32 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



deer forests and pheasant preserves at the present day. Esau 

 by no means hunted from necessity ; his father had flocks and 

 herds, and consequently meat in abundance, as well as riches 

 of all kinds. It was not hunger that first sent the patriarch's 

 son forth to the chase, but the same instinct which sends every 

 Englishman who has the chance forth to hunt or shoot, as the 

 case may be, in the present day — the love of sport implanted 

 in the human breast, but more strongly developed in some races 

 than others, as Esau had it in a much greater degree than Jacob. 

 Neither was it want that made Isaac desire venison as the 

 choicest food he could have ere bestowing his blessing. It 

 was that love of game — wild game — that has descended to 

 every one of us in the present day that made him send his son 

 forth. He could have had lamb or kid (as he did, without 

 knowing the difference), beef or mutton, at his pleasure ; but 

 that would not suffice — it was wild venison he wanted, the 

 product of his son's cunning and skill. ISTo doubt that grand 

 old man was as proud of Esau's exploits in the chase as any 

 father in the present day would be to see his first-born going 

 bang in front from Billesdon CoploAV to Allexton, or bringing 

 down a stag of ten on a Highland hill-side by his own skill in 

 stalking. He was the favourite, and he wanted to bless him — 

 well, I don't wonder at it ; from a boy, I have always liked him 

 better than his brother Jacob, who, I can't help thinking, was 

 a bit of a sneak, and would have earned more kicks than half- 

 pence if he had been sent to a public school, which, by the way, 

 would have done him no end of good. 



Oh, dear ! I am digressing again. It was not to show that 

 hunting was ancient that I commenced this chapter, but to 

 show that hunting by scent with a pack of hounds was ancient. 

 Many authors who have written on the subject of the chase 

 come to the conclusion that the hunting of the ancients was 

 conducted by means of nets and traps, and coursing the 

 animals with dogs which ran by sight alone, after the manner 

 of our modern greyhounds, and that, where dogs capable of 



