BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



Again the crowd attack. That spear has pierc'd 



His neck ; the crimson waves confess the wound. 



Fix'd is the bearded lance, unwelcome guest 



Where'er he flies ; with him it sinks beneath. 



With him it mounts ; sure guide to evVy foe. 



Inly he groans, nor can his tender wound 



Bear the cold stream. So ! to yon sedgy bank 



He creeps disconsolate ; his numerous foes 



Surround him, hounds and men. Pierc'd thro' and thro' 



On pointed spears they lift him high in air; 



Wriggling he hangs, and grins, and bites in vain : 



Bid the loud horns, in gaily-warbling strains, 



Proclaim the felon's fate; he dies, he dies. 



Rejoice, ye scaly tribes, and leaping dance 



Above the waves, in sign of liberty 



Restor'd ; the cruel tyrant is no more.' 



Otter-hunting had gone out of fashion in the earUer years 

 of the nineteenth century. It ' was formerly considered 

 excellent sport,' says Daniel by way of introducing his account 

 of the method. He proceeds to say that it ' has still however 

 its staunch admirers, who are apparently as zealous in this 

 pursuit as in any other we read of. In 1796, near Bridgenorth, 

 on the River Ware, four otters were killed ; one stood three, 

 another four hovus before the dogs and was scarcely a minute 

 out of sight. The hearts, etc., were dressed and eaten by many 

 respectable people who attended the hunt and allowed to be 

 very delicious.' I wonder what that ' etc' covers. 



On the other hand, there were those who held a very poor 

 opinion of it. Mr. T. B. Johnson, who wrote the Hunting 

 Directory in 1826, says : ' It is at present but little followed. 

 Of all field amusements otter-hunting is perhaps the least 

 interesting. Foxhounds, harriers, or indeed any kind of hounds, 

 will pursue the otter : though the dog chiefly used for the 

 purpose has been produced by a cross between the southern 

 hound and the water spaniel. Those who have never witnessed 

 otter-hunting, may form a tolerable notion of the business by 

 imagining to the mind a superior duck-hunt.' 



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