BEASTS OF THE CHASE. THE FOX. 69 



not a brave fox have headache, or toothache, or dyspepsia, or 

 some ailment which he feels for the time incapacitates him 

 from doing justice to himself, and to the pack whose prowess 

 he has learnt rightly to esteem ? May he not laudably wish to 

 reserve himself for some future day, when, in the full vigour of 

 matured strength and perfect health, he will be ready to try 

 conclusions over that ten-mile point which is recorded in the 

 annals of his county hunt to have been safely traversed by 

 his predecessors ? 



Who can tell ? And why should we condemn him unheard ? 

 If, on the other hand, he just saves his brush at the end of a 

 good thing by going to ground a few yards in front of the 

 leading hound, we are told ' The hounds deserve him ; he was 

 dead beat ; sure to die in the night,' &c. All this may be true, 

 but he is a hardy, good-constitutioned brute, used to roughing 

 it, and will, no doubt, gladly take his chance of recovery from 

 over-exertion ; and as for the hounds, they get plenty of blood 

 in the course of the season, let them for once go without these 

 deserts ; they are perfectly aware that, though baffled, they have 

 not been beaten ; so why not spare him ? What he has done 

 once, he may, and probably will, do again ; and next time, 

 perchance, the euthanasia in the open shall reflect the more 

 credit upon all parties concerned. 



Nevertheless, we are aware that it is good for foxes to 

 understand that subterranean fortresses are not absolutely im- 

 pregnable. We know also that farmers may grumble if the 

 cherished marauder is permitted too often to laugh at the 

 beard of the huntsman. ' Circumstances alter cases,' was a 

 favourite maxim with the late Lord Beaconsfield though we 

 forbear giving his favourite illustration thereof. 



When all is said and done, the decision to dig or not to dig 

 must, and should be, left to the judgment of the master. He can 

 hardly be expected to summon a jury of his fellow-sportsmen 

 on the spot, still less to take a verdict from the down or up- 

 turned thumbs of the whole field ; on him and on him alone 

 rests the ultimate responsibility, let us hope that he may usually 



