\1 
 
f?"'. ^-5* 
 
 d 
 
TUFTS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 
 
 III 
 
 3 9090 014 541 821 
 
 Webster Family Library 
 Cummings Sch:^-^' n^^ 
 
 ■ ne 
 
 Hon 
 
 MA 01536 
 
THE ILLUSTRATED POCKET LIBRARY 
 OF PLAIN AND COLOURED BOOKS 
 
 THE NATIONAL SPORTS 
 OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
This Edition is Ufnited to Fifty Copies i?i the 
 United States of Ainerica 
 
THE NATIONAL SPORTS 
 OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 By henry ALKEN 
 
 fifty engravings 
 
 WITH DESCRIPTIONS 
 
 A NEW EDITION 
 
 NEW YORK 
 D. APPLETON & COMPANY 
 
 1903 
 

 NOTE 
 
 'T^HIS Issue is founded on the Edition 
 published by Thomas M'Lean in the 
 year 1825. It is entirely different from 
 the National Sports in Folio published by 
 Thomas M'Lean in the year 1823 
 
LIST OF THE PLATES 
 
 I. 
 
 Race Horse. 
 
 2. 
 
 Racinc 
 
 ,— Training. 
 
 3- 
 
 
 Saddling. 
 
 4- 
 
 
 Preparing to start. 
 
 5- 
 
 
 Off! 
 
 6. 
 
 
 Doing their best. 
 
 7. 
 
 
 Going to weigh. 
 
 8. 
 
 The H 
 
 UNTER. 
 
 9. 
 
 Running in to a Stag. 
 
 10. 
 
 Fox Hunting.— Earth Stopper. 
 
 II. 
 
 
 Going to Cover. 
 
 12. 
 
 
 Breaking Cover. 
 
 13- 
 
 
 Gone away — Forward ! 
 
 14. 
 
 
 Check. 
 
 15- 
 
 ! 
 
 Swishing at a Rasper. 
 
 16. 
 
 
 Death.— Who whoop ! 
 
 17- 
 
 
 Running in to a Fox. 
 
 18. 
 
 J 
 
 Digging out. 
 
 19. 
 
 Fox H 
 
 unter's Toast. 
 
 20. 
 
 COURSI 
 
 NG— Going out. 
 
 21. 
 
 
 Finding— Soho ! 
 
 22. 
 
 
 HiLLOO ! HiLLOO ! 
 
 23- 
 
 
 Picking up. 
 
 24. 
 
 
 Dead— DEAD. 
 
 25. 
 
 
 Going home. 
 
 26. 
 
 Shoot I 
 
 NG— Going out. 
 
27. Pointers. 
 
 28. Setters. 
 
 29. Grouse Shooting. 
 
 30. Partridge Shooting. 
 
 31. Pheasant Shooting 
 
 32. Fowl Shooting. 
 33' Snipe Shooting. 
 
 34. Bittern Shooting. 
 
 35. Bank Shooting for Fowl 
 30. Punting for Fowl. 
 
 37- Sledging for Fowl. 
 
 38. Poachers. 
 
 39' Ferreting Rabits 
 
 40. Running a Badger to Bay. 
 
 41. Otter Hunting. 
 
 42. Hunting the Martin 
 
 43- Anglers. 
 
 44- Fly Fishing. 
 
 45- Prize Fight. 
 46. Dog Fight. 
 47' Cock Fight. 
 
 48. Bull Baiting. 
 
 49. Bear Baiting. 
 
 50. Badger Baiting. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 IN the following pages we submit to the 
 inspection^ and^ we trust, approbation, of 
 the Public, a Collection of new and original 
 Drawings and Descriptions on most of the 
 Sporting subjects, either formerly, or at present, 
 in vogue in Britain, immemorially distinguished 
 and celebrated as the land of Sportsmen ; and 
 we embrace the usual prefatorial occasion of 
 tendering a few lines to the consideration of the 
 reader, on the real merits of the subject, which, 
 after so many able, amusing, and instructive 
 predecessors, we have thus ventured to re- 
 introduce to public notice. 
 
 Man was not intended by the Creator to pass 
 a life of inaction and idleness ; on the contrary, 
 the most active duties have been imposed upon 
 him, by nature and necessity. The pursuit of 
 wild animals must be necessary to human 
 subsistence in the early stages of society, hence 
 man is naturally a Sportsman ; and from this 
 
 /' vii 
 
viii PREFACE 
 
 source, with the stimulus of native curiosity, and 
 desire of action and diversion, originated the 
 system universally designated as Sport. 
 
 But our present business is with Sport, properly 
 so called, the diversion and amusement of 
 civilized nations, drawn either from the pursuit 
 of wild animals reserved in that state, expressly 
 for the purpose, or from witnessing those of the 
 domesticated animals, placed in certain peculiar 
 situations of action or suffering. For example, 
 the Chase, — Falconry, — Shooting, — Fishing, — 
 Horse-racing, — Baiting — and the Combats of 
 Animals; also teaching them a variety of 
 performances, in order to discern the extent 
 of brute sagacity ; and lastly. Prize -fighting, 
 commonly called Boxing, or Pugilism, between 
 individual champions of the human race. 
 
 Nothing can be more evident than the need 
 and propriety of sportive diversions, which cheer 
 the animal spirits and relax the mind perpetually 
 bent on the serious duties of life. Especially 
 necessary are they to the far greater portion of 
 the opulent classes whose laudable determination 
 is to make pleasure a business since they have 
 neither the need nor the inclination to make 
 business a pleasure. Viewing a reasonable share 
 
PREFACE ix 
 
 of the pleasing dissipation of Sports and Pastimes 
 as necessary to the exhiUration and recruiting of 
 man's nature^ we have not lost sight of the just 
 claims of the labouring classes ; but this is not 
 the proper place to institute an enquiry, whether 
 in such respect, our labourers of the present day, 
 will, on research, be found on terms of equality 
 with their equals of former, though less en- 
 lightened ages. 
 
 Field Sports and Diversions with Animals, 
 in the early and half-civilized periods of the 
 world, were necessaril}^, like the people them- 
 selves, rude and barbarous. There did not exist 
 sufficient refinement in human reason to prompt 
 it into any speculations on the feelings or 
 sufferings of brutes ; and if such sentiments 
 should incidentally have arisen in the minds of 
 Individuals, they were stifled in their birth by 
 all-controuling custom. Such an idea as pity 
 for the sufferings of a beast could scarcely exist 
 in human minds, constituted and instructed as 
 they then were ; on the contrary, animal misery 
 was a grand and favourite source of pleasure, and 
 the public exposure of animals to the most 
 excruciating tortures, appears to have been one 
 of the most gratifying exhibitions. This natural. 
 
X PREFACE 
 
 or unnatural tenclenc}^, in the mind of man, 
 which he shares in common with the brutes his 
 victims, and which, almost the highest degree 
 of civilization has not been able to eradicate, 
 has, doubtless, often exercised the lucubrations 
 of the moral philosopher. 
 
 detested, dastard sport, 
 
 That owes its pleasures to another's pain ; 
 That feeds upon the sobs and dying shrieks 
 Of harmless nature, dumb, but yet endowed 
 With eloquence that agonies inspire, 
 Of silent tears and heart-distending sighs ! 
 
 From the above impure source are to be 
 traced the thousand disgusting barbarities of the 
 ancient Chase. Thence the origin of the 
 abominable exhibition of baiting animals, as it 
 has been styled, of witnessing their writhing 
 and suffering under the most horrible inflictions 
 which human ingenuity could invent — as for 
 example, ' the tortures of a cat in a glass bottle/ 
 which Shahjieare could quote without a com- 
 ment ! Even the sensibilities of the softer sex 
 were dormant on this subject. Women equally 
 with men, even those of the most exalted rank, 
 enjoyed the exquisite pleasure of a baiting, as we 
 
PREFACE xi 
 
 have seen in the examples of the Queens Marif 
 and Elizabeth. Senators also, a specimen of the 
 collected wisdom of the time and country, and 
 the prominent examples of public morality, did 
 not neglect these favourite exhibitions, as Evelyn 
 has borne testimony, who, in his celebrated 
 Diary, records that in the year 1699, a bill of 
 great consequence was lost in the House of 
 Commons, by ten votes, so many friends to the 
 measure being absent to see a tyger baited by 
 dogs. 
 
 This unfeeling state of the public mind and 
 manners, with respect to Animal Diversions, 
 continued, although in a somewhat mitigated 
 degree, throughout the eighteenth century. In 
 the latter end of the reign of Anne, the atrocious 
 spectacle was exhibited at Newmarket, of the 
 famous racer Dragon, castrated at starting, 
 winning his race over the Beacon Course, and 
 dropping dead at the ending-post ! Much of 
 ancient barbarism still remained in the manners 
 and practices of our Horse-coursers, both in their 
 methods of training and management, and of 
 riding, particularly crossing and jostling races, 
 in which the jockies were accustomed to fight 
 on horseback, striking each other, and their 
 
xii PREFACE 
 
 respective horses with their whips, and aim- 
 ing to cut out their antagonist's eyes ! The 
 barbarous pubhc spectacles of baiting and 
 tormenting were in high fashion, and flourished 
 eminently under the auspices of the renowned 
 hero of CuUoden, and his minister Broughtoii. 
 But a change Avas then silently and gradually 
 taking place in the popular mind. Superior 
 light had dawned upon human reason. The 
 mental faculties were at length warmed and 
 stimulated into action, and the result was a 
 discovery that the feelings even of brutes ought 
 to be respected. Dr. Johnson in the Rambler, 
 had consigned to everlasting infamy the horrible 
 cruelty practised upon the race-horse Dragon ; 
 and several meritorious individuals of the Church 
 of England clergy, attempted to stem the torrent 
 of cruelty exercised towards animals in various 
 ways, but more particularly in the case of 
 Bull-baiting. 
 
