The Brake Hunt had been
established for a great many years, and was the central attraction of
a district well known for its hunting propensities. The preservation
of foxes might be an open question in such counties as Norfolk and
Suffolk, but could not be so in the Brake country. Many things are,
no doubt, permissible under the law, which, if done, would show the
doer of them to be the enemy of his species,--and this destruction
of foxes in a hunting country may be named as one of them. The Duke
might have his foxes destroyed if he pleased, but he could hardly
do so and remain a popular magnate in England. If he chose to put
himself in opposition to the desires and very instincts of the people
among whom his property was situated, he must live as a "man forbid."
That was the general argument, and then there was the argument
special to this particular case. As it happened, Trumpeton Wood was,
and always had been, the great nursery of foxes for that side of the
Brake country. Gorse coverts make, no doubt, the charm of hunting,
but gorse coverts will not hold foxes unless the woodlands be
preserved.
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