DESTRUCTION OF FOXES ON THE CONTINENT. 7 



the establishment is generally broken up after a few 

 seasons; the master of the pack retiring in disgust, 

 having only half achieved what he so fondly hoped for, 

 the possessing a pack of hounds bred under his own 

 eye, and by his own judgment. The consequence is, 

 that with such prospects in view, few can be found to 

 take so thankless a labour in hand ; where neither profit 

 nor honour are to be gained, who would be prevailed 

 upon to waste his time and money in conducting a 

 scheme which will inevitably lead to disappointment 

 and disgust ? Few men of the present day have either 

 the spirit or inclination to retain their hounds after a 

 few seasons ; and when this generation has passed away, 

 in vain will such men as the Duke of Cleveland, Mr. 

 Ralph Lambton, or Mr. J. Villebois, be sought for 

 amongst the sportsmen of future ages. 



In the earliest accounts of history, the amusement 

 of hunting has been recorded as forming one of the 

 chief employments of man ; and even at the present 

 day, there is no country where the chase is not a fa- 

 vourite pursuit. To England alone we must look for 

 that most manly of recreations, the chase of the fox ; 

 the manner in which that gallant animal is destroyed 

 on the Continent is by the gun,* or digging him, with 



* The number of foxes shot in France, is, during some seasons, very great. 

 Accordin^to the summary published in the " Journal des Haras," for August, 1837, 

 the numbers returned as killed amounted to 14,791 ; besides wolves, old and young, 

 641 ; boars, 461. When travelling in Germany, in the year 1837, the author saw 

 amongst other curiosities at Kranistine, which is the hunting Chateau of the 

 Grand Duke of Hesse Darmstadt, in one of the rooms, a very curious picture, 

 representing a royal party enjoying the diversion of shooting wild boars in a small 

 enclosure ; from which it appears that the animals were driven or enticed into a 

 small space surrounded by net-work, and at one corner was built a room, through 

 the windows of which the sportsman was enabled to show his skill in rifle 

 shooting, without any inconvenience either from the wounded animals, or from the 

 inclemency of the weather. This mode of diversion is now seldom or never 