 About twenty-five years since, a proposition 
 was made in the Philosophical and Practical 
 Treatise on Horses that the rights of beasts should 
 be recognized by the civil government ; that they 
 should so far be made participators in the social 
 contract, as to have the benefit of legal remedy 
 
PREFACE xiii 
 
 in the case of unjust and undue trespasses on 
 their feelings. The idea of the rights of cattle 
 was soon after successfully ridiculed on the stage. 
 But successful ridicule is not always the test of 
 truth. If it be unjust and immoral to treat a 
 beast unfairly and cruelly^ it results as a conse- 
 quence, that the beast has a right to be treated 
 with fiiirness and justice. The right of the 
 beast originates in the moral duty of the rational 
 man, and wherever a right exists, there ought to 
 be a remecly. In the above work a practical 
 discrimination is made between the fair and 
 lawful use of animals, and the abuse, whether 
 with regard to business or Sport, and the most 
 ample scope allowed in the exercise of the latter. 
 To this material point we have adhered in the 
 following pages ; in no case giving up the fair 
 and lawful rights of the Sportsman. 
 
 Since that period, various publications have 
 appeared of the most meritorious character, 
 in the same moral line. All the world knows of 
 the humane Lord Erskines bill, and its unmerited 
 fate in parliament. But these united exertions 
 have not been altogether unsuccessful, and 
 ignorance can be no longer pleaded of this 
 essential branch of moral duty. 
 
0. 
 
 m^' m 
 
THE NATIONAL SPORTS 
 OF GREAT BRITAIN 
 
 THE RACE HORSE 
 
 THE Artist has presented us with a regular 
 series on this subject so interesting to 
 Englishmen, through the usual gradations, from 
 the training of the Racer to the completion of his 
 labours, and the test of scales and weights ; the 
 definitive verdict of which, must determine his 
 right to the hard-contested prize. 
 
 To jog on with our fellow-labourer, but in far 
 lighter labours : in the first place, what is this 
 paragon of an animal, this Racer, in modern 
 times, peculiar to that paragon of Isles, Britain — 
 this horse so distinguished for superiority over 
 all others on the face of the habitable globe, 
 for speed, endurance, solidity and toughness of 
 sinew, and ability to carry weight ? He is of 
 the indigenous species of Africa, part of Asia, 
 and of South Eastern Europe — of Arabia and 
 I 
 
Barbaiy^ in the most eminent degree of ex- 
 cellence. The breeding stock of these comitries 
 has been, during upwards of two centuries, im- 
 ported into this, for the purpose, in the first 
 instance, of racing on the course. The original 
 individuals imported never could, or have been 
 able, to race in any eminent degree, a qualifica- 
 tion to be acquired for their immediate, or 
 more remote successors, through the nutritious 
 and stimulating provender, and superior manage- 
 ment of the breeders and grooms of this Country. 
 The very erroneous notion has been pro- 
 pagated by writers, not cm- fait on the subject, 
 and currently received, that the English running 
 horse is of a mixed breed, between the south- 
 eastern and the native English horse — by such 
 cross, blending the speed of the one, with the 
 substance of the other. No such plan w^as ever 
 pursued, with the exception, that several acci- 
 dental crosses have occurred, in the course of 
 time, which were immediately detected. Our 
 racers have acquired their great size and sub- 
 stance — the former of late years has been 
 excessive, and probably disadvantageous — by 
 virtue of constant high keep from the state ot 
 foals. In general acceptation, no horse can be 
 a reputed racer unless thorough-bred ; that is to 
 say, descended on both sides from the pure, un- 
 mixed, foreign blood. There certainly have been 
 
several, but rare, instances of horses seven-eighths 
 bred (a term introduced by Mr. Lawrence), which 
 have proved capital racers ; but never one, so far 
 as records go, below that degree. Respecting 
 terms in general use — a blood-horse, means a nag 
 with a show of blood from foreign extraction, in 
 an indeterminate proportion ; a half-bred horse, 
 one from a common English mare and a bred 
 horse, or vice versa ; a three-part bred one, from 
 a racer and a half-bred mare ; seven-eighths bred, 
 from the racer and the three-part bred mare ; 
 last, or rather first, the thorough-bred, or bred 
 racer or running horse, of pure unmixed south- 
 eastern blood. For information at large, on 
 these topics, and the subject generally, we 
 refer to Mr. Lawrence's Philosophical and 
 Practical Treatise on Horses, and to his 
 General History of the Horse. 
 
 The English Racer has always commanded 
 great, occasionally, very extraordinary prices. 
 The Duke of Devonshire refused his weight in 
 silver for Flying Childers ; Mr. Pigott ten 
 thousand guineas for Shark; O' Kelly refused 
 any price which could be offered, for Eclipse, 
 declaring that all Bedford Level would not 
 purchase him. It is supposed that, as a racer 
 and a stallion. Eclipse rewarded his proprietor 
 with full thirty thousand pounds. The first Mr 
 Tattersall gave six thousand guineas for Highflyer, 
 
and in all probability made twenty thousand by 
 him Sir Charles Bunbury refused a very heavy 
 sum for Smolensko. Mr. Lambton has lately 
 given two thousand two hundred guineas for 
 Cedric. 
 
HI 
 
RACING 
 
 TRAINING 
 
 THE general management of the Race-horse 
 is familiar to most persons of this country. 
 He is broke, or bitted, whilst a yearling, and 
 even has racBcl at that early age ; very frequently 
 at two, and almost universally at three. His 
 short portion of unemployed youth is spent in 
 fine pasture, with an allowance of corn. Taken 
 into training, he treads his native pastures no 
 more. The first process is clearing his skin, and 
 clothing him, as the plate represents. It should 
 have been noted, that, for obvious reasons, and 
 with few^ exceptions, castration can have no place 
 in the racing stud. Racing stallions are destined, 
 not only to get stock for the course, but for the 
 perpetuation of that transcendant improvement, 
 which they have made in our saddle and quick 
 draught breeds of horses. Purgatives, in the 
 stable phrase, physic, the basis of which is always 
 aloes, soon ensues on taking in the colt or filly, 
 to the extent of several doses. Walking exercise 
 
on turf, the canter and moderate gallop^ the 
 brushing gallop and sweat, compose the training 
 paces. Though to the Race-horse trotting is a 
 natural pace, yet, from his form, he is not 
 calculated to excel at it ; nor did we ever read 
 or hear of more than one race-horse matched to 
 trot ; that one was Infidel, by Turk, which, many 
 years ago, won his money, by trotting fifteen 
 miles in one hour over the road. In full exercise, 
 the racers go out twice a day, otherwise once, 
 taking water after the gallop, and a canter after 
 water. Sweating, in full work, is performed by 
 loading the horse with an additional weight of 
 clothes, and galloping him, four or five miles, 
 pushing him at intervals, to considerable speed, 
 with the view of throwing out the perspiration. 
 On pulling up, he is led into a sheltered place 
 and scraped, wiped, walked out, and led home 
 dry. A strong horse, fresh on his legs, is sweated 
 weekly, or even twice in ten days. Trials are 
 always had of young horses, in order to ascertain 
 the rate of their qualifications. These are 
 generally to the extent of one mile or two, 
 against a reputed racer, and with proportionate 
 weights. Horses also, in the course of the racing 
 season, are tried previously to any great race or 
 match. But neither this practice, nor trying 
 against time, are of such frequent use as in former 
 <lays ; indeed, we seldom now hear of the latter. 
 
RACING 
 
 SADDLING 
 
 THE important day having arrived, and the 
 hour of trial approaching, the Racers are 
 led gently towards the turf, on which the races 
 are to be held ; and walked up and down, until 
 the drum shall beat as formerly, or the bell ring, 
 for saddling. The horses are then stripped of 
 their clothes, which are put into the hands of 
 attendants, bundled up, and thrown on the back 
 of a horse, in order to be ready on the instant of 
 the conclusion of the race or heat ; that the 
 horses may be again clothed and protected, in 
 their heated state, from dangerous atmospheric 
 influence. In case of heats, the same ceremonies 
 of stripping and clothing, saddling and unsaddling, 
 necessarily take place before and after every heat. 
 The racing finished, the horses are led home in 
 the same order as they came, the winner, no 
 doubt, with great honour, and amidst the plaudits 
 of all the heroes of the stable. 
 
