224 THE HORSE. 



SECTION XXXIV.— The Field. 



The fox, hare, and deer, are the chief beasts of 

 venery, or chase, in this country. In a moral view, 

 nothing can be fairly alleged against the use of this 

 sport, however much may be advanced against its 

 abuse ; since from nature and necessity, men were ori- 

 ginally impelled to the chase of wild animals for their 

 subsistence ; nature also having endowed one class of 

 animals, that of the hound especially, with the neces- 

 sary qualifications of scent, and speed, and power of 

 continuance, together with a peculiar and ardent desire 

 for the pursuit. The chase, however, it must be ac- 

 knowledged, is the more appropriate sport of waste 

 and uncultivated, than of countries having a dense 

 population, and thence requiring the far greater part 

 of the soil for the culture of the first necessaries of 

 subsistence ; but in a rich and luxurious country, like 

 ours, where in consequence, diversion and dissipa- 

 tion become necessaries of life, the national waste and 

 damage from hunting is overlooked and tolerated, on 

 the ground of the national ability to sustain the ex- 

 pense. Nevertheless, in the view of the law, accord- 

 ing to the exposition of the late Lord Ellenborough, 

 no man has a right to hunt upon the lands of an- 

 other, without permission. This matter, however, 

 chiefly concerning landlord and tenant, and the te- 

 nantry in general being equally attached to the 

 sport with the lords of the soil, a tacit and implied, 

 or specific convention, is universal between the par- 

 ties. Considerate landlords are in the habit of 

 making compensation to the tenantry, in the case of 



