As thus proclaimed the herald loud A doleful clamor raised the crowd By hearth-stone and on highway. Dear in the leaguered town was food, But dearer yet was counsel good. "Oh, woe is me!" the townsfolk call, "Oh, woe!" responds each pastor: "Good Lord, have mercy on us all! Death comes, and sure disaster: Alack! alack! there is no hope!"Already each man feels the rope. But when the case small hope admits, The subtlest toils will sever: A wife in wit and virtue rich, The townsfolk much elated: Forth issued from the city; And in his camp they bent the knee To move the monarch's pity: They pleaded long, nor plead amiss, But gained no better terms than this: 66 The women should be free to go, But lo! when bright the morning beamed, Forth from the nearest gate-way, Her lord each bearing in a sack, True as I'm living-pickapack! Then many a sycophant averred Their trick should naught avail them; He pardoned all, both great and small, And trod a stately measure: Pray tell me now where Weinsberg lies? In sooth a gallant city, With store of maids and matrons wise, And pious, leal, and witty: And if I'm doomed to nuptial vows, ABOUT THE FOX AND FOX-HUNTERS. "As all sayings, S cunning as a fox," is one of the oldest said that there are over one thousand classic fables in which the fox is the prominent character. It is therefore evident that the creature must possess some superior qualifications to thus impress himself upon the popular mind, not as an animal of great merit only, but indeed as a representative of intellectual character. It is but just to say, however, that the fox is but a fair representative of the superior abilities of all animals in their spheres. We know Reynard better than the others, simply because circumstances have brought him more frequently in contact with the human species; for by the chase he has for generations brought his "natural smartness" to bear against the united resources of the dog, of the horse, of man; and in the contest the fox has always displayed abilities that have made it difficult to decide unqualifiedly that he is not entitled to an equal share of honors, in what at first sight would appear to be a most unequal contest. He is the inhabitant of all the northern and temperate regions of the globe, and though varying in color and size, every where maintains his marked peculiarities of character. His forehead is high and broad; his eyes are so set that he has a wide range of vision; his snout is sharp; his ears erect and pointed; his body is liberally able for its brush-like appearance. His natural age is twelve years, but as foxes are Ishmaelites by nature and practice, they seldom reach their allotted span of life. Reynard comes not only from an intelligent family, but also of a race blessed with tough muscles, an exquisite scent, and a heroic spirit under misfortunes. He is unlike the dog in being full of dissimulation and treachery, and has no courage to compare with the wolf. The dog and wolf will associate as friends, but the wolf and dog are sworn enemies of the fox. The gait of the fox is treacherous, and his glance is always sinister, glaring, or stealthy. By deception patiently practiced, he accomplishes his greatest triumphs. He will willingly lie all day concealed among the grass in the vicinity of a pond, waving for long hours the bushy end of his tail, thereby enticing geese and ducks, the over-curious inhabitants of its surface, within his reach. He will seize a bunch of moss between his teeth, launch himself into the stream, and, unsuspected, float among his feathered victims, thus securing his prey. If the ruse is necessary for success, he will affect to be dead, and the hound's sharp teeth, or powder flashed under his sensitive nose, have failed to call forth any evidences of life. As a general rule the fox commits his depredations in the night; and if he is fortunate in killing more food than he immediately requires, he hides the surplus in the ground for future use. He is the enemy of the poultry-yard, and all favorite game. He preys voraciously upon all animals weaker than himself, and has been known to tear down young calves and lambs. When hard pressed he will subsist on serpents, toads, moles, and rats, playing with them before killing as would a cat. If living on the seacoast, he becomes very fond of oysters, crabs, and other shell-fish. Though not a great consumer of grapes, he seems to delight to destroy them, seemingly from wanton mischief. Solomon alludes to "the little foxes that destroy the vines." He is a great observer of localities, and soon becomes familiar with every pathway, rock, tree, or fence, and with the inhabitants of his vicinity. Foxes are exceedingly tender of their young, both parents laboring industriously for their support. If suddenly surprised by dogs, the old ones will conceal their cubs, and by boldly breaking cover, lead their enemies away from their den. The anxious mother has often been seen running before the hounds with a cub in her mouth. As the young increase in size they are taken by the old ones out on predatory