SIR WALTER PALK CAREW, BART. 49 



was in 1831-2, when he hunted on ninety-three days 

 between the 8th August and the 3rd May. 



A word of explanation is needed as to the practice 

 that prevailed in those days of hunting bag-foxes. 

 Let not the latter-day purist turn up his eyes in 

 horror at the word until he hears the explanation. 

 There was as much difference between the openly 

 turned-down fox of those days and the secretly 

 shaken-out bagman of later times as there is now 

 between the wild Hector of Dartmoor and the hand- 

 reared, wired-in tame fox that alone is available in 

 some would-be smart hunts. For Carew's turned- 

 down foxes were far more worthy of being hunted 

 and were capable of she-^ing infinitely better sport 

 than the hand-reared domestic variety referred to. 

 Foxes were thin on the ground in the early decades 

 of the nineteenth century, and the fact that they 

 had to travel far afield for food and company kept 

 them in good condition and taught them an exten- 

 sive range of country. The system adopted by 

 George Templer, of regularly keeping a number in 

 confinement and sa\'ing them alive, was not followed. 

 Instead, the practice was to dig a fox that the pack 

 had marked to ground, and then, two or three days 

 afterwards, to turn him do^n to be hunted. During 

 those intervening days he was kept in a large building 

 affording room for exercise, and well fed, but not 

 surfeited. As a result, he started in good condition 

 and fit to run for his life, which, with the knowledge 

 of country in his favour, he often managed to save. 

 From this fact, and from the time, pace and distance 

 of the runs afforded, it is clear that he must have 

 been allowed sufficient law. Sometimes, as happens 

 with a fox found in the usual way, he would get 

 killed early and fail to shew a run. But it is notice- 



