It had fallen out in this wise. As
the old Duke had become very old, the old Duke's agent had gradually
acquired more than an agent's proper influence in the property; and
as the Duke's heir would not shoot himself, or pay attention to the
shooting, and as the Duke would not let the shooting of his wood, Mr.
Fothergill, the steward, had gradually become omnipotent. Now Mr.
Fothergill was not a hunting man,--but the mischief did not at all
lie there. Lord Chiltern would not communicate with Mr. Fothergill.
Lord Chiltern would write to the Duke, and Mr. Fothergill became an
established enemy. _Hinc illae irae._ From this source sprung all those
powerfully argued articles in _The Field_, _Bell's Life_, and _Land
and Water_;--for on this matter all the sporting papers were of one
mind.
There is something doubtless absurd in the intensity of the worship
paid to the fox by hunting communities. The animal becomes sacred,
and his preservation is a religion. His irregular destruction is a
profanity, and words spoken to his injury are blasphemous.
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