 The Plate impresses us with certain ideas. 
 
which a long and intimate acquaintance with 
 the business of the turf, has rendered famihar to 
 us. Gentle reader, thou seest, somewhat in the 
 back ground, the proprietor and his jockey, 
 cheek-by-jole, in deep confab. What thinkest 
 thou is the most important topic of this conver- 
 sation ? In all probability, the simple direction, 
 whether the jockey be required to try to win, or 
 try to lose. Indeed, it would be a peculiar hard 
 case, for a Sportsman to be compelled to win 
 against his will; in other words, against his 
 interest. Old Q.— the late Duke of Queensbury, 
 was once standing at the head of the betting 
 circle, on Newmarket Heath, when his jockey, 
 a raw lad, not having received his orders, went 
 up to him, and, in a voice audible to all around, 
 said—" Please your Grace, how am I to ride this 
 match?" A loud laugh burst from the whole 
 company ; but the Duke, unembarrassed and with 
 a good presence of mind, answered—" Ride ! why 
 do your best, and win if you can, to be sure ! " 
 
RACING 
 
 PREPARING TO START 
 
 THE Jockies having mounted, and perhaps 
 walked their horses backward and forward 
 awhile, are now adjusting themselves to their 
 seats, and getting the bridle firmly and properly 
 in hand. The foremost nag appears to be a 
 ready one to start, and longing to be off ; a sort, 
 by-the-by, which full often have an equal, and 
 somewhat too early, longing to be pulled up. 
 They naturally belong to that speedy class which 
 can run fast enough to tire themselves. 
 
 The severity of racing has been very judiciously 
 abridged, especially at Newmarket, of late years. 
 Running heats has, indeed, excepting on one or 
 two occasions, been for many years disused there. 
 The distances also are curtailed, a measure 
 originally proposed by the late humane Sir 
 Thomas Charles Bunbury, Bart, who presided 
 during so many years in the Jockey Club, and 
 was a breeder and trainer of Race Horses during 
 the long course of nearly threescore years. The 
 
majority of races now at Newmarket, extend 
 only to a single mile ; races over the course, 
 or fom* miles, being not frequent as formerly. 
 In the days of Childers, even six mile courses 
 were run ; a practice long since out of memory. 
 In such as are styled '^ Country Courses,' and for 
 plates, the best of three heats is the custom : the 
 usual distance for young horses, two ; for aged, 
 or all ages, four miles. Newmarket has long, or 
 ever been, the metropoUs of the Turf. Don- 
 caster and York follow with nearly equal steps. 
 Epsom, Ascot, Guildford, liave their share of 
 fame. It is somewhat singular that, no modern 
 nation, excepting the British and Irish, have, or 
 do, acquire any fame at the noble sport of Horse- 
 racing, notwithstanding so many attempts, and 
 their constant extensive purchases of English 
 thorough-bred horses for the stud. We necessarily 
 include the inhabitants of the United States of 
 America, and of British India, among the British. 
 In these countries the Turf flourishes, and its 
 business is conducted on the English plan. 
 
RACING 
 
 OFF! 
 
 THE horses are off! — the Chesnut, taking the 
 lead, obviously shows that it is intended 
 he should keep it, if in his power, and make the 
 play through, to the ending post. The counten- 
 ance of the jockey is an equal index that, to such 
 effect, have been his orders. The other two are 
 putting themselves in a form, to make a waiting- 
 race, to husband out the speed and wind of their 
 horses, with the view of having a reserve of both, 
 at the run in, or last push, which may carry them 
 beyond the horse, which may have exhausted 
 himself in making the play. 
 
 It is a common case, particularly when a con- 
 siderable number of horses, or young ones start, 
 for some of the jockies to be unable to get their 
 horses off at the signal, in consequence, a part 
 start without them. In this case ; a false start, 
 is called by those left behind, and the Clerk of 
 the Course, recals the start. It has sometimes 
 happened, that a false start has been called twice. 
 
and even three times ; and not seldom, that such 
 a manoeuvre has been practised by those jockies, 
 who have not got a place in the start to their 
 mind ; or the trick may be sometimes played off, 
 with a view to harass and baffle young horses or 
 young riders. It is submitted to the Jockey Club, 
 whether a remedy in the case be not expedient ; 
 and whether some general rule might not be laid 
 down, that would be a preventive of the incon- 
 venience. 
 
RACING 
 
 DOING THEIR BEST 
 
 IN riding, especially a four-mile race, a number 
 of runs may be made at particular parts of 
 the course ; but this before us, by the railing, 
 appears to be the last, or the run in. The known, 
 it may be called the universal rule, is, for the 
 Jockey to lie by, and favour the speedy horse, 
 that he may be as fresh as possible, to avail him- 
 self of his natural (jualification at the last push, 
 the only chance he can have to win the race. 
 On the other hand, the rider of the stout, or last- 
 ing, and comparatively slow horse, takes the lead, 
 and runs the course through, at the utmost speed 
 his horse can bear, giving him those occasional 
 pulls, which are necessary to prevent his coming 
 to a stand-still. By this means, the speedy and 
 less lasting, or perhaps jadish, horse, becomes at 
 the final run so exhausted, that the slowest horse 
 is metamorphosed into the speediest, and wins 
 the race. This will happen even in running a 
 mile.; for, in truth, there is much running in a 
 
mile, unless the diflferenee in point of speed be 
 too great. When two horses, equally stout, meet, 
 their speed nearty on a level, and the weights 
 equal, the race is terrible. We have thus stated 
 the usual method of riding speedy and stout 
 horses, which we believe has been almost uni- 
 versally adopted ; but, at the instant, we recollect 
 an account of a race, many years since, between 
 two of the most famous horses of the day, 
 Matchem and Trajan ; and at which several of 
 our old friends were present. It was over the 
 B. C. at Newmarket, for the Whip and Two 
 Hundred Guineas. Matchem, though known to 
 be the slowest horse, was ridden a waiting race 
 by John Singleton, a famous Yorkshire Jockey, 
 and won the race. The case must have been, 
 either that the difference of speed was not very 
 great, or that Trajan was as jadish as speedy. 
 An account of this race may be referred to in the 
 Turf Register. During the race, those who were 
 in a place to witness it, were much surprised at 
 Singleton's plan of riding. 
 
 A glance at the plate, will show this to be a 
 proper place to notice, and with utter reprobation, 
 the barbarous and equally useless practice of ex- 
 cessive whipping and spurring these delicate and 
 thin-skinned animals, during the last run ; when 
 it is an obvious mathematical certainty that, no 
 horse can possibly add the slightest additional 
 
portion to that degree of speedy which nature 
 intended he should possess^ or a single line be- 
 yond his natural extent of stride ; and that horses 
 generally, with very little urging, when running 
 near together, or side by side, will spontaneously 
 exert themselves to the very utmost of their 
 natural powers. We are well aware of the exist- 
 ence of individuals, called, in the style of the Turf, 
 whijyped horses ; in plain English, those sluggish 
 animals, generally of the stout and lasting sort, 
 which really require the whip and spur to force 
 them to the utmost of their exertions. But this cor- 
 rection of them is always overdone, and, in fact, the 
 notion itself is greatly overstrained, and, in a con- 
 siderable degree one of custom. Besides, at the run 
 in of a strongly-contested race, all are treated with 
 equal barbarity, whether willing or otherwise, 
 supposed to require it by their nature, or not ; 
 and that which is deplorable and contemptible 
 enough, English spectators, both male and female, 
 seem to enjoy the exhibition, in proportion to the 
 excess of cutting and slashing ; or our newspapers 
 grossly misrepresent the matter, and calumniate 
 the people. That numbers of horses have been 
 whipped and spurred into losing their race, every 
 man of experience can testify, and that races may 
 be won without either whipping or spurring is in 
 full proof, by thirty years experience of the late 
 tender-hearted and compassionate Sir Charles 
 
Bunbury ; who, throughout that whole period, 
 never suffered blood to be drawn from one of his 
 racers, by whip or spur, yet was on a level with 
 his competitors, in the number of his winning 
 horses. But this savage practice is continued like 
 other old and bad customs, and, with respect to 
 the Jockies, there is an obvious difficulty in the 
 case, which, indeed, the proprietors of race horses 
 alone can remove. 
 
RACING 
 
 GOING TO WEIGH 
 
 THE instant after pulling up at tlie Ending 
 Post^ and the determination of eveiy heat 
 or race, the horse being unsaddled, his jockey 
 proceeds to be weighed, in presence of the Clerk 
 of the Course, in order to give proof that he has 
 ridden the stipulated weight — the next thing 
 needful, after coming in ' first and first,' to entitle 
 his principal to the prize. Some trifle, we believe, 
 and two pounds for over-weight, is customarily 
 allowed for waste. This gradual weighting of 
 the horse (one of the nice points and refinements 
 of Horse Coursing), is probably modern, and of 
 English origin. In course, the lightest weights 
 are set upon young horses, rising gradually to the 
 five-year old and aged. The minimum and tnaximum 
 have been, time out of mind, a feather and twelve 
 stone, fourteen pounds to the stone ; that is to 
 say, horseman's weight. The terra feather, in 
 our Turf slang, indicates a boy of the lightest 
 weight, capable of the functions of a Jockey. 
 Mares are generally allowed some abatement of 
 weight. By order of the Court, when King's 
 
Plates were first given^ the weight was settled at 
 twelve stone for six-year-old horses ; and ten 
 stone for five-year-olds and mares^ four-mile heats, 
 with the view of encouraging a powerful breed of 
 race-horses ; the second duty of Turf stallions 
 being the production of saddle-horses generally, 
 and of horses for quick draught. So high a weight 
 as twelve stone, excepting for King's Plates, is 
 not in general use on the Turf; ten stone, that 
 not often occurring, being the maximum. The 
 tei-m catch weights indicates, that the match, or 
 race, is to be run without any stipulation on that 
 score. Handy -capping is, when the weights in a 
 race, have been settled by the judgment of an 
 appointed handy-capper, who adjusts the weight 
 to be carried by each horse or mare, according to 
 the aggregate of their several ages, powers, and 
 known or imputed qualifications ; certainly the 
 fairest possible plan of racing. A race give and 
 take, or weight for inches, is so denominated from 
 the rule, that a certain given height, suppose 
 twelve hands, shall carry a given weight, that 
 weight being gradually increased, on every inch 
 upwards, to fifteen hands. It has been held, that 
 with two horses, equally matched in all other 
 respects, running four miles, an additional seven 
 pounds carried by one will occasion the difference 
 against him of a distance. We have reason to 
 suspect the correctness of this opinion. 
 
