The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1863-01-20 00:00:00

ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS.

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FOX-HUNTING, -AND FACTS AND FANcifrs

ABOUT IT.

There were three distinct periods tn live history of the
cbase. The first when men tined uilinals from stern
seckuity; the wood, when men. a little more intelli
get perhaps tad not less rude than the animals of the
forest, maraud wild animals as sport, bemuse it was ,
their nature so to do. rt. third is that with which
we have most to do, for it was the foundation of that
practice of mthly daring and sport eon breed Which has
refined,snd ennobled itself into tips glorious institution
of Fox-hunting. Hunting, els • field sport, dates back
almost to the earliest history of the world. Nimrod
was a mighty heater, and there is a mantle of sanctity
cast around him, for we are assured that as a mighty
hunter, he was an especial favourite with the Almighty.
And do we not remember that the patriarch Isaac per
petnated a blessing on Jacob, in return for his readi-
ness to procure him venison, killed, as he supposed, by
himself And ea, it not David'. early enterprises in the
field which appear to ban paved the way to his elevas '
tion as • rider over the Jews? In profane history we
have marvellous testimonies of the elevating character
of hunting, to marvellous that we have not present
faith large enough to appreciate all of them. For
'fistula—we do not think Apollo *wild have reoehred
divine honon had his darts pierced toy objects of less
notoriety than the Python nionsbir, aor would Theseus
itrObSby lean 1111.11% in %tufo story without the aid of
the Mietoliner. We really thisk then these worthies
use mireh of thetk glory to fable. Not so the modern
Foxlneater f his glory—but we must hark back, Now
them ie ttt, George,for instance. One mold never quite
tome to the sense of his position, yet he exists even to
the day in the imagination of many of our pleas
maidens! Don't laugh, Devil ; blacketi the word eel
with yotr impish gibe. Pillll4 Maidens I we write
advisedly, for Ins enterprises against the dragons Who,
sad beasts as they were, relished no blond it well al
that of derail pilgrims and holy hermit& Heavens
how they would relish a dotes or two of our Low
Church roan aerates of the present day, with all the
, 'putted sanctity and animal condition combined !
Howevor, to be more practical, it could only have been
by slow degrees that hunting became a systematic pur-
suit ; eousequently, like must vital interests and thing
of good and date, many improved, bat at Mit Com-
pleted the work. By some Perseus he tonsidend as
entitled to the honor of beteg We first that organized
It; by others the twin lora of Jupiter. Pollee, in
particular, ha. *AI reputation of ant training the
bone to tire chase; Orion, of assembling dogs) in
puha ;tad II ippolitua for perfecting the machinery of
trapping. Paramount, however, to these worthies, we
beg pardon for our rude speech, are the claims of
Diana, as supreme protectress of hunting. Of her
practices in the field fabled history ie replete, and of
her style, in which she pursued the chase, the classic
page delights to tell; drum, as she is said to have
been, in her hunting expeditions by stags attached to
her car, instead cif horses. Splendid as is the scene
which Melton Ilowbrity is wont to exhibit on. hunt:
lug niorning,ere the congregating groups of the English
shads, and the flite of English riders, repent, to meet
each their favourite peck, bow lohnitely lea Aery meth
have been surpassed by the gorgeous spaded, of the
queen of the silver bow, attended by her legions of
mountain nymphs, it fell ituttime. "Is this being
practical r we fancy the reader observing, and he
answer, it tint, vdey; het we will try. Tint ef
let as go he the fountain head. Let Is eisie *then hunt-
tag begun an organized, as Well eat popular pursuit.
This was almost 600 years ago, or in the 14th century.
Men positively begenbe tnite about it at this period.
The huntsman of Mlward the Second wrote a work
upon beritieg, which was held in high estimation.
Hem her paragraph of his, written 400 or 600 years ago
mind, "el Fookunting Aav ground" (queer hantielt
ender ground we should think.) He remosireelids that
you " Draw with your hounds shoat &vet, thickets,
and bushes, neat villages; • tot hill lurk in such places
te prey upon young pigt and poultry; but it will be
necessary to atop to his earths, if you can find them,
the night before you intend to hunt ; and the best time
will be about midnight, for then the fox gate out to
seek his prey ; you fluty stop his holes by laying two
white sticks across before them, which will make hint
imagine it is some gin or trap laid for him ; or dm you
may stop his holes by closing with blackthorns and
earth together." We inee likewise judge bourne& the
sport of fox-hunting advanced it popethrity by what
follow, :—" The liesr tailing of a for above proud
