ducement. Mere visiting, for visiting sake--for the purpose of keeping up what people call "an acquaintance"-is weary up hill work; it is little better than a review of plate, linen, and crockery-ware. A laborious appetiteless dinner, amid much wine and little conversation, followed by a late fussey breakfast, and those tremendous partings that plainly tell how glad the dear friends are to separate, till the necessity of" keeping up an acquaintance" again calls them together. People who ground their arguments as to the importance of a pack of hounds to a country upon the consumption of hay and corn and the encouragement of our breed of horses, take a very shallow and contracted view of the case. I would say the inducement they hold out for society-society on the easiest and, consequently, the most agreeable footing is the most important feature in hunting. Hunting brings people together-people differing in religion, in polities, in almost everything, and makes such good friends of them all that a stranger would never suppose there was a shade of difference of opinion upon any subject amongst them. Then what life and animation the next day's meet of a pack of hounds throws into a party! It is like champagne at a dinner. Instead of evening dragging its weary length along amid the old stories and mal aproposims of the hour, former sport and future prospects pass away the time till we are all "astonished to see how late it is." ON THE GAME LAWS, SHOOTING, &c. BY CECIL. (Continued.) If there be a sufficient number of rabbits in a preserve to diversify the shooting, and to feed the foxes upon, there will be as many as can be conducive to the amusement of those who preserve them. It must be remembered they increase very rapidly unless vigorous measures are adopted to keep their numbers within bounds, especially on light soils; and when they are the perquisite, or more correctly speaking, the property of the keeper, it is unnatural to suppose that he will be the means of lessening his own income, upon which depends his livelihood, nay, the very bread of his wife and children; that he should, under such circumstances, tolerate the existence of foxes, would be contrary to the ordinances of nature. Whosoever is desirous of preserving the game on his estate, and also of preserving the goodwill, esteem, and friendship of those by whom he is surrounded-for I have no hesitation in stating that more than three-fourths of those who reside in the country are attendants upon fox-hounds-will pay their keepers adequate wages, reserve the rabbits for themselves, and discharge the first keeper or dependent who would presume in any way to molest the foxes. Having declared my intention of illustrating by example the argument which I have entered upon, that game and foxes may each be preserved in the same coverts to a very great, indeed to an almost unlimited extent, I will now proceed to the fulfilment of that declaration; and having hunted in most of the principal counties in England with a scrutinizing and observing eye for such events, I can make my statement without reserve, and I think I can go so far as to express my belief that quite as great a proportion of game is to be found on some estates where the lives of the foxes are held sacred, as upon any where they are destroyed; this much I will certainly take upon myself to pronounce, that game is more abundant under the former circumstances than where the safety of the vulpine genus is a subject of doubt, and for this ostensible reason: in the latter case, the keepers are not held under those restrictions which, as servants, are essential to the performance of their duties. I will now mention some of the estates upon which a head of game is to be found equal to any where the foxes are destroyed, but upon which, if such an enormity were to be committed, the keeper's occupation would be, like that of the jealous Moor's, gone. I will commence with the coverts of his Grace the Duke of Beaufort, at Badminton, where they are the arena of the sporting hours so frequently enjoyed by royalty; and let the inquiry be made if they ever lack an abundance of game of all kinds requisite to satiate the desires of the most ambitious. Monarchs from foreign kingdoms have frequently been invited by his grace to Badminton, where the hospitalities, the amusements, and the character of the British nation are displayed with greater truth and to more advantage than by any other of the English aristocracy. The preserves of his Grace the Duke of Rutland, at Belvoir Castle, which are likewise often honoured by royal visits, are equally well stored. Those on the estates of the Earl Fitzhardinge, at Berkeley, are as full as they well can be; and as to foxes, I think I can venture to state that his lordship has a greater number within the limits of his hunt than are to be enumerated in any other hunt in England. The foxes in Chedworth Woods, coverts well known in the Cheltenham country, are innumerable; pheasants also are abundant in them. It may be inquired what course Lord Fitzhardinge adopts to maintain such an immense stock of foxes? The answer is soon given by exhibiting the utmost liberality on all occasions which a princely income is capable of affording. Earl Bathurst's woods, in Oakly Park, are another evidence of the fact that game and foxes can be induced to