THE HUNTER 
 
 THE figure in view is that of a powerful, 
 full-sized, three-part-bred Hunter, master 
 of sixteen stone over a strong country. The 
 saddle, bridle, and position of the girths, are 
 in the same form and style which has prevailed 
 in England, with little variation, during nearly 
 fifty years. 
 
 Horses for the purpose of hunting, in England, 
 are selected chiefly in relation to the nature of 
 the soil over which they are intended to hunt. 
 Thus, thorough-bred racers and horses nearly 
 approaching to the full blood, are chosen for 
 downs and light open countries, where the 
 utmost speed may be exerted and continued, 
 and where the chace very often resembles a 
 sweepstakes over the regular race-course. In 
 a chace like this, the strong slow Hunter, or 
 that half-bred horse, sometimes designated as, 
 par excellence, the Old English Hunter, would 
 help to make up but an indifferent back-ground. 
 And this mode of selecting horses has prevailed 
 
for several centuries past^ indeed commenced 
 with the modern EngUsh hunt. 
 
 But whatever description of horse is chosen 
 for real service as a Hunter, he ought to have, 
 generally, the true form and qualities of a good 
 hackney or road-horse. Thus, he must not be 
 leggy, long or loose-jointed. He must stand 
 truly, his quarters must be well spread, his 
 hocks sufficiently curved that his hinder feet 
 may well support his loins, which must be wide 
 and substantial. His hoofs also must be tough, 
 and able to support him over the varieties of 
 ground. His forehand must be lofty, he must 
 carry his saddle in a good place ; and with a 
 mouth that will endure the necessary pulls, he 
 must ride light in hand. His paces of most 
 consequence are the walk, canter, and hunting- 
 rate or long gallop. Should he be of warm 
 temperament, he will, to speak generally, be 
 most distinguished as a Hying, if the opposite, 
 as a standing leaper. 
 
 In the choice of a thorough-bred Hunter, the 
 first object is to find a short-legged horse ; the 
 next, that he may concentre as many as possible 
 of the above qualifications. It may be depended 
 on, that a well-shaped horse particularly, is able 
 to carry weight in proportion to his blood, which 
 arises from the firmer substance of the tendons 
 and fibres of the south-eastern horse, his superior 
 
ductility ; thence the animal's greater facility of 
 motion and progression. In choosing a common 
 bred horse for the field, and many such have 
 made a capital figure over a strong country, and 
 commanded a high price ; not forgetting the 
 rules already laid down, ability to carry weight 
 and ready action are the essentials. 
 
 No horse, bred however he may have been, is 
 equal to the labours of the field, until he shall 
 have completed his fifth year. A horse rising 
 five may, indeed, be hunted occasionally, and 
 by way of training, but never over deep clays, 
 in which the joints of the young horse, not yet 
 fixed and settled, are so apt to be strained. 
 
 The education of a young horse for hunting, 
 commences at the bar, w^here he is taught the 
 standing-leap. As to the flying-leap, nature has 
 taught it to most horses, and the field is the best 
 school for it. The bar should be covered with 
 horsecloth, and no extraordinary height ever 
 presented to the colt, until he shall have become 
 perfect in the action. The utmost patience and 
 temper should be used, but great attention also 
 shown to oblige the horse, on the completion of 
 his leap, to clear his hinder legs, for which the 
 flourish of the whip may be necessary. With 
 some sluggish colts, it may be proper to cover 
 the bar with furze, otherwise that had better be 
 omitted. The Hunter, like the racer, requires 
 
a purge or two, to lighten and prepare him for 
 his gallops, to which he should be trained during 
 two or three months previous to the hunting- 
 season. These should be moderate ; and most 
 particularly, old, seasoned Hunters, should never 
 be harassed and worn down with excess of train- 
 ing. Walking exercise, and a few canters, agree 
 best with the state of body and limbs in which 
 the severe labours of the seasons past must have 
 left them. 
 
RUNNING m TO A STAG 
 
 WE have here an interesting and inspiriting 
 view of hounds running into the Stag, 
 who bravely stands at bay. 
 
 The Stag- Hound is the largest and slowest of 
 the species at present kept in this country. He 
 most resembles in form the old southern hound, 
 and ought to possess the superior nose of his 
 progenitor. He is heavy in the head, ear, and 
 chops, which are aiTiply supplied with pendant 
 leather. This, indeed, is a description of the 
 old Stag-hound ; and perhaps tallies better with 
 those of the royal packs, than with the few other 
 packs which are at present kept in England ; 
 where the ancient and celebrated Stag - chase 
 has been, long since, almost superseded by that 
 of the Fox, which, at its early commencement, 
 instead of a sporting-chase, was merely a scouring 
 of the country by a great company of horse and 
 foot-men, for the extirpation of an animal then 
 held to be a destructive vermin. Thus tempoi-a 
 mutantur, and fashion has changed with time. 
 
It has been conjectured that the origmal Stag- 
 hound was produced from a cross between the 
 blood-hound and the southern -hound. After all, 
 in probability the blood-hound himself was a 
 southern-hound, selected for superiority of size 
 and of olfactory powers, which were indicated 
 by the expansive capacity of his nostrils. The 
 lighter Stag-hounds are evidently the result of 
 a fox-hound cross, showing it in the ear and 
 nose, the general form, and smaller size of the 
 stem. 
 
 The royal establishment, at Windsor, for hunting 
 the Stag, in which his late majesty, George III. 
 formerly took so great interest, is still preserved 
 in its pristine splendour and annual regularity. 
 The Master of the Stag-hounds, always a man of 
 high rank, received, many years since, a salary 
 of two thousand pounds per annum. The hunts- 
 men, with the addition of a residence at the 
 kennel, one hundred and twenty-three pounds, 
 and six Yeomen - Prickers, attendants on the 
 chase, one hundred and four pounds per annum 
 each, with an annual supply of new liveries,, 
 horse-cloths, saddles, and all stable requisites ; 
 horses being provided at their own expence. 
 The king's Stag-hounds, according to the old 
 rule, which we are not aware has been changed, 
 commence their hunting-season on old Holy- 
 Rood-day ; and the hunting-days are the following 
 
Tuesdaijs and Saiunlciys, until the first week in 
 May. During the hoHday-weeks of Christmas 
 and Easter, the hounds continued to hunt the 
 alternate days ; and the two grand days of the 
 season are those of Holy-Rood and Easier-Mondmj. 
 The royal establishments for buck-hounds and 
 harriers have been many years since abolished. 
 In ancient times the royal hunts, and those of 
 the nobility, in this country, were infinitely more 
 extensive and costly than within any modern 
 period ; resembling, in those respects, and, 
 indeed, in the mode of pursuing the game, 
 the present customs upon the Continent. There 
 were many instances during the reign of the 
 Planfagenefs, of the higher nobility keeping each 
 to the number of sixteen hundred hounds, with a 
 number of hunting-horses in proportion. Hounds 
 were then of great value, and a capital hunter 
 worth three or four hundred pounds, according 
 to the present value of money. English horses 
 and English hounds Avere, at that period, in 
 universal repute. 
 
 The only part of Deer-hunting much affected 
 by our modem Nimrods, or Fox-hunters, as most 
 in unison with the natural chase, is that afforded 
 by an out-lying Deer, tried for, and unharboured, 
 by either Fox or Stag-hounds. This may be 
 attended with a full share of those labours, 
 difficulties, and exertions, so much courted by 
 
the enthusiasm of the real votaries of the chase. 
 The usual regular Stag-hunt, in England, is not 
 the pursuit of a wild animal, but rather of one 
 domesticated, at least bred and reared in parks, 
 and carted to an appointed spot to be turned out 
 before the hounds. The animal sometimes is 
 sullen and spiritless, and will not start or run ; 
 but when he proves in good heart, a chase may 
 follow of a length sufficient to satisfy the most 
 ardent sportsmen, and to try the speed and 
 goodness of the most staunch hounds and best- 
 bred horses. The constant vie/v, in a Deer-hunt, 
 by well-mounted and staunch sportsmen, is one 
 of its greatest attractions. 
 
 His late Majesty's regular and disciplined 
 system of Stag-hunting was as ^follows : — The 
 Stag was turned out, attended by two of the 
 yeomen-prickers, whose duty it was to keep 
 sufficiently near to him, one on each side, so 
 as not to lose sight of him. The hounds were 
 soon laid on the scent, and, after a while, stopped 
 by the huntsman ; a practice to which Deer- 
 hounds are always trained, until the king and 
 his attendants, who were not always able to 
 hold way with the pack, came up. The chase 
 then proceeded, consisting of several more runs, 
 until the Stag could be taken, in order to be 
 re-conveyed to his home quarters on the forest, 
 his Majesty very seldom killing. 
 