excursions; taught to leap, to "double," and to practice the approved methods of stealing. The young fox is not, however, always grateful; for when foxes' holes have been stopped, the parents have been known to fall victims to the appetites of the ravenous brood. The burrow of the fox is not only remarkable for its happily selected location but also for the great skill shown in its construction. Buffon was so struck by this fact, that he proposed to place the fox among the higher order of quadrupeds. The remarkable saying, "The foxes have holes and the birds have nests," would seem to be an inspired recognition of the comfort and security of the fox's den. From the natural sagacity of the fox, the strong scent it leaves when hunted, its speed and apparently natural association with the precincts of the farm-yard, its capture by the aid of horses and dogs affords one of the most exciting sports indulged in by man. There seems to be no element of healthful recreation wanting. The time, if favorable, is in the pleasantest season of the year; the scene over hill and dale, and your companions dashing gentlemen. We have been no idle participants in the wild sports of the woods and fields. We have rightfully claimed a share of spoils of all sorts of legitimate game, great and small, and we remember vividly all the pleasant incidents connected therewith; but as time softens yet embellishes the review, it seems to us that the morning meeting of the jolly fox-hunters of all others was the most thoroughly hearty, and the sport that followed the most manly and exciting. Fox-hunting in America, though less pretentious in details, and less technical than in England, is as enthusiastically pursued in our Middle and Southern States. Certainly we do not pay enormous prices for hounds, nor keep up studs of hunters at prodigious cost, yet our people, when the country permits it, are hunters after a rude but thorough manner; and although we do not ride in white top boots and corduroys, yet we ride to the purpose, and through the hills, rough rocks, broken precipices, quaggy swamps, and fatal quick-sands, we are still eager and stanch hunters. Our horses are doubly trained in the deer and fox hunt, and though they may not be as speedy in passing over an open field, or so well trained in leaping hedges and ditches, still they are more wiry and active than their English rivals. From Maryland to Florida, and further west through Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, fox-hunting contends with deerhunting as the favorite amusement. In fact, the chase of the fox may be properly regarded as a Southern sport in the United States, as it is never followed on horseback in the North, owing to the rocky and precipitous character of the country, and the unyielding opposition of our sturdy farmers in favorable locations, who would never permit a dozen horses leaping their fences and galloping over their wheat fields. Besides, the red fox, which is more generally found in the North, runs so far before the dogs that he would be seldom seen, and could at his pleasure, under any circumstances, escape in some rocky fissure or impenetrable burrow. In the Southern States, on the contrary, the ground is generally favorable to the amusement, and the planter sustains but little injury from the passing hunt, which, from the instinctive leading of the fox, is confined to the ridges and high dry grounds, and not to the cultivated fields. The modes of hunting the fox are much alike in all the Southern States. To the sound of the winding horn the neighboring gentry collect at an appointed place, each accompanied by his favorite dogs, and usually by a negro who acts as "whipper in." Mounted on fine horses accustomed to the sport, they send in their hounds to hunt over the selected ground, and wait the start. Thickets on the edges of long cultivated plantations, brier patches, deserted fields covered with bloom-grass, are places where the fox is most likely to have his bed. The trail he has left behind him during his nocturnal rambles being struck, the hounds are encouraged by the black fox, that Washington frequently hunted, voices of their drivers to as great a speed as the but without success. This animal, the history devious course it leads them will permit. Once of which would, no doubt, be curious, would bid scenting the trail, they follow it along where the defiance to all pursuers, running from ten to fox the previous night has been in search of par- twenty miles, distancing both dogs and horses. tridges, meadow-larks, rabbits, and field-mice; It was a boast of Washington that his pack, presently they trace his footsteps to a log, from numerous as it was, ran so close that they could which he has jumped upon the neighboring fence, be covered with a blanket—an expression that is which following a short distance, then leaped a as suggestive as a volume could be of the nice ditch and struck into the borders of a marsh. sense he had of the proprieties of the sport, and Through all his crooked and cautious ways the what a critical eye and judgment he