Beasts of Chase. 233 



After all this, the poet — the poet, remember — says this — 



*' Thus the poor hare, 

 A puny, dastard animal, diverts the youthful train. " 



The fox — what an endless theme the mere name sug- 

 gests ! The stanchest pen might well despair of running 

 down a creature of such interminable breath, such im- 

 measurable craft. 



A proverb says that all the cloth of Ghent, if it were 

 turned into parchment, would not hold the stories of vulpine 

 perfidy and sagacity, and though several scholars have 

 devoted themselves to the "epic exploit" of this little 

 animal, it seems to be far from exhausted. Yet its character 

 is by no means altogether despicable. Bacon and Machia- 

 velli say that for success a little of the fox is indispensable. 

 Pope has a line to the effect that " the lion's skin is length- 

 ened by the fox's tail " — a repetition of Lysander's apothegm, 

 " When the lion's skin does not suffice, add on that of the 

 fox." 



Fortunately the poets' fox has but one aspect — the dis- 

 peopler of the poultry-yard. It eats chickens, therefore it 

 should be vindictively hunted to death. 



In the East the fox is not a familiar beast It lives a 

 secluded life, and seldom haunts the abodes of men. The 

 jackal, therefore, is the original of those Oriental myths 

 which European fabulists have adapted, and wherein the 

 Western fox takes the place of its foreign congener. The 

 two animals have very much in common in habits and 

 character, though the fox is the superior in physical en- 

 durance, speed, and, perhaps, courage. I qualify my 

 opinion on the last point, because it may be that the 

 appearance of inferior pluck in the jackal may be really 

 only due to an extra measure of that astute discretion 

 which has made this animal the foremost figure in myth 

 and folk-lore. 