congregate in the same coverts; as also Lord Sherborne's, at Sherborne, on whose estate I have no hesitation in believing that a greater number of hares are to be found than on any other estate of an equal acreage in this kingdom. I regret not being able to include the coverts belonging to a sporting baronet, situated a few miles southward of Lord Sherborne's, where the foxes have most certainly been sacrificed, greatly to the annoyance of the neighbourhood, without being the means of increasing the quantity of game. I trust the remarks which have already fallen upon this subject have attracted the attention of the worthy baronet, and that for the future the sporting world will be convinced that his keeper has hitherto acted upon his own authority and without his master's knowledge. This is a case in point so peculiarly calculated to corroborate my position, that a greater head of game is not generally found to frequent those preserves where the foxes are killed, that a more distinct indentification of the locality of the estate would be much to my purpose; but a strenuous hope that byegone disappointments experienced by the hounds drawing the coverts blank, will be succeeded by their becoming certain finds, induces me to withhold, at least for the present, a more definite explanation of the whereabouts. Sir Charles Cockerel's coverts at Seizincote are numerously supplied with all kinds of game, and foxes are bred and fostered there in great abundance. The Hon. Gen. Lygon's preserves, which are not far distant, are quite as prolific; as also those on the estate of V. Dolphin, Esq., at Eyeford. Nor can any claim a greater abundance than the well known Farmington Grove and plantations, the property of H. E. Waller, Esq., where the foxes are so numerous that it is a very common occurrence to find a brace or more when beating with greyhounds for hares, on which occasion it is necessary to exert much precaution to prevent the dogs from .coursing them. Few estates have been more extensively stocked with game than those of the late Earl of Coventry, at Croome, in Worcestershire, during the lifetime of his lordship; pheasants have been most remarkably numerous; there, also, the foxes have reigned in peace and security, except when the Worcestershire Hounds have disturbed their tranquillity, under the popular management of their respected master, Captain Candler. No doubt, similar attention will be persevered in during the minority of the present heir to that splendid property. In former days, I have observed an immensity of pheasants on the wing when the hounds were drawing the coverts belonging to W. Whitmore, Esq., of Dudmaston, in Shropshire, and, at the same time, foxes were in great abundance. Whether they are either of them equally profuse at the present time I am not prepared to assert from actual experience, not having seen the coverts drawn for several years; but, from what I am informed, I have reason to apprehend there is a deficiency in both. There is not a more zealous preserver of foxes to be found than W. Moseley, Esq., of Leaton, in Shropshire; or than his neighbour, T. P. Pudsey, Esq., of Seisdon. Their coverts are the nurseries of foxes for the Albrighton Hunt; but their estates abound with game of every description. Mr. Moseley seldom joins in the chase, except when the hounds meet in the immediate neighbourhood of his residence. Mr. Pudsey-in consequence of the infliction of ill health, which he has unfortunately had to contend against during a period of twenty years-is deprived the pleasures of hunting, in the pursuit of which he was formerly an ardent admirer, and one of the finest horsemen that ever rode at a fence. Where foxes are preserved under such circumstances, two facts present themselves: one conveying the highest compliment to the proprietors of the coverts for the exhibition of such good feelings, upon which it is unnecessary farther to enlarge; the other, that the foxes do not extirpate the game. In the sporting precincts of the Atherstone Hunt, the show of game and foxes in Lord Denbigh's preserves, at Newnham Paddocks, is most extensive. The same may be said of Earl Howe's, at Gopsal; and many more deserve to be added to the list in this first-rate country. There can scarcely fall to the lot of an observer of such matters a more disagreeable task than that of particularizing the names of per sons who are so illiberal, unsocial, and, in their own hearts, selfish, as to be induced to destroy the foxes in a country in which hounds are kept. But this much I must add, in support of my argument, that throughout a great portion of the country hitherto hunted by the North Warwickshire Hounds, the foxes have been most atrociously murdered; and the deficiency having_created an infinity of blank days, the hounds are now given up. If game was abundant in that country, it might be brought forward in argument against me; but such is not the case. A greater deficiency is scarcely to be found in any district throughout England, where the number and extent of the coverts afford equivalent advantages; the true cause of which may be traced to the very numerous host of poachers with which Birmingham swarms, and the want of vigilance on the part of the keepers. I could add an infinity of other instances to the foregoing; but, surely I have enumerated examples