Sir William Harcourt had an amusing little brush with the
Sheriffs,—one of whom, Alderman Fowler, M.P. for the City of London, is a strong Conservative,—when he declared that he thought Gog and Magog must have been the primeval Sheriffs of the City. He added that he could not conceive why Mr. Alderman Fowler should take such pains to entertain hospitably the Liberal Administration, unless it were on the same principle on which Masters of Foxhounds are careful to preserve the covers, and not to hunt the young cubs before their time. The political cub-hunting will hardly begin before February, and in the meantime the health and comfort of the Liberal litter are matters of benevolent interest to the political sportsmen of the Tory party. Cub-hunting, however, with Sir William Harcourt for cub, is likely to end in the loss of more Tory foxhounds than Liberal foxes.