EARTH-STOPPER 
 
 THE Earth-Stopper is usually some ancient 
 retainer of the Hunting establishment, who 
 knows every track of the neighbouring country, 
 and the haunts of the game. It is his business 
 to close up the mouths of the fox or badger's den, 
 by night, during their absence in quest of food : 
 more particularly of the former, on the eve of a 
 hunt, in order to be sure of finding ; and that, 
 when found, the chase may not run speedily to 
 earth. Behold him, equipped with his belt, and 
 furnished with lanthorn and spade, slowly march- 
 ing along behind his terriers, which are hunting 
 the earths, whilst his aged and experienced steed, 
 cropping the grass, awaits his return patiently 
 and silently. Earth-stoppers have also their use 
 in the day-time, and are sometimes necessary at- 
 tendants on the hunt. Unkennelling the fox by 
 dig^i7ig may be required, and they whose regular 
 business it is to stop, may then turn their hands 
 to unstopping. 
 
 It is sometimes a necessary precaution, to stop 
 
such earths only as cannot be digged ; because, if 
 some foxes go to earth, and blood be ^vanted at 
 last, it will then be known where to find it. 
 Young foxes having been much disturbed will lie 
 at ground ; the earths at such times should be 
 -stopped three or four hours before day, or the 
 hounds will scarcely find. The old Oxford toast 
 runs thus : — 
 
 '' Hounds stout and horses healthy. 
 
 Earths well stopped, and foxes plenty." 
 
 Nevertheless, that prince of Fox-hunting critics, 
 Beckford, did no discredit to his long experience, 
 when he said — A few large earths near to your 
 house are certainly desirable, as they will draw the 
 Foxes thither, and, after a long day, will some- 
 times bring you home. 
 
FOX-HUNTING 
 
 GOING TO COVER 
 
 OUR Order of the Day for Hunting is as 
 follows : — The appointment being made 
 by the Proprietor of the hounds, in the latest 
 slang of the field, a fixture of day, hour, and 
 place of rendezvous, the hounds proceed under 
 the guidance of the Huntsman and Whipper-in ; 
 whilst the gentlemen of the hunt ride their hacks 
 to covert, where they find their well - trained 
 hunters in readiness to be mounted for the sport. 
 Here commences, especially when the meeting is 
 numerous, and punctual as to time, a jolly and 
 friendly shaking of hands, and mutual salutation 
 among strangers, with a chat which is an en- 
 couraging prelude to the expected joys of the 
 chace. A fine scent-lying morning gives a high 
 zest to this : on the other hand, cold, sleety, and 
 unpropitious weather, with a lingering and anxious 
 waiting for the chearly announcement of Reynard 
 breaking cover, give a seasoning not of the most 
 agreeable kind, to the impatient tyro ; whilst it 
 excites, now and then, a few shrugs and testy 
 smiles from the seasoned Fox-hunter. 
 
Fox-hunters do not^, now-a-days^ go out so early 
 as their forefathers did ; but when foxes are strong, 
 and not very plentiful, there is an advantage in 
 early hunting. Whether late or early, hounds in 
 course, will be led to the likeliest places for find- 
 ing, which necessarily will be those coverts not 
 lately drawn. The covert being thick with furze 
 or gorse, must be drawn slowly and with care, as 
 a fox will sometimes warily keep kennel until the 
 dogs get nearly in upon him. Nor should the 
 covert be quitted whilst any hounds, particularly 
 those of best character, remain ; for, frequently, 
 when the hounds do not find at first, and are 
 unsuccessful at the next covert, a fatiguing and 
 useless, instead of a day of pleasure and animation, 
 is the consequence. 
 
 The Huntsman ought not to be interrupted, 
 though he may be sometimes judiciously assisted, 
 whilst working his hounds in covert, when silence 
 and circumspection are his leading maxims. 
 There is, however, always a risk of stubbing the 
 horses. But, in breaking cover, he should not 
 spare his lungs, and every one in the field, at 
 that jovial instant, is at full liberty to make as 
 much noise as he shall please. ' Gone away ! ' is 
 the proper halloo when the fox has broken cover, 
 and should be given in the loudest key, and re- 
 peated, as a warning to gentlemen at a distance. 
 
FOX-HUNTING 
 
 BREAKING COVER.— TALLY HO! 
 
 THOSE diurnal monitors and instructors, the 
 Newspapers, have of late ingeniously 
 enough, however accurately, furnished the un- 
 initiated with the derivation from our Norman 
 conquerors, of the leading terms in a Fox-hunt — 
 Tally ho ! and Halloo ! The former indicates, 
 literally — Away to the copse ! In French, Au 
 taille ! but has always, within sporting memory, 
 been accepted in an opposite signification ; namely, 
 when the fox is breaking cover. Halloo ! is said 
 to be derived from the French au loup ! to the 
 wolf ! anciently hunted in this country, as well as 
 in France ; and the exclamation has been trans- 
 ferred to the Fox-hunt ; wolves having been, 
 many ages since, exterminated in Britain, as they 
 might have been in France, under a popular and 
 good government. 
 
 The silence and circumspection, so necessary 
 whilst drawing covert, are now at an end ; and 
 the suppressed animal spirits of the hunters break 
 
covert with the fox. All is hurry^ bustle, exulta- 
 tion, and exclamation ; and — Gone away I — Tally 
 ho ! — Halloo forward ! are repeated, in chorus, 
 after the Huntsman. With a strong scent they, 
 whose lungs enable them to utter loud and 
 piercing screams, are of great use, as that infernal 
 noise alarms the fox, and helps to keep him going, 
 and forward. It also encourages the hounds, and 
 keeps them together, which is the beauty of the 
 hunt. 
 
 But this exultation is momentary, at least not 
 of long continuance ; and, indeed, would be, as 
 hot-headed and untrained individuals too often 
 render it, a nuisance and a hindrance in other parts 
 of the hunt. It gives place now to a choice of 
 that part, which every gentleman determines to 
 take in riding to the hounds. Not that all in a 
 field, particularly if the company be numerous, 
 have either knowledge of hunting, or temper 
 sufficient to act with discretion, as the Proprietor 
 of the hounds and his Huntsman too often ex- 
 perience. Early in the season 1821, a gentleman 
 from London, went out for the first time with 
 the ***^-^* hounds ; they came to a sudden 
 check, and he rode in among them, and broke 
 the leg of a young hound bitch, reputed among 
 the most promising of the pack ; previously to 
 which he had been remarked as most lavish in 
 giving tongue. 
 
It is an old rule, of which every would-be 
 Sportsman should be apprised, that, whilst the 
 Huntsman is busily engaged, and the hounds 
 drawing, the company also should, individually, 
 ])erform their part of the duties of the chase. 
 There must be then, no more groups, or conversa- 
 tion parties ; indeed, it has been said, no two 
 gentlemen should be seen together ; since it ought 
 to be the general object to spread as widely as 
 possible around, that a fox may not sneak off un- 
 witnessed. In the management of this tactic, as 
 well as subsequently in the chase, every tyro should 
 fix upon some Sportsman of experience and know- 
 ledge of the country, as his counsellor or pilot. 
 Such a one should never venture into the field, 
 but on a horse steady to hounds, and a safe and 
 ready fencer : with these precautions, and by not 
 being too forward, but following the best examples 
 in the field, he may, in a season or two, qualify 
 himself also to exhibit examples. 
 
-^r'^-'-/ 
 
FOX-HUNTING 
 
 GONE AWAY.— FORWARD ! 
 
 THE Huntsman sets off with the foremost 
 hounds, and the Whipper-in, taking care 
 that none are left behind in cover, follows, urging 
 them forward, and driving on the tail hounds and 
 stragglers. Now, the Sportsman's heart beats high, 
 and in unison with those of the horses and dogs I 
 They all seem equally to enjoy the sport, but — 
 there is a but even in the most rapturous and ex- 
 hilarating sports ; for that which is sport to those, 
 is amazement, fright, and death to poor Reynard. 
 However, when the weather is fine, and the 
 ground in good condition, he runs with a courage 
 and confidence, that affords him strong hope of 
 escape of life, and of once more joining the vixen 
 and his cubs. 
 
 In order to the true enjoyment of this highly 
 estimated, this first of our national sports, there 
 are very material previous considerations, as we 
 have already hinted in a former plate. In old- 
 
fashioned slang — ' to set up without the tools ' 
 is a poor and bald affair, in any circumstance of 
 life ; and in nothing more, than the arduous 
 undertaking before us. A pretty figure, truly, a 
 man must make in the field, whether he be a 
 haberdasher of hats from Bucklersbury, or the son 
 of a noble duke, who awkwardly bestrides his 
 horse, whose horse was never bred to gallop ; or, 
 if it can gallop, has no meat or condition in him ! 
 It may be rare fun to the rest of the field, to laugh 
 at such a brother Sportsman, but, with respect to 
 himself, it must, or ought to be, quite a different 
 thing. Uniformity, we think, in Hunting Govern- 
 ment, in ceremonies and slang, is pleasing ; and 
 every knight-companion, for all Fox-hunters are 
 heroes, either by nature or prescription, should be 
 up to the height of le dernier gout. His own fog- 
 ging should be orthodox and in style ; and his 
 saddle, bridle, whip, and spurs equally so. No 
 horse is well adapted to the service of the field 
 that does not carry a saddle well and securely ; 
 nor is it well for a hunter to require the martin- 
 gale. That horse has the best mouth and temper 
 for the hunt that will ride in a plain easy snaffle ; 
 and it would be better if all sharp curbs and 
 bits could be banished from the field. Practice 
 at the bar, and at fences, ditches, and any 
 moderate jumps, are good preparation for both 
 the young Sportsman and the young horse ; and 
 
it ought to be an invariable maxim with such^ 
 to avoid, if possible, all ticklish and dangerous 
 jumps, during the first season or two. Our Artist 
 sets before them the seat for a flying leap at 
 hurdles. 
 
