THE EARTH-STOi'J'ER 101 



question to put is, whether it is Hkely that a man can be 

 depended on to get up long before daylight in the coldest and 

 most dreary part of the winter, to stop a cold earth and leave 

 the warmer clay by his side. It's all very well for men to say 

 ' yes ! ' and that they know they do their duty properly, for 

 they have sent down to ascertain it. Ascertain what ? that 

 the earths were stopt before it was light. What matters that ? 

 how long before light does a fox go to ground at this time, 

 when it is not light much before eight o'clock, this being three 

 hours later than at other parts of the season ; and they are 

 ' consequently more often stopt after the fox has gone in than 

 before, and a very little ingenuity will extort this fact from an 

 Earth-stopper, that he has often found his stopping removed 

 by a fox scratching out when he has gone to take it out him- 

 self next morning, which accounts for many blank da3'S." 



Some amusing productions used to be published a few years 

 ago, under the title of " Sporting Almanacks," and assuredly, 

 as far as making sport went, they were rightly named. In 

 them the commencement of hunting used to be iixed as 

 accurately as Horncastle Fair or Doncaster Races. Such a 

 day of September hare-hunting commenced — such a day of 

 October fox-hunting began, without any reference whatever to 

 the seasons. Earth-stopping is dealt with in a similar way by 

 certain sporting compilers — between such an hour and such 

 an hour the Stopper is directed to be at his work, without 

 reference to weather, season, localities, moon, or anything, 

 just as if foxes had their dressing and dinner bells, and went 

 to feed with the punctuality of their pursuers. " We may be 

 wrong," as Mr. Meynell used to say, but we take it foxes re- 

 semble a gay club-living bachelor, much more than a punctual 

 six o'clock family man. They like their chicken, or lamb 

 chops, just at their own time, without the restraint of specified 

 hours. Reynard may have fallen in with something dainty 

 in the middle of the day, and may not feel inclined to turn out 



