SEASONS 1841 -1869. 



1 09 



as there were in the fifties and sixties, before the breech- 

 loader became a fetich. Then there was not such a thine 

 as a cycle in the land, and barbed wire was unknown ; and 

 though happily the York and Ainsty are not much troubled 

 with that pest at the present time, yet none is surely better 

 than a little. Yes, we may endeavour to disguise the fact 

 as we may, but it will obtrude itself for all that, — in spite of 

 the popularity which hunting enjoys at the present day, and 

 of the strong hold which it undoubtedly has acquired as 

 our leading winter sport, the fo.x is an animal not held in 

 such respect as he was when Sir Charles Slingsby carried 

 the horn in the York and Ainsty country. 



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