SHOOTING TENANTS 201 



'em another such a dusting as that fox they killed 

 at Thornley Beeches three weeks ago," tells you 

 that. And in that snug patch of gorse not half a 

 mile from the principal pheasant coverts they do 

 find such a fox. Ruddy coated and bright with 

 white tag to his brush, look at him as he speeds 

 across the pasture ! There is not a break in his 

 fur ; he is all that a fox should be — handsome, 

 alert, and bold — and as hounds come streaming 

 out of covert on his line he gives one whisk to his 

 brush and sets his mask for some distant point, 

 which he is as likely as not to make good. And 

 who so sure to be in the first flight as hounds race 

 over the big pastures as the son of the founder of 

 the feast if he be arrived at man's estate. He has 

 hunters of the best, you may be sure, and " the 

 governor," worthy man, expects him to ride them, 

 in which, to do young Hopeful justice, he is rarely 

 disappointed. That this shooting tenant comes 

 out with a noble subscription to the hunt, if a 

 subscription be needed ; that he is at once popular 

 with the gentry, the farmers, and the labourers it 

 seems unnecessary to say, and by all his neighbours 

 he is looked upon as an acquisition to the country. 

 Happy in his surroundings, and in his associations 

 with that country life which seemed to be a far-off 

 vision in the days of his youth, he is a man to 

 know and admire. He did his duty manfully 

 when it was to be done, and every one who knows 

 him rejoices that his lines have at last fallen in 

 pleasant places. Nor is this any fancy sketch that 

 I have been drawing. The shooting tenant of 

 this class is a man whom it is not difficult to meet 

 with. I know him well ; I have shot and eaten 

 his pheasants, for he gives his game away liberally. 



