Packs with which he had hunted, equipped in their proper hunting Habiliments*.

Not many years since an enthusiastic Sportsman ordered by Will that his favourite Horse should be killed and buried with him, that he might be well mounted at the Resurrection.

*The insertion of the following replies from two Huntsmen, may be excused, as they tend to shew the absolute possession which the business of the Chase had over every other action or idea.

The first was, the Duke of Richmond's Huntsman, whose hounds being hunting at the end of the Season 1783, and coming to a check, was asked the reason by his Master; "Why, my Lord, it must be owing to these damn'd stinking Violets, I think."

The second was of Lord Stawell's Huntsman, who having rode after his Hounds into the garden of More Park, near Farnham, where the Sward walks are kept remarkably neat, and where his Horse was doing mischief, was called to very sharply by the Gardener, who told him that his Master and Mistress never rode there: he was answered by the Huntsman (going off in a gallop), "That's very strange, for I never saw finer Riding Ground in all my life."

261

Fox.

HUNTING was one of the first employments of MAN; it was a kind of natural right, and was free to all. Considered as an Exercise, it is the best contrived for strengthening the general habit. DRYDEN tells us:

The first Physicians by Debauch were made;
Excess began, and Sloth sustains the trade.

By CHASE our long-liv'd Fathers earn'd their food,
Toil strung their Nerves, and purified the blood:
But we their Sons, a pamper'd Race of Men,
Are dwindled down to threescore years and ten.
Better to hunt in fields for Health unbought,
Than fee the Doctor for a nauseous draught:
The Wise for cure on Exercise depend,

GOD never made his Work for Man to mend.

The Season of the year, the time of the Day destined for, and the Motion necessary in this amusement, are all likewise adapted to the preserving and restoring health: the mind is recreated at the time the body is exerted, and there are few who do not perceive a spontaneous flow of spirits, agreeably agitated concerning the event of the Chase, of which that of the Fox is no where pursued with such ardour, nor the Hounds and Horses so confessedly superior, as in this Kingdom; yet even here, the Fox, by his strength and perseverance,

frequently beats both. The artifices and dexterity employed by wild Animals to conceal themselves, or to avoid the pursuit of the Dogs, are most worthy of admiration, and perhaps in this art of Selfpreservation, the Fox has exhibited more proofs than any other beast of Chase.

This lively and crafty animal is common in every part of Great Britain. It inhabits all Europe, the cold and temperate parts of Asia, Barbary, but not the hotter parts of Africa, is found in South America, where its size is much less than in Spain, and also abounds in North America. New England is said to have been early stocked by a Gentleman, who imported them from England for the pleasure of the Chase, and that the present breed sprung from this circumstance; they are reckoned very destructive to Lambs, and are in that country proscribed at the rate of two shillings a head.

Foxes are subject to the influences of Climate as to their colour, in ours, they are of a yellowish red, or rather yellow brown, and on the forehead, shoulders, hind part of the neck, as far as the beginning of the Tail, and outside of the hind legs, it is a little mixed with white or ash colour; the Lips, Cheeks, and Throat, are white, and a stripe of the same colour runs along the under side of the legs; the breast and belly are ash and whitish grey; the tips of the Ears and Feet are black, the Tail very reddish yellow, mixed with a blackish tinge, and internally white with a blackish cast, the tip itself, milk white.

There are three varieties of Fox with us, differing