THE HOUSE OF MANNERS AND THE CHASE 



equality, divides France by so much bitterer a class feeling 

 than any which exists in England to-day. To estimate 

 aright the effect of hunting on politics and society in 

 England might be a task not unworthy of some grave 

 historian in the future. For a sport so widely popular, and in 

 this aspect of such rapid growth, must, as I have striven to 

 point out, both affect and reflect the social life of the nation 

 in which it has become established. 



In early days a pack of hounds was the natural appanage 

 of a great nobleman's establishment, or the recreation of a 

 well-to-do landowner, and the hunting country was limited 

 by the boundaries of the great estates, while the family and 

 the guests, and possibly the chaplain and a few dependants, 

 formed the field. Then as the growing prosperity of the 

 country brought about a more general diffusion of wealth, 

 the lesser squires and substantial yeomen took to sport, and 

 though for the most part they hunted the hare with a 

 trencher-fed pack, they did not disdain a fox if they came 

 across one. Yet the latter, not having the prescriptive rights 

 of a beast of chase, such as belonged to the hare, was 

 regarded, or at least spoken of, as a noxious vermin to be 

 destroyed when and how occasion offered. Even Somer- 

 vile speaks of a fox in a manner quite inconsistent with 

 our modern sentiments on the subject : — 



"The wily fox remained, 

 A subtle, pilfring foe, prowling round 

 In midnight shades, and wakeful to destroy. 

 In the full fold, the poor defenceless lamb, 

 Seiz'd by his guileful arts, with sweet warm blood 

 Supplies a rich repast. The mournful ewe. 

 Her dearest treasure lost, thro' the dun night 

 Wanders perplex'd, and darkling bleats in vain. 



For these nocturnal thieves, huntsman, prepare 

 Thy sharpest vengeance. Oh ! how glorious 'tis 

 To right th' oppress'd, and bring the felon vile 

 To just disgrace ! 



II 



