108 Memoir of Tom Smith. 



'^ You ask my opinion of the rights claimed 

 by fox-hunters ; I will give it as concisely as 

 I can. 



^^ Three distinct rights are to be considered 

 — original^ acquired, and by sufferance. Ori- 

 (jinal right undoubtedly belongs to the pro- 

 prietors of the covers, &c. &c. where foxes 

 may be supposed to lie ; but when once a pack 

 of fox-hounds is established in a country with 

 the consent of those proprietors, an acquired 

 right is then obtained, of which the said pack 

 cannot afterwards be deprived ; unless, by an 

 uncommon misconduct on the part of those 

 concerned in the management of the hounds, 

 the proprietors themselves should think fit to 

 deprive them of it. This is the case of all the 

 old-established hunts in the kingdom. 



^' Eight by sufferance is where a neigh- 

 bouring pack avails itself of a vacancy; the 

 country at that time, by some accident or 

 other, being without any hounds. A blot is 

 no blot till it is hit, and this possession is 



