6 HUNTING THE FOX 



life he is to be found. He can perhaps best be 

 described as the spiritual descendant of that often- 

 quoted band of reformers who wished to put a 

 stop to bear-baiting not because it gave pain to 

 the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the 

 spectators. The only pressure to which Fox- 

 hunting might have to yield to a certain degree 

 in some countries does not proceed from any 

 prejudice against sport, but is purely economic in 

 its character. The national need for houses or 

 gardens, or public works, may by common con- 

 sent become more imperative in certain suburban 

 districts than the national need for the local Hunt, 

 which may fail to sustain what has probably been 

 for many years somewhat of a spoon-fed existence. 

 Changes of this kind are purely local, and will 

 have no effect on hunting as a whole. Let us 

 not forget that Foxes were once hunted and killed 

 in Mayfair and Kensington, and that hunting did 

 not cease in the British Isles because Lord Berkeley 

 was no longer able to kennel his Hounds at Charing 

 Cross. For every pack that was disestablished 

 by the expansion of cities, others were formed in 

 rural districts, until we now have more packs of 

 Foxhounds in the United Kingdom than ever we 

 had before. 



There remains one cardinal principle with 

 regard to the spirit of Fox-hunting. If it is to 

 retain its vigour, it must never become the privilege 



