48 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



that stout old Saxon, with his months of leisure in the winter, 

 and his innate love of sport, must have been a terrible enemy, 

 more especially as he knew no law in the matter, and was egged 

 on by self-interest and a shrewd tongue. Foxes, I believe, lived 

 then honestly when they could, as they do now, notwithstand- 

 ing all that is laid to their charge ; but in cold, hard winters, 

 with few rabbits and hares to fall back upon, their larder must 

 have been a scanty one ; and as the hen-roosts were scarcely 

 built on such scientific principles as those which shelter the 

 prize Cochins and Brahmas of the present day, their honesty 

 must have been sorely tried. That they took care of them- 

 selves is no small honour to them, like other robbers, they 

 have managed to hold their own, and in process of time have 

 come to be looked on not only with connivance, but even the 

 eye of consideration and respect, and finally the protecting aegis 

 of society has been thrown over the once-despised fox. What 

 a fine emblem of the career of many families who started, some 

 from the old marauding barons, others from astute but unscru- 

 pulous courtiers, and perhaps still more from unscrupulous 

 merchants and traders, is the fox ! Had heraldic devices any 

 truth in them, one half or more of our distinguished or would- 

 be-distinguished families should have the fox for their crest. 

 But I am wandering again. Well, I believe I committed my- 

 self to stray thoughts on the title-page. Cunning, boldness, 

 and sagacity, coupled with by no means an overweight of 

 scruples, at length brought Eeynard into honour and notice, as 

 it has done many a one before and since. Of a truth his day 

 was somewhat long in coming, and he can scarcely be said to 

 have much more than come into fashion as the Stuarts went 

 out. 



We can pretty well fix the date when hounds first began to 

 run foxes in the open, and his chase was turned from the 

 digging out and trapping business, from the following facts : — 

 Gervase Markham, in his book of "Country Contentment," 

 published in the year 1615, in the reign of James the First, 



