y made their appearance. Dick is such an
amazing swift runner that he keeps in with the hounds for many miles
together, to the surprise of all the gentlemen, who confess him to be a
very useful man among them, as he instantly discovers the track of a
fox, and is very clever at finding a hare sitting, and who therefore
support him. He never goes out without carrying a knife, a fork, a spoon
and a spur, which are all of his own making, a performance that shows
him not to be destitute of ingenuity, as they are not separately made,
but contained in one, and with these he is at once equipped either for
sporting or eating. The spur he uses for pricking himself, which he
fancies enables him to keep up with the hounds. He frequently uses it to
the no small amusement of the spectators. His dress is quite as singular
as his mode of life, for he always wears a long surtout coat,
a hunting-cap, a boot on one leg and a shoe on the foot of the
other--and thus equipped he runs with the speed of a hunting-horse,
clearing with ease all the ditches and fences the riders do.

"One of the best packs of hounds in England was most completely beat
lately by a fox. The latter was turned out before them near Wold Newton,
in Yorkshire, and after running rings for sometime, went off for
Scarborough, near which place the hounds were so completely knocked up
that he beat them in view, for the huntsman could not get them a yard
further--a number of riders lost their horses in the cars, and were seen
wading up to their necks to catch them again. The fox ran upwards of
twenty miles.

"In the discussions which have arisen in and out of parliament in
England about the abolition of the Briton's old favourite sports, it was
conceded by all but a few, that from the custom of boxing, singlestick
and backsword playing, wrestling, &c. arose the good temper which
distinguishes that people--Englishmen being less subject to violent fits
of anger than the people of any other nation in the world. In the
compass of eighteen pages of a work now before us we have details of no
less than two grand matches of singlestick, one Wiltshire against
Somersetshire, and the other Somersetshire against all England, for
large purses. In both cases the champions of Somerset county beat; and
what must astonish those who hear it, the victors (though men in the
lowest classes of life in one case) shared the prize with the
vanquished. In the former, Somerset gave nine broken hea