(the old bey Mirka to thrLafere reund, you see) is in
January, Februarys and March, for then you shall beet
me your hounds heating, and best find his earthing;
besides, at them times the fox's skin is most in season
(did the old Turk eat it, we wonder?) A pin,the hounds
moth ardently bunt the fox in the coldest weather,
because In hearetb a very strong scent behind him ; yet
in cold weather it chills fastest. At first only cast off
your sure finders, and as the drag mends, so add Mote,
as you dare trust them. Shan casting off too
many hounds at once, becatm worse and
coverts are full of sendry shhees, and so you may
engage them in too many at one time. But let such
as you east oil first be the old staunch honed, which an
thre, and, if yore hear such • hound call on merrily,
you may east off some other to Lim, and when they not
it on the full cry, cast off the rest, and thin you shall
complete your pastime." Upon the word of modem
fashion, ancient huntsman of Edward the 'Second, tilos
us to address you in the happy hinting helds from
which your spirit looks out upon our labours, in the
following words:—" Your system of
„tering a fox (there
ground was a very sensible one, One that oer modern
huntsmen may imitate somewhat, and be the gainers
thereby." Hare he goes again. "The words of com-
fort are Om mune which are need in the other chasm,
attended with the same hallooing, and other ewe-
monies. Let tbe hounds kill the fox themselves, and
worry sad tear him as much as they please. Many
hcueds will eat him with eagerness; when quite dead,
therefore, hang him at the cud of a pike staff, and
halloo in your bounds to bay at him, but "reward them
not with anything belonging to the fox, for It is not
good." There you see, modern huntsmen, is the
opinion, system, and actions of an &meet rojral huts-
man. Many of the ideas are shrewd,ietedligrahatid Worthy
thinking over, and the lather, about "breaking up the
fox," is, we believe, even yet a disputed point between
"good men and tree." When we think of the aught.
cent busting eatablisbuients of the present day, we
must acknowledge how much this glorious pastirne has
grown with our growth, and strengthened with our
strength, as a nation and its • people. We have so
&unpin's sketches that we can use of • field of the
olden day, to draw a comparison between it and MO
present. Still. we have just to put out hand npen an
awning account of a bunting ethabletirnent 40 years
ago. Ac historian et • Mantis( establishment nays:—
My friend's dogs were of • grotesque character, set
definable as a whole by any rules of Beckford or
Somerville. The deep-toned, blue-mottled, the dwarf
foxhound, the trim-bred hamar, the diminutive bugle,
all joined ie the cry, and helped to supply the pot
Being somewhat strangers to one another, discord pros
veiled ; having • butcher for one master, a baker lot
another, • farmer for a third, spreading pretty well
through the village, (a trescherpeek, he fact, the writwr
means no doubt.) With sock heterogeneous qualities,
and not in guild intercourse, with an impenetrable
county to hunt over, whippers-in were indispensable, of
whieh there was a plentiful supply, personated, I may
say, by all the attendants, with immense long whips,
and deep sounding lungs, not sparingly used. The
huntsman was the owner, riding an old grizzled hors%
rather lengthy both above and below the saddle, In a
green coat, with flaps covering the boot tops and large
yellow buttons, • searlet waistcoat high in the throat,
and long in the water., with • pair of pockets deep
enough for slates tobeeemboator even for a leveret in a
strait; his breeehea,rihbad corduroys, short at the knee.,
and secured from rubbing over by a larp pair of silver
ithoe buckles; boots allied to the jock order, with tope
somewhat short, and certainly Oct white, leaving a re.
speciable apace to show the blue woollen !docking, and
kept just over the calf by • pair of broad tubed strays
across the knee. The spurs I forget, so they mast be
left. A bushy black wig, covered by a low crowned
castor, with brims a' la Jokle, serving by their turn.
up, as gutters for rain, embraced • fuze oval aid loot,
roughed in the nasal and wide in the mouth, various is
colour, haying shades of red, hide, and yellow; hands
of Cyclops' breed, too large for say Woodstock,
and never in genial warmth from the ruff of the coat;
the whip, long sad heavy, always dangling at the aidee
of the leg,rey for natio*. IRe is now an zny mind's eye,
but I fear the figure cannot be imagined in its trite
oddity by the touch.' The finishing embellishment
must not be omitted, though not in place, the whole
person being kept in due order by a belt round the
body, rather protuberant. "He warn a capital sportsman,
and could almost hunt fox, hare, or !badger himself."
We must leave the picture of this worthy old sporMinan
of the hundred of Essex, unfinished. Newspaper limit,
will not permit • longer extract.
(To he continued.)