Vol. III. — No. 58.] Saturday, February 4, 1854. [Price Gd. 
THE OLD EARTH-STOPPER, OR THE FIND 
AND THE FINISH. 
By JOHN MILLS, AUTHOR OF “THB OLD ENGLISH OBNTLEMAN.” 
chapter nr. 
FOXHUNTING AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS. 
“TMMES are changed,” said Tom Pitts, occupying so pre- 
J. cise a position before the fire at the Jolly Gardener’s, 
with Vanquisher in so exact a place at his feet, and the 
company assembled so individually and collectively employed 
in corresponding demonstrations of social enjoyment, that 
it would appear as if each and all had taken infinite pains to 
render themselves just as they were when the ex-whipper-in 
recounted the find and the finish of “ the last of the old 
breed;” — “ times are changed,” repeated he, “from when I 
was young.” 
“ Why you’re young now, Tom Pitts,” ejaculated Sam 
Waller, with his features creaming over at what he con- 
scientiously believed would turn out a good joke ; “why 
you’re quite a boy now, Tom Pitts; the difference in ye 
being an old boy at the present time o’ speaking, and a 
young-’un fifty year ago and up’ards. That’s the only 
change in you, Tom Pitts and the proprietor of the 
smithy broke into a roar of laughter, which might have 
been heard at a remote distance ; but as no one seemed 
disposed to join him, he stopped suddenly in the ebullition 
of his boisterous mirth, and began to smoke his pipe in a 
vapid succession of whiffs, which appeared to afford vent to 
considerable disappointment. 
“As I was saying,” observed the ex-whipper-in, “ before 
Sam chopped my remark at the first whimper o’ my tongue, 
times are changed since I was young. In those days they 
were minutes finding a fox. and hours a-killing him. Now 
It’s just t’other way ; they're hours finding, and minutes 
killing. At daybreak, and scarcely that, hounds would be 
by the cover-side, and ten to one that the first draw was a 
safe find ; when about noon they’d pull him down, just as 
the great difficulties to hunting begin. Horses aud hounds 
were not bred for speed then as they aro now, and it’s my 
opinion foxes were better. A good run was not measured 
by the pace, but from the merits which hounds showed, and 
the genuine sport it afforded. Our forefathers,” continued 
Tom, with something like reverence at the ancestral remini- 
scence, “ could see hounds work with more pleasure than 
neck-or-nothing riding. When the ground was cool, damp, 
and unstrained, and few people about to head a fox, they 
went out to hunt, not to ride something like a steeple-chase ; 
and if the pace was slower, the distance was farther. Such 
a thing as a blank day was unknown ; and when a fox was 
found, he could stand before hounds like a varmint with 
steel in him, after the manner of the last of the old breed. 
It may be said that slow hunting can’t show sport, and I 
agree in this sentiment altogether; but that of the olden 
time, taking the day or season through, was not a tithe so 
slow as the present. I care not where you go, if the truth 
be told ye, to one day’s fair sport — to one good run, 
there’s a plaguy sight of another kind. A clipper is 
always made the most of, on account of its being like 
gold-dust in clover seed, too rare to be often met 
with ; and if in a fast run of the present day there’s been 
nothing slow i’ the find, checks from hounds flashing over 
the scent, riding too for’ard, heading the fox, or a few other 
trifles o’ this kind, all I can say is, it must be a precious 
deal faster than most o’ the quick things we hear of. To 
be always going was the pace to please ; but dead for hours 
and mad for minutes is the style of the times we live in. 
Men, without doubt, ride bolder and better than they did, 
because the stamp of horse now ridden to hounds, the 
racing condition in which he is kept, and the pace to live 
in the first flight, requires heart, head, aud seat, to sail 
across country. If some of the straightest goers of the last 
generation of foxhunters could bo unearthed, aud mounted 
on the picked of the Melton stables, their necks wouldn’t 
be very safe in a burst of thirty minutes with the Quorn, or 
even less ; — and yet I don't hesitate to say they enjoyed the 
sport a good deal more than the present. In those days 
men went out to hunt ; in these, they go to ride. Now, th.it 
which satisfies the admirers of a quick thing to their heart's 
content is tho cause of their general disappointment. Hound > 
are too fast, and what has been gained In speed, bus been 
lost in working powers. Their noses may be as good, for 
aught I know ; but they don’t stoop and use them as they 
did of old. Here and there may be seen a line hunter ; and 
lucky enough that a few of them are left, for the body of 
hounds now-a-days generally have their heads in the air, 
and if in any way pressed by an uuruly field, will flash over 
the scent, and leave the difficulties, as they come, to bo made 
out by the huntsman, or stand with ready ears for a distunt 
view halloo. These, sirs,” continued the ex-whipper-in, 
“are the wbys and wherefores of fox-hunting not bein- 
what it was. The meets are too late; hounds are bred to 
race, not run ; men and horses are too fast, and foxes not 
stout enough. Ay, there’s a great change tor the worse in 
foxes,” said Tom Pitts, shaking his head. “ What with the 
foreigners a-spoiling the breed, killing rabbits so close that 
scarcely an old doe’s left in some o’ the high farming coun- 
tries, pheasant preserving, turning down cubs perhaps to 
starve, or, at any rate, to have no more fire in ’em tlian>o 
many tame kittens, I’m only surprised when one’s found 
that can stand before hounds little better than a bagman." 
“ What, then, is your opinion that fox-liunting’s coming 
to, Mr. Pitts ?” inquired the wheelwright, in a tone and 
manner which expressed no little want of confidence at wliut 
he was doing. 
O 
COURSING MEETING ON THE SOTJ^HDOWNS AT LANGLEY BEACH.— Drawn o.n_tue Spot by Harrison -Weir.— (Page SO.) 
