FOX AND BADGER. 



29 



and moral side of the question which must not ahogether 

 he passed over in silence. ''Hunting," as the immortal 

 Jorrocks says, '4s the sport of kings, the image of war 

 without its guilt and only twenty-five per cent, of its 

 danger.'^ The Duke of Wellington always preferred fox- 

 hunters for his aides-de-camp, because he knew they 

 would be well mounted, could ride straight to a point, 

 and possessed coolness, judgment, and rapid decision. Any 

 man who can ride to hounds has the making of a good 

 cavalry officer, and most assuredly the day will come when 

 England will once more be proud of her hard-riding sons, 

 her cavaliers of the hunting-field, men who are as ready to 

 charge the enemies' ranks as to ride at a stiff bullfinch. 



To sum up, then, for and against. In districts where there 

 is no fox-hunting, like northern Britain, it is right and 

 proper that the fox should be kept in check by other means 

 and not allowed to increase unduly. In much of England, 

 however, his preservation, as we have shown, is undoubtedly 

 a substantial gain and advantage to the country. The 

 propensity to evil courses in our vulpine friend may 

 be much checked or altogether prevented by care and 

 precaution. 



May fox-hunting flourish amongst us ! It is a healthy 

 and life-giving exercise and the grandest sport in the world, 

 and can be enjoyed, in degree, by all states and conditions of 

 men, whether these be the "hupper crust" of the hunt, 

 as Mr. Jorrocks calls them, or the chimney-sweep on his 

 jackass. 



We should perhaps lay ourselves open to the charge of 

 unfairness if we failed to notice the occasional damage done 

 by fox-hunters in galloping across root crops and breaking 

 fences. We are sorry to say the agricultural fences of 

 England in many districts are now in a very different state 

 to the trim, neatly-cut hedges we can recollect twenty-five 

 years ago ; now full of gaps and repaired in the most casual 

 way with dead thorns, or a few yards of spiked wire, taken 