-^'- -\ i^'- > ■*' ^V^'' 
 
FOX-HUNTING 
 
 CHECK 
 
 A CHECK ! — The hounds, from some cause 
 or other, have lost the scent. That which 
 occurs most frequently is, the fox having made a 
 burst, and finding the hounds gaining upon him, 
 will suddenly stop to a new fence, or, on some 
 convenient opportunity, return upon his foil 
 homewards. This being done suddenly and 
 cunningly, the hounds, eager, and in full cry, 
 unavoidably overrun and lose the scent. The 
 Huntsman, whose business is always to be as near 
 the leading hounds as possible, should, on every 
 occasion of this kind, remain silent and quiet upon 
 his horse, looking around with the utmost circum- 
 spection, and attending chiefly to the motions of 
 those hounds on which he knows the greatest 
 dependance can be placed. In the mean time, 
 he is making the best judgment in his power as 
 to his next mode of proceeding. He, with the 
 Whippers-in, now encourage the hounds to spread 
 widely, well knowing the almost unerring instinct 
 
of those^ and their ability to recover the scent, 
 should that be possible. So soon as that shall 
 appear hopeless, and not before, the Huntsman 
 must make a cast -with the hounds, in order to a 
 fresh scent. This check, should it continue any 
 considerable time, brings all in ; excepting, 
 indeed, those unfortunates who have been lost 
 during the burst : or Avho, not ' knowing their 
 place' in the field, have lost themselves, and 
 might as well have remained at home. Some- 
 times this occasion presents a fine coup-d'cvil on 
 the spot — the hounds, the Huntsman, his Chief, 
 and second Whipper-in, surrounded by the whole 
 company, casting about with eager and watchful 
 eye, and impatient for a halloo ! from some 
 quarter or other ; the horses pricking up their 
 ears, and looking forward, with a congenial 
 anxiety ; and the young and inferior dogs, some 
 standing still and mute, others babbling, and all 
 seeming to watch and be governed by the motions 
 of the old and leading hounds, which are still 
 eagerly spreading and hunting the scent. At 
 this point it is, that gentlemen, seasoned to the 
 field, may be materially assistant to the Hunts- 
 man, whilst the place of the fresh men is close to 
 those waiting and laying up a fund of experience. 
 Should the leading hounds appear determined 
 to continue running on the scent, they must be 
 mdulged ; otherwise, it is the Huntsman's 
 
business to make a cast. It may thus happen, 
 that the hounds may hunt the first fox's foil, or 
 hit upon a fresh scent ; or the two circumstances 
 may simultaneously occur, and a ' change of the 
 hunt ' take place ; in which case much skill is 
 required, in both the Huntsman and his assistants, 
 to prevent a division of the hunt. 
 
FOX HUNTING LEAP 
 
 SWISHING AT A RASPER 
 
 WE apprehend this phrase — Swishing at a 
 Rasper — to be provincial^ and peculiar 
 to a few counties, as in some, we have found it 
 unknow^n in the hunting stables. The Artist, 
 however, has given a good solution of it. It is 
 easily conceivable, that few cases in the field 
 present more danger, or require more practice 
 and wariness than riding to a leap in company ; 
 especially considering the practicability of the 
 leap itself, the proper part to chuse, what is to be 
 found on the other side, and the care which may, 
 or may not prevail, about neck and bones, with 
 our nearest neighbours. We have witnessed 
 several bad accidents in this case, and heard of 
 more. A young man, dashing away, and proud 
 of being in front, rode at a fence, on the other 
 side of which, broken ground, and some timber 
 lying, he either endeavoured to pull up, or the 
 horse refused to leap : at the instant, two gentle- 
 men who followed, rode upon him, and threw 
 
down both him and his horse. He was so 
 severely disabled, that he never entered the field 
 again ; and that, which was far more lamentable, 
 he never enjoyed his pristine health. 
 
 This leads to the topic of leaping in general, 
 and an important one it no doubt is. Every 
 gentleman, particularly the young ones, will 
 pursue his peculiar bent or inclination, whether 
 that may be for ' riding-a-muck,' if such a phrase 
 be allowable, or neck-or-nothing across the 
 country, without fear of risk ; or on a deliberate 
 system, en Martinet, and as a qualification for that 
 exquisite exhibition of hardihood and common sense, 
 the STEEPLE CHASE. But, according to the very 
 appropriate motto upon the coach doors of a 
 venerable Lady Abbess, of former days, and which 
 was furnished by the celebrated George Hanger, 
 medio tutissimns ibis ; and, sooth to say, that 
 reasoning holds good in most things, a middle 
 course being generally the safest. Our aspirant 
 then, has the choice of a middle course, or if we 
 may be allowed to moralize to that extent, of a 
 prudent one in riding to hounds. We do not by 
 this intend, at any rate, to advocate a mean, shift- 
 ing and pusillanimous conduct, of all others, the 
 most out of nature, in hunting, which necessarily 
 implies certain degrees of danger as well as 
 fatigue, and of courage and enterprize in those 
 who aspire to follow it. Our only view is, to 
 
promote these througli the medium of a sound 
 discretion, which shall embrace a due regard both 
 for the safety and comfort of the rider and his 
 horse. A Hunter, we do not mean a Fresh Man, 
 should never refuse a fair leap, whether at fence, 
 timber, or brook, but as w^e heartily wish him to 
 enjoy the sport again, we shall not say so much 
 for a dangerous one, which, indeed, he may 
 venture to take /browce, and not to make a 'practice 
 of it, should he so please ; at the same time, well 
 knowing as he must, in such a case, no disgrace 
 can be incurred by pulling up and dismounting, 
 and should a little time be lost, a limb, a lay-up, 
 and a doctor's bill, may probably be saved. 
 
 We are ready to acknowledge that pulUng-up 
 and dismounting savour strongly of a practice not 
 easy to be complied with in riding to speedy 
 hounds, which induce the necessity upon all those 
 Sportsmen, who are ambitious of being in, of 
 crossing the country with the utmost dispatch. 
 In such a chace, how are the foremost of a com- 
 pany, riding to the fence at all they can do, to 
 have any choice? They who hesitate, must, 
 amid their sage deliberations, be unavoidably 
 ridden down. Such has ever been the risk of 
 hard riding to hounds, and such it must inevitably 
 continue. 
 
 There are two old modes of fencing, one of 
 them particularly, coming of late more into use — 
 
Creeping and Screwing. Certainly they present 
 facilities^ such as they are, for crossing the most 
 thickly enclosed country. The former is un- 
 doubtedly safe and good for practice, where the 
 ditches are wide and deep. The horse is taught 
 to creep to the top of the bank, which gives a 
 firm rest for his hinder feet, w hence he is enabled 
 to make a spring that will clear the w idest ditch. 
 Screwing, is forcing a horse, too often by the 
 utmost severity of whip and spur, not a true 
 sportman-like practice, through the thickest 
 fences of quick, briar, and thorn, without allowing 
 him to jump, should there be no ditch. To a 
 through-bred, or thin-skinned horse, indeed, to 
 any horse, this is an infernally barbarous practice, 
 and never ought to have been revived. The 
 danger, beside, to the eyes, both of man and 
 horse, is evident. The dressing a horse too, 
 afterwards, with the prickles and thorns sticking 
 in his skin, is a torturing operation. 
 
FOX-HUNTING— DEATH 
 
 WHOO WHOOP ! 
 
 THE beauty of Fox-hunting is — quickly out 
 of covert^ a strong fox^ bent resolutely on 
 a straight run ; fine forenoon^ good country^ with 
 fair jumping enough, by way of exercise in that 
 branch for both horse and man ; a run of ten or 
 a dozen miles, and a good field in, to see the 
 finish — time to find another fox. Long exhausting 
 runs and dangers incurred and escaped, indeed 
 afford the proud recompense of story and 
 exultation at the festive board, and furnish the 
 diurnal prints with relations generally interesting 
 in this country ; but such runs, in the long run, 
 are apt to make very heavy abatements, in both 
 the pleasures and advantages of Fox-hunting. 
 Again — a long day, in cold and drizzling weather, 
 over slippery, hilly, and broken ground ; difficult 
 and dangerous fencing ; the hounds repeatedly 
 catching a scent, then losing it ; and at every 
 cast finding a check ; the Huntsman and 
 Whipper-in at their wits' ends ; the whole field 
 
straggling about, yawning, working their arms 
 against their sides to pump a little animal heat, 
 and rubbing their fingers ; and the horses 
 hanging down their heads, or tossing them about, 
 whilst their coats stand an end, as though they 
 had in view the ghosts of their grandsires and 
 dams — surely the best bred and stoutest Fox- 
 hunter must acknowledge this to be a damper ! 
 
