NOTITIA VTINATICA. 



I.')! 



lumtuit;' coiintrk'S, lo tlio annoyance of the o-eutlomcu iui«l farmor.s, 

 Avoiild meet witli a far iiiorc wolcuiiie reception in November than is fre- 

 quently tlie case. 



Nor would I fora;et the wives and daughters of the farmers, who are 

 occasionally, though not frequently I hope, fellow-sufferers in the cause 

 with their husbands, from the rapacity of reynard, invariably through 

 tlic idleness and neglect of their servants in not properly securing tlic 

 feathered inhabitants of the farm-yard l^efore the night closes upon them. 

 The money arising from the produce of the poultry-yard is almost inva- 

 riably ajjpropriated as pocket-money to the female branches of the family; 

 and in more instances than one, I regret to state, that the disappoint- 

 ment of not having new bonnets and dresses, in which to attend the 

 neighbouring races, has been caused by the total destruction of a flock 

 of turkeys in one night. 



When Mr. Corbet hunted the Merriden country, he was always par- 

 ticularly attentive in remunerating those Avho might be losers ; and on 

 one occasion, when riding out to visit his puppies Avhich Avere at their 

 walks in that neighbourhood, he was informed by the daughters of a 

 farmer, who was a Avell-wisher to fox-hunting, that they had lost all 

 their turkeys and fowls by the foxes, which were strictly preserved, in 

 those days, in the Packington Woods. This kind-hearted man tridy 

 sympathized with their disappointment, and observed that it would be 

 higlily proper for them to go into mourning upon the occasion, and that 

 he would send them some ribbons to wear for the sake of their poor 

 turkeys. But how great was their astonishment upon receiving on the 

 next day some very handsome bonnets and dresses, but not of quite so 

 sombre a colour as they had expected. 



Mr. Corbet's benevolence in word as Avell as deed was highly and 

 justly conducive to his universal popidarity as a master of hounds, inde- 

 pendent of his weU-appointed establishment. Even in anger his mild- 

 ness and polished method of relnike never exceeded the limits of good 



