Poaching Villages. 215 



and non-poaching villages. Out of a dozen or more 

 parishes forming a petty sessional district one or two 

 will become notorious for this propensity. The bench 

 never meet without a case from them, either for actual 

 poaching or some cognate offence. The drinking, 

 fighting, dishonesty, low gambling, seem ceaseless — 

 like breeding like — till the place becomes a nest of ras- 

 cality. Men hang about at the public-houses all day, 

 betting on horses, loitering ; a blight seems to fall upon 

 them, and a bad repute clings to the spot for years after 

 the evil itself has been eradicated. 



If a weak keeper gets among such a set as this he 

 succumbs ; and the same cause hastens the moral 

 decay of the constable. The latter has a most diffi- 

 cult part to maintain. If he is disposed to carry out 

 the strict letter of his instructions, that does not do — 

 there is a prejudice against too much severity. 

 English feeling is anti-Draconian ; and even the 

 respectable inhabitants would rather endure some 

 little rowdyism than witness an over interference with 

 liberty. If the constable is good-natured, and loth to 

 take strong measures, he either becomes a semi- 

 accomplice or sinks to a nonentity. It is difficult to 

 find a man capable of controlling such a class ; it 

 requires tact, and something of the gift of governing 

 men. 



