FOX-HUNTING 145 



ally kept down, for a past generation to save 

 the day's sport by resorting to a bagman, 

 the reader must not be shocked if I confess 

 to being a living witness to what in charity 

 we may ascribe to an hereditary tendency. 

 After all, there was more excuse for them 

 than for some noblemen. They at least dug 

 out the wild fox from the sea-cliffs, while 

 the fashionable game preserver, or the titled 

 vulpicide, purchased his fox in Leaden- 

 hall. 



I have just turned up an old ballad which 

 I have never seen in print, and as it touches 

 on the subject, I may as well give it a 

 place here, premising, however, that I 

 cannot but think it is libellous, looking 

 to the way in which subsequent bearers 

 of the title of Lonsdale have associated 



10 



