104 THE HUNTING FIELD 



day's amusement, the extravagance of the terms upon which 

 hounds leave their kennel, as likch- to operate, at some time 

 or other, seriously against b3'e-days ; and as an increase of 

 contingent expense which might well be spared. Secondly, I 

 assert, that with all the good will and support of the nobility, 

 squirearchy, and yeomanry, the Master of Hounds in this, or 

 any other similarly circumstanced countrj', is virtually at the 

 mercy of Gamekeepers and Earth-stoppers. For every fox 

 that is found, from one end of the country to the other, the 

 sum of one sovereign is booked, allowed, and regularly paid. 

 The fees of Earth-stoppers, from half-a-crown to ten or fifteen 

 shillings, according to the number of stops within the pro\-ince 

 of each, amount on the average to four pounds per diem. 

 Thus, supposing that the sport is limited to the finding of one 

 fox, we start with an expense of five pounds as the smallest 

 tax upon the day, independent of all the inevitable wear and 

 tear. So long as the subordinates have as much interest in 

 foxes as farmers have in their stocks or any kind of propert}', 

 it is not to be wondered that the animal abounds ; and it is 

 equally clear that it would be better that they should cost two 

 sovereigns each, than that the stock should be diminished, 

 seeing that there is no medium — that they are, or are not, that 

 they are altogether preserved, or utterl}' destroyed — as there is 

 no such thing as modification in the forms of vulpecide." 

 This is expensive work certainlj', but we do not see how it is 

 to be remedied. Foxhunting, without foxes, will never do ; 

 there is nothing rnore disheartening than riding from cover to 

 cover, with the full con\'iction that each will be a blank. We 

 know a man who went to an enormous expense with his 

 hounds, but somehow or other, he could not find in his heart , 

 to pay his Earth-stoppers properly, consequently the whole 

 outlay — some thousands per annum — was absolutely sacrificed 

 for a paltr}' saving of a couple of five pound notes, for we 



