert upon the whole of his 

 property. The places we found foxes in were small 

 plantations of fir and alder of about three or four acres, 

 none exceeding ten, and I should not have had any just 

 cause of complaint had I drawn such places, season after 

 season, without finding a fox. Masters of hounds know 

 tolerably well where they ought to find foxes — in coverts 

 natural to them, and where from time immemorial they 

 have been known always to resort ; but when we find 

 them in small spinies such as these were, we feel a 

 double obligation to men, who thus go out of their way 

 to cater for the public amusement. This gentleman 

 turned down young foxes in these places (when there 

 were none bred on the spot) among all his host of hares 

 and pheasants, and made his keepers feed them with 

 rabbits. We honour and respect men of such public 

 spirited feelings as these, to whom all honour is due. 



But why are we to spare game-preservers of a different 

 class, who spare neither us nor our foxes ? We will not 

 admit that foxes are fed hy the game-preserver, and him 

 only. We know that a stray hare or wounded pheasant 

 may occasionally be purloined from a great man's pre- 

 serves by Mr. Reynolds, and small blame to him for so 

 doing ; but we know also that a fox feeds upon rabbits, 

 mice, beetles, and other such small fry, and that he does 

 sometimes pay a visit to a farm-yard if it lies in his beat, 

 and carry away a fowl from a poor whining farmer , who, 



