I 



83 



Attend, ye farmers, to my tale, 

 And, as ye mend tlie broken rail, 

 Reflect with pleasure on the sport 

 That lures your landlord from the court 

 To live and spend his rents among- 

 The country-folk from whom they sprang. 

 And should his horse, with trampling feet, 

 Do damage to your tender wheat, 

 By you, perhaps, that horse was bred, 

 And yours the oats on which he's fed ; 

 Ah ! then restrain your rising ire, 

 Nor rashly damn the hunting squire. 



If hunting were stopped, there would follow from the rural 

 districts of England an exodus that would inflict upon its yeomen 

 the loss not only of all the money spent on hunting, but of a ^^ast 

 l^roportion of the other outlays of country gentlemen. 



I hope my readers share my opinion of the importance of the 

 matters with which I have dealt in this chapter. The facts and 

 figures I have given possess a significance the recognition of which 

 will do more for hunting than all the rhapsody or reason put forth 

 in a dozen books, 



A leading periodical, when reproducing the estimate I gave in 

 1881, adds : " These figures, which no sophistry can dispute and no 

 method of statement darken, show with marked evidence the value 

 hunting is to the kingdom, when we know this vast amount of money 

 finds its way into the pockets of the farmers and tradesmen without 

 leaving any profit, but, on the contrary, an unremunerative outlay to 

 the sportsman," etc. 



We engage in commercial, agricultural, and other undertakings, 

 and though we thus spend large sums on labour, etc., we do so with 

 the direct and sole purpose of making 7iioney. But a sportsman faces 

 endless expenditure for no return whatever save a scurry across 

 country ; this is a fact to be borne in mind by the detractors of 

 sport. 



In conclusion I give a comparative table of the packs of hounds in 

 the United Kingdom in 1881 and in 1890, taken from the same 

 authority as the former tables : — 



1881. 1890. 



Packs. Packs. 



Staghounds — 



English 12 13 



Irish .». 5 3 



Foxhounds — 



English and Scotch 143 162 



Irish 19 16 



Harriers — 



English and Scotch 75 103 



Irish 52 25 



This shows that England and Scotland have increased their 

 hunting establishments witliin the past nine years by one pack of 



