4 THE ''HEAL ohiginal" fox. 



wliicli beat them, by going to ground at the Rocks, 

 near Bath — the ground traversed in these two 

 chases not being much less than forty miles ; and 

 when horses and hounds of the present times can 

 beat these performances or equal them, they may 

 then have some grounds for laughing at the bold 

 huntsmen, stout hounds, and stout foxes of the 

 olden time. 



Some flyers may say, " We would have burst 

 your foxes in twenty or forty minutes ;" but, begging 

 your pardon, gentlemen, I maintain you Avould 

 have done nothing of the kind. Our hounds were 

 then quite as fast as yours now, and much stouter. 

 Our horses equally, if not better bred than yours, 

 and oiu' fox-hunters better horsemen than any you 

 can produce. 



The fox which afforded these two extraordinary 

 chases was never killed by hounds, and lived to a 

 very great age, being well known from his large 

 size and length. He made his kennel on the top of 

 a high ivy-covered wall, which surrounded the poul- 

 try yard, at the back of the house we lived in 

 w^here he might be seen during the day, enjoying 

 his otimn cum dignitate ; and as he never com- 

 mitted any depredations on the feathered tribes 

 immediately under his eye, he was permitted to 

 hold undisturbed possession of his seat, which he 



