"'Oh the devil!' I exclaimed.
'No, not the devil,' said the farmer,
'but the fox.'"
A clever satirist has said that nature made the horse and hounds and threw in the fox as a connecting link. In my opinion, fox-hounds and hunting are the connecting links between the landlord and the tenant farmer.
I have made many pleasant acquaintances lately in my hunting expeditions, and I hope we shall always remain on the most amicable terms. But some have astonished me with their argument. Said one, "Beg pardon, Major, I have lost such a sight of poultry." "Dear me," I said. "Yes, we lost forty ducks the other night." "Oh, the devil!" I exclaimed. "No, not the devil," said the farmer, "but the fox." I asked the farmer how he managed to count so many. "Well," was the reply, "I had four ducks sitting on ten eggs each; and that made forty." Well, the Chamber of Agriculture has not yet settled the knotty point of "compensation for unexhausted improvements." However, the argument ended in our parting very good friends, as, said the farmer, "I and my landlord have been friends hitherto, and as I hope we shall continue to be."
[TWO UNPROFITABLE HONOURS.]
I have the honour to hold two offices which, if I did not enjoy the friendship of the farmers, would be very thorny ones. One of them is that of being a member of Parliament for an agricultural county. You will agree with me that, in such a position, if I were not on good terms with the farmer, I would often be on a bed of thorns.
The other office I hold is that of master of a pack of hounds. I think also if I were not on good terms with the farmer that would not be a very pleasant position. I do not know that there is any similarity between the two offices, except that neither of them has any salary. I hope and trust that it will be a very long time before the country will be unable to find men willing to do the duties in either capacity without being paid for them.
Tredegar Show,
December 19th, 1865.