THE POLICE OF NATURE. 
237 
besides ; and among wliicli persons we may rank, not only 
publicans, but noblemen and gentlemen, both civil and mili- 
tary, as well as citizens of London and first-class tradesmen 
in Bond-street, Oxford-street, and Regent-street ; besides 
master butchers, bakers, milkmen, and a host of others. 
Still, let it not be supposed that gentlemen either train or 
second their dogs in such cases. They can always hire 
persons for such offices, while they themselves can look on 
as casual observers. Nor am I aware that they are less 
qualified to fill their various positions in life, because they 
feel a fancy for dogs, or an interest in the destruction of 
vermin. But, after all, I must confess that rat-matches seem 
a good deal like hunting a bagged fox, or a Cockney sports- 
man filling his pockets with poultry in a farm-yard, instead 
of traversing over moor and mountain in quest of game. 
And though it is true, that in a pit Jem has destroyed two 
hundred rats under twelve minutes, yet, if left to hunt them 
in their natural runs and retreats, pray would he have killed 
two hundred in twelve months 1 or would he have caught 
as many rats in the year as one of those little flat-headed 
cats I have already spoken of? Bemember, rat-matching is 
one thing, and rat-catching another. 
But before leaving the subject, let me put my country 
friends on their guard against a most dishonourable practice, 
by which they are not only deceived, but lose their money ; 
and that is, the practice of painting first-rate dogs, and 
matching them as novices. If I tell you of one celebrated 
animal, upon which this was often practised, that will be as 
good as a thousand, so far as the powers of painting are 
concerned. 
A boxing-glove maker (of London) had a fallow and white 
bitch, named Bose, about fourteen or fifteen pounds weight, 
which was the fastest killer in England. This man told 
me, in the presence of a friend, that the late ex-champion 
was her principal backer ; that he himself had not sufficient 
means, but that his backer always paid him handsomely for 
the use of her, and had won a deal of money by her 
both in town and country. It did not signify who had a 
dog near her weight, he always had a novice on hand, 
on the which he would risk his money, if they would stake 
a good round wager. Sometimes his novice was a red and 