 In a long run, however numerous the field, it 
 seldom happens that many are in to see the 
 death ; because that w ould involve two not 
 extremely common circumstances — namely, many 
 good horses and many capital riders to hounds. 
 Many, in general, never come to the Huntsman's 
 time : he, in course, is in, or ought to be, and 
 whips the dogs off, as soon as they have got a 
 snap, and killed. He then takes the fox up, 
 keeping it for the coming in of the heads of the 
 field, when he sings out the usual dirge over it, 
 cuts off the brush and a foot, sometimes the head, 
 and then throws the carcase to the hounds. The 
 substance of the okl and regular ceremony, not 
 observed punctually now-a-days, excepting on 
 grand occasions, as copied from the poet Cowper, 
 once a spectator, by the Rev. Mr. Daniel, in his 
 immortal ^ Rural Sports,' is as follows : — The 
 Huntsman, taking up the dead fox with a 
 pitchfork, lodged it on the arm of a tree, about 
 nine feet from the ground, where he left it a 
 
considerable time. During this interval, the 
 Sportsmen sat on their horses, contemplating the 
 dead animal, for which they had toiled so hard ; 
 whilst the hounds, assembled at the foot of the 
 tree, with faces not less expressive of the most 
 rational delight, contemplated the same object. 
 The Huntsman, remounted, cut off a foot from 
 Reynard, and threw it to the hounds, which one 
 of them swallowed whole, like a bolus. Alight- 
 ing again, and drawing down the fox by the 
 hinder legs, he desired the people, who were by 
 this time rather numerous, to open a line for him 
 right and left. He then threw the fox to the 
 distance of some yards, and, screaming like a Jiend, 
 ' TEAR HIM TO PIECES ! ' at Icast ten times 
 repeatedly, the pack obeyed him completely, by 
 devouring the carcase in a few minutes. The 
 author of ' British Field Sports ' has moralised 
 on this curious scene, we apprehend, not 
 inapplicably. 
 
B 
 
 fPf^ 
 
 mm 
 
 
RUNNING IN TO A FOX 
 
 REYNARD has now done his best ; he is 
 out-winded, at last, out-footed, and those 
 fatal ministers of death, the hounds, are at his 
 brush ! But he is not of that timid race of 
 animals, the courage of which lies exclusively in 
 the heel and the wind ; his lies also in the heart, 
 in his savage and pugnacious nature ; and, 
 though on his last legs, he scorns to expose his 
 rear, but boldly faces about, notwithstanding the 
 number of his assailants, and, grinning fiercely, 
 shows how well his teeth are prepared to second 
 his resolution, had he a fair and equal chance. 
 Should not the Huntsman, his Attendants, or 
 some of the elite of the hunt, arrive in the gods'- 
 speed, the fox, to adopt an old Essex huntsman's 
 choice phraseology, would stand about as good a 
 chance as a cat in hell without claws ; he would 
 have a noble funeral, for his corpse would be 
 divided into so many graves, that neither the 
 huntsman, nor the devil himself, if in search, 
 would be able to find a remnant of him, his 
 
valuable brush, perhaps, excepted; though, 
 indeed, the division would not be so minute as 
 in the case of the Huntsman being at hand to 
 whip off the leading hounds, and wait for the 
 coming in of the whole pack. 
 
DIGGING OUT 
 
 CAREFUL earth-stopping may prevent the 
 labour of digging out. The first considera- 
 tion^ Hiheniian or otherwise, in digging out a fox^ 
 is, whether or not there be any fox to dig out ; 
 for, probably, the suspected earth may contain a 
 rabbit or a badger instead of a fox. And, 
 peradventure, Reynard may not have taken to 
 earth, or may have entered and breathed awhile, 
 and then have left and gone forward. The 
 hounds, or terriers, are the best judges and rules 
 to go by in the case. We trust it has been long 
 out of fashion, to put a dog into the earth, with 
 the view of his drawing the fox ; as, instead of 
 effecting that, he will probably come out crippled 
 and disappointed. Indeed, when the diggers 
 have neared the fox so close, that a stick will 
 reach him, and which he will seize, a hound may 
 venture to lay hold on, and draw him. Some- 
 times pains are taken to funk out foxes or 
 
l,ad.ers with sulphur. It is of consequence to 
 the Success of fox-hunting, to extn-pate the 
 laLer from all coverts, as those anima s make 
 th?su:>ngest earths, and the most troublesome 
 to stop. 
 
FOX HTNTKHS lOASr 
 
 N()\\ lor ,1 \ it \v ll.illoo! (»r tho w^porlsmrn 
 assomblc^l, .nul in IIumt projUM- fostunir. 
 as tViMU \hc chccviuix labours of tlio ilav. v c 
 >vill siip|H>^o. at the liospitahlr uiansioii ol' llic 
 Proprietor ot' tlio l\n-k. ami iiiviiiix. in suff(^ssion. 
 tlicir ta\oiirito toa^t"^. in wliicli. >\ hot lur lirst or 
 last, tho * Mothor ot' all S()nls " is novor lor^oltiMi. 
 Distrustinir our o>vn iniaijinati(»n, sonunvhat dull 
 at thi^ nionuMit. >vo >vill (juoto a low ohooriui;- 
 linos I'nuii a Moll-knoun autluu- imi this subjorl. 
 " Now iii>os rt>unil the stmi;' ot' triumph in full 
 ohorus — * the traitor is soi/.inl on and dies'— 
 imtil tho h(>spilal>K^ and almost rosponsivo walls 
 rosound. I'ho hapj)v donuvstits, thoso Innnblo 
 tViomls o( gonorous opuk-noo, rooovorod from 
 thoir t'atiguos. hooomo inspired by tho iionoral 
 joy, antl inst inctix oly join in tho ohorus. Tho 
 st^no- is roliovod by ploasini»- relations of hair- 
 breadth oseapi^s -of the staunehnoss and speed 
 of tlu^ h«>unds, and the blood and i»amo of the 
 horses; nor is love and bi>aulv, the deliiiht «)f 
 
true Sportsmen, ever forgotten — old friendships 
 are cemented — new ones cordially formed. 
 Happy, if no acts of unmanly cruelty have 
 passed, to cloud the sunshine of mirth in the 
 bosom of sensibility." 
 
 Among the enthusiasts of the field, in a former 
 day, the dinner fully equalled, in its Bacchanalian 
 orgies, the extravaganza of — Tear him to pieces ! 
 As at the death, halloos and screams ! with the 
 true gestures, and in the real character of maniacs, 
 were vociferated around the table, the most con- 
 spicuous ornament of which was, a bowl of first- 
 rate capacity, replenished with strong punch, in 
 which the bloody head of a fox was immersed, and 
 the punch then stirred up with the brush. The 
 whole party were then re-baptised with the dripping 
 brush, and the highly-improved liquor was quaffed 
 by all, with the true gofit of enthusiastic votaries 
 of the chase. A noble Duke of Northumberland 
 out-Heroded Herod in the affair, actually devour- 
 ing, at a revel of this kind part of a fox's head 
 devilled ! His Grace must have had a good 
 veiTcnin relish. 
 
 But, could any thing be urged against these 
 ceremonies on the score of their eccentricity and 
 folly, they at least are not open to any objection 
 in a moral view. So much, cannot be said in 
 favour of Hunting, or indeed of any our Sports 
 in which animals are the objects, the fellow 
 
feelings of which with ourselves, have never been 
 justly and duly considered, perhaps we should 
 say understood. Fair Play and No Tortures 
 ought to be the watch-words of the true Sports- 
 man ; and we have, happily, a Society for the 
 protection of animals, patronized by men of high 
 rank and of professional and literary eminence, 
 which will use all their influence, to circulate 
 universally that blessed maxim. Our surgeons 
 and physicians also are publicly declaring against, 
 and reprobating the horrid practice, so general 
 and so disgusting, particularly in France, of dis- 
 secting animals alive ! 
 
COURSING. -PLATE I 
 
 GOING OUT 
 
 COURSING is the pursuit of the Hare with 
 greyhounds or gazehounds, the tall, deep- 
 breasted, sharp - nosed, smooth - haired hound, 
 which hunts by the ga::e or sight, and not on 
 the scent like other hounds. The greyhound 
 is a primitive race, indigenous to the south- 
 eastern countries, where also were originally 
 bred the courser-horse or blood-horse. In modern 
 English coursing, greyhounds alone are used, or 
 attended by spaniel-finders. By the established 
 laws of coursing, a brace of greyhounds are the 
 proper number to be slipped or let loose upon a 
 hare ; a leash are too many, as depriving her of 
 her fair sporting chance. 
 
 Coursing, in a thickly inclosed country, is 
 generally the pursuit of an animal running 
 small circles, doubling and manoeuvring to avoid 
 her pursuers, during which, she is either soon 
 chopped up by one or other of the greyhounds ; 
 or, by her cunning and activity, escapes them 
 
and gains a secure retreat. This animal is 
 extremely attached to the place of her birth, 
 and will make her form, or resting-place, as 
 near to it as possible ; and to this she will 
 constantly return, by the same menses or paths, 
 even after having been chased from it, to the 
 nearest possible risk of life. The hare seldom 
 quits her form in the day time ; like most 
 other wild animals, sleeping away the day, and 
 (juesting for her food during the stillness of the 
 night. 
 