brought to sagacious hounds follow until he is suddenly bear in its enjoyment. Washington's hunting roused, perchance from a vision of successful establishment, though not entirely destroyed, barn-yard robberies, by the clamorous cry of the was comparatively neglected while he was ab pack. At first the fox makes two or three rapid sent at the head of the army; but on his return doublings, and then suddenly flies to cover, per- home, Lafayette, with a thoughtful appreciation haps a quarter of a mile off. This possibly for of his old commander's fondness for field-sports, a few moments throws the dogs out, but the mo- sent him a pack of French hounds of unusual ment the chase has continued long enough to size and speed, which Washington received with get the fox warm, the trail is then followed by the liveliest expressions of delight, and which he the dogs with precision and unerring certainty, used in favorable weather as often as every othand the struggle now becomes exciting. Now er day in the week, generally starting before the hunters, who have been impatiently waiting, sunrise, and returning home to breakfast, made dash in after the "ringing pack." When the doubly appreciated by the exercise and excitewoods are open, which is often the case where ment in the bracing morning air. the custom of annually firing the undergrowth prevails, the horsemen keep up with the hounds, and the fox is frequently in sight. In his efforts to escape, Reynard, after he despairs of his heels, commences his manœuvres to elude his pursuers; he plunges into thickets, doubles on his track, runs into the water, follows a fence top for a hundred yards or more, and then makes a desperate bound to earth so that he may break his trail. At last, fatigued and stiffened by exertion, his enemies seize him, and he dies bravely, defiantly fighting and snapping with his teeth to the last. Occasionally the lady visitors of Mount Vernon, mounted on their palfreys, would go out as charming witnesses of the sport; and that they might gratify their wishes without endangering life or limb, Washington caused roads to be cut through various places in the woods, so that by "short cuts" the most eligible places to see the chase could be reached. On these occasions Washington was especially conspicuous; taller and finer mounted than any of his companions, he neither spared himself nor his generous steed, maintaining what seemed to be his inherited place, the lead, and at the death yielding to no man the honor of the brush. General Washington, with regard to fox-hunting, was a representative man in his day, and An invitation to a fox-hunt, now, alas! some was probably one of the best riders of his time-twenty years ago, was one of the first marked an accomplishment that gave him dignity and adventures of our Southern life. Our host was efficiency when he became the commander-in- a most substantial planter and an accomplished chief of the Revolutionary army. His favorite gentleman. Besides possessing the best stud in horse, after he took up his residence at Mount all the country round, he had a pack of hounds Vernon, was a splendid iron-gray, approaching that was unsurpassed in all the valuable qual to blue, rejoicing in the name of Blenheim. His ities of nose and speed. Roused from our bed house, at the time referred to, was the central before the day had fairly dawned, we reached point, not only from the vicinity, but from Mary- the breakfast room to find it full of guests inland, for gentlemen who were fond of the chase; vited from the neighborhood, and all busily enthese friendly visits frequently extending for gaged in the agreeable task of discussing a warm weeks, and each day made memorable by un- and most substantial breakfast, over which the bounded hospitality. Washington dressed for a perfume of rich coffee, such as we only meet with fox-hunt must have been a most splendid speci- in semi-tropical climes, predominated. It took men of a man, his fine person set off by the true but little observation to foresee that our new assporting costume of blue coat, scarlet waistcoat, sociates were all remarkable in their way, some buckskin breeches, boots with yellow tops, silver for fine personal appearance, some for their classpurs, velvet cap, and a showy whip handle sup- sical and literary attainments, and all for their porting a long, tapering, but heavy lash. Thus rough hunting experiences and fine social qualadorned, and accompanied by Hill Lee, his hunts- ities. The meal dispatched, we proceeded to man, at the head of his friends and retainers, at the lawn in front of the house, where we found early dawn he took the field, and in the excite- a crowd of horses, and what a new-made acment of the chase none rode more gallantly, and quaintance termed a "raft of dogs," the canines no voice more cheerily made the woodlands ring at our presence setting up the most unearthly than his. The foxes hunted at this time were yells, the older members extending their notes the gray species; but there was an exception, a until they reached a cadence peculiar to "old |