sufficient to prove the truth of my assertion, and that it is based on facts-not theory. Those who are aware of the ill-feeling created by permitting foxes to be disturbed and destroyed in hunting countries, will not be long in issuing their commands to their keepers that such a course is not to be continued. Many persons labour under the inconvenience and annoyance of popular dislike, from the circumstance of that dislike not being communicated to them: few of their companions feeling disposed, on such occasions, to mention the disagreeable tidings. It should be remembered that foxes are frequently destroyed in coverts far distant from those in which they are bred; and thus a man, who zealously preserves in his own domain, feels a double share of annoyance when he hears of foxes being killed in coverts in which it is well known cubs were not laid up. Whenever keepers attempt to remonstrate, or shew the least desire to annihilate the foxes, an effective reply will always be found to this purpose:-"The Dukes of Beaufort and Rutland, Earls Fitzhardinge, Coventry, Beauchamp, and Bathurst, Sir Charles Cockerel, the Hon. General Lygon, and many other gentlemen, have an immense stock of game and foxes. So will I have. And if you cannot preserve each, it is either because you are unacquainted with your business, or you do not perform your duty; I must, therefore, employ a keeper who is better qualified." The universal remark, that good pointers and setters are very rarely to be met with, would not be so general as it unquestionably is, if there was not some foundation for it; several reasons may be assigned as operating to the effect, some of which are of a nature that, in practice, cannot be very readily overcome. Comparison leads to the convic tion that the breed of these animals was far superior fifteen or twenty years since to what it is in the present day, evidently because more care and attention were bestowed on them. The more valuable and important the services of any animal may be as to its utility, it follows, as a matter of course, the greater pains will be taken in bringing the species to perfection; and on the reverse, should any circumstances present themselves to depreciate the esteem in which he is held, neglect ensuing, the kind quickly degenerates. The different style of beating for game now in vogue has rendered the services of the pointer and setter quite of a different character to what they were before the substitution of a party of biped beaters was called into requisition; antecedent to which, the great pride of the sportsman was manifested in the bold ranging of a brace or leash of dogs, quartering their ground with the utmost regularity and steadiness, evincing also speed and courage, but yet held in such perfect subjection that the moment one dog found his game, the others would back him without eliciting any commands from their master; and on the fowling piece being discharged, that not one would move until it was reloaded. It was a grand and interesting exemplification of the sagacity of the animal, and also of the pains, judgment, and ability of the breaker, and a scene of the most exciting character seldom to be witnessed. Perhaps one of the most perfect teams of setters of the present day is a leash in the possession of Thomas Hollyoake, Esq., master of the Albrighton Hounds. Their performances last season were spoken of by all who saw them work as being perfect. Their education was attended to solely by their master: the only way, I am convinced, of obtaining superiority in such dogs. If they are to be broken by a keeper, in the first instance, they will require that keeper's presence afterwards, to exact the full amount of what he has taught them; and it is inconsiderate to expect otherwise. Dogs learn to perform certain duties from specific indications, and they repeat those duties when those indications or mandates are made use of; thus the owner of a dog expressing himself in a manner different to that which the person who broke him accustomed him to, he cannot reasonably be expected to understand what is required from him. It must be remembered that dogs cannot distinguish the modified accent of words, but they act from the general tone and expression of the voice. Thus, if two dogs are worked together whose names are Ponto and Cato, so little is the difference in the sound of the two-especially as it is generally the custom of laying the accent on the last syllablethat no surprise ought to be excited if they evince confusion on being called to. On this account, it is very inconsistent to select names having the letter o for a termination; because the word "To-ho!" is invariably made use of to arrest the progress of the dog-whether he be observed to be incautiously and heedlessly running into his game, or to call his attention to a companion who is pointing. The English language affords an infinity of names with most distinct terminations, and such should be invariably selected. (To be continued.) BLACKMOOR VALE HUNT COUNTRY. "Sequius irritant animos demissa per aures, HOR. SIR,-In your last number you solicit a true and correct account of the existing differences in the B. V. H. country. I readily allow that the subject is "not an enticing one;" but a sincere desire that your readers and the public at large should see matters in their proper |