Veneration for Foxes. 15 



lew — now, alas ! no more — long the only sur- 

 vivor of the party. The Dean, writing not 

 long before his own death to him, alluded most 

 kindly to their youthful sports. Yet even he 

 made a terrible accusation against his old 

 friend, quite sufficient to ruin him in the eyes 

 of sportsmen, wliich is, that once when they 

 were shooting in a wood together, he saw a 

 fox pass ; and as Tom's gun had been dis- 

 charged only the moment before, he thought 

 that Eeynard must have been shot at. Mr. 

 Smith, after this lapse of time, cannot give an 

 account of all that he may have done on that 

 day, whenever it was; but he knows that even 

 at that age his veneration for a fox was such, 

 that he thought a man who would shoot one 

 would shoot his own father. So he has no 

 hesitation in pleading ''not guilty." 



On one occasion Sir Edward borrowed a 

 strong gray horse belonging to Mr. Smith, 

 and rode it a few miles to call on a relative of 

 his wife's, who lived at Bui'kham. The Ad- 