COURSING 
 
 FINDING— SOHO! 
 
 THE exclamation, Soho ! pronounced, by 
 the old coursing yeomanry, Sohow ! is a 
 coursing term of long standing, and indicates 
 that Puss has just started into view. The 
 watchful Greyhounds fly forward exultingly at 
 the well-known and welcome sound ; the horses 
 prick up their ears ; and in a numerous field all 
 are on the qui vive. The following rhyming 
 description of the form of a Greyhound, which, 
 to continue sporting our antiquarian lore, was, 
 in the olden time, pronounced Grime, however 
 ancient, will never be out of date — the privilege 
 of nature and truth : — 
 
 «' Headed like a Snake, 
 Necked like a Drake, 
 Backed like a Beam, 
 Sided like a Bream, 
 Tailed like a Rat, 
 Footed like a Cat." 
 
COURSING 
 
 HILLOO! HILLOO! 
 
 HERE we have the proper modern costume 
 for a day's Sport at coursing the Hare ; 
 the Greyhounds, followed by the Spaniel-finder, 
 bounding from their kennel, in high glee, to 
 greet their beloved master ; the noble Horse, in 
 the highest condition, bending his head down, 
 and snuffing his well-known sporting associate 
 the dog. The Hilloo ! is the coursing Hark 
 Forward ! 
 
 The Greyhound, in old English, the gaze 
 Hound, so termed as profiting by his eyes, as the 
 Spaniel does by his nose, was known, and in the 
 highest estimation, among the British, probably 
 even in the time of their being under the 
 dominion of ancient Rome. He was always a 
 courtier, and great favourite among the ladies, as 
 appears by the following curious anecdote collected 
 by the Rev. Mr. Daniel, and published in his 
 justly celebrated ^ Rural Sports:'- — ^^The wife 
 of Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, when a 
 5 
 
prisoner to Edward I. A.D. 1304-, had three men 
 and three women servants, three greyhounds, 
 plenty of game and fish, and the fairest house 
 in the manor : she had, beside, the following 
 convenient attendant allowed her ; — a foot boy, 
 sober, and not riotous, to make her bed." 
 
 Within the last fifty or sixty years, the old 
 coarse breed of Greyhounds has gradually dis- 
 appeared, and they have been bred entirely for 
 "fineness, symmetry and speed ; being assimilated, 
 as nearly as possible, to the race horse, their 
 rival in that qualification. We had formerly a 
 trial of speed over the course at Doncaster, 
 between a racing mare and a greyhound, the 
 mare winning but by a head. The mare, matched 
 for one hundred guineas, started alone, and had 
 gallopped a mile, when a greyhound-bitch joined 
 her, and ran with her head to head, the remain- 
 ing three miles, the jockey favouring the play, 
 and the mare showing the usual emulation. 
 Betting at the distance-post, five to four on the 
 bitch. A celebrated veterinary and sporting 
 writer, thus describes this species : — Fine grey- 
 hounds have, like fine horses, a general proportion, 
 a certain elegance of parts, length, and are full 
 of muscles, and their hocks are let down to the 
 ground behind, and stand from them ; and so 
 supply the want of a long pastern ; their feet 
 or toes are made longer than those of any other 
 
dogs that can be named : to this may be added, 
 their loins or fillets, are more conspicuously broad 
 and muscular, conferring on them great power 
 for speedy exertion. A fine skin with soft thin 
 hair, are deemed characteristic of the highest 
 blood in the modern greyhound ; and the crack 
 colours have been, during some years, black, blue, 
 or a mixture of those. Whether this fineness in 
 the modern breed, has resulted from a cross with 
 the delicate, but useless Italian greyhound, has 
 not hitherto been ascertained. Our Coursers of 
 the old school, hold that, in Greyhounds, goodness 
 is, in general, derived from the bitch, a notion 
 which must not be taken for gospel, though, 
 perhaps, bitches generally have most speed. 
 The lighest whelps, and those which show length 
 and bone, and particularly the broadest muscular 
 expansion of the, thigh, are esteemed of the 
 greatest promise. In order to rear a well-bred 
 and thorough-shaped Greyhound, to the highest 
 excellence, he ought not to be entered to game 
 until the fifteenth or eighteenth month ; but 
 twelve, and even ten months old, with bitches, 
 is a more common period. In coursing an open 
 country, an actual race of half-a-dozen miles 
 sometimes occurs, at the top of the speed of 
 the animals engaged, when Puss is fairly run tc 
 death, and the horses and dogs to a stand-still. 
 
COURSING.— PLATE IV 
 
 PICKING UP 
 
 OVER downs (as exhibited in the Plate), and 
 marshes, Coursing is a different and more 
 arduous pursuit ; and a course, or rather hur,st, of 
 six or seven miles at length, and such may 
 happen when the subtlety of the hare convinces 
 her that her safety lies rather in her speed than 
 in her manoeuvres, will be sufficient to try the 
 game as well as the speed of the best-bred 
 horses and dogs. To a straight course like this, 
 it is the first object of the Sportsman to compel 
 the hare by every means in his power ; to baffle 
 her attempts to double and turn, and to obtain 
 as long a run in view as shall be possible. Such 
 has sometimes been the ardour of pursuit in the 
 greyhound, that he has expired the instant of the 
 completion of his success ; and in one recorded 
 instance, with the hare in his mouth, poor puss 
 taking advantage of her pursuer's misfortune, 
 and making her escape from his death-stricken 
 jaws. 
 
The great English Coursing -Meetings, and 
 matches with the greyhounds^ are held annually 
 at Nenmiarket, Snmffham in Norfolk, and Fliocton in 
 Yorkshire. These^ attended by hundreds of 
 Sportsmen^ mounted on the best-bred hunters^ 
 are conducted according to the old-established 
 laws of coursing, handed down to us from the 
 reign of Elizabeth, the great patroness of the 
 chase. In those days, deer also Avere coursed 
 by the greyhound, a practice not in modern use^, 
 excepting on particular occasions in parks. 
 
;-*ij^ 
 
COURSING.— PLATE V 
 
 DEATH OF THE HARE 
 
 THVj present Plate exhibits tlie completion 
 of the Course ; and the greyhounds 
 casting their eager regards towards the object, 
 which natural instinct has taught them to pursue, 
 (xrave philosophers have affected to smile, and 
 to treat with derision, a scene like this, — the 
 expense of men and horses, the labour and exer- 
 tion, exclusive of the risk of breaking a neck, 
 and all for what — why, truly, to obtain the 
 carcase and skin of a miserable animal, not 
 intrinsically worth half-a-crown ! Whilst tender- 
 hearted philanthropists exclaim at the cowardice, 
 barbarism, and cruelty of chasing and harrassing 
 a timid animal, which offends or injures no living 
 creature, and the dying screams of which resemble 
 those of the infant ! — an animal, too, which may 
 always be obtained by the more merciful, easy, 
 and quick operation of the gun. 
 
 With the latter class of reasoners, we shall not 
 enter the lists ; but with respect to field sports. 
 
generally, it is not the mere worth of the animal 
 chased, singly considered, which can decide the 
 question, since various other considerations, and 
 those of no slight moment, inevitably interpose ; — 
 the natural impulse of man, as well as of animals, 
 from the creation, towards the chase ; and, in the 
 uncivilized state, its absolute necessity. The 
 arguments for its high gratification to those who 
 possess leisure and wealth, more especially in 
 land, and for its undisputed conduciveness to 
 health and hilarity, will ever prove decisive. 
 
*vlSIp/I| 
 
 '1teg^&^ 1 
 
 i"^ ^^ 
 
 ^...".:vJ^ 
 
 
 1 
 
COURSING 
 
 GOING HOME 
 
 THE sporting labours of the day being 
 successfully finished, our steady Courser, 
 upon his equally steady and well-trained nag, is 
 proceeding homeward, with that leisure which 
 the exertion, just past, has rendered both 
 desirable and necessary. The horse will thus 
 ■cool himself in reaching the stable. The Course, 
 however, seems not to have been a hard one, 
 from the vigour and mettle displayed by the 
 dogs in their way home. These things con- 
 sidered, we are treated with the view of a 
 good comfortable lot of game, and impressed 
 with the idea of a country well stocked with 
 hares. The servant, with Puss slung across his 
 shoulder, puts the present writer forcibly in 
 mind of a circumstance which occurred to him 
 at eight years of age, in Suffolk, from w^hich he 
 suffered an excess of fatigue, always recollected 
 with a smile. Early in the shooting season, in 
 warm, muggy weather, and over very heavy 
 
land, he went out with an old uncle, and without 
 any attendant. The birds had probably been 
 much disturbed, would not lie, nor was it possible 
 to get near enough to them to make it worth 
 while to draw a trigger. On the point of 
 returning home empty handed, a hare started ; 
 old Square-Toes, on the alert, fired and killed. 
 Instead of popping it into his bag, or slinging 
 it across his own shoulder, the old gentleman 
 threw it across the shoulder of his hopeful 
 nephew. It was a swinging old jack-hare, and 
 we had three miles home, chiefly across ploughed 
 land, and over sundry gates, styles, and gaps. 
 The reader will not wonder that a little eiffht- 
 year-old Sportsman was at all he could do to 
 get through a course like this with credit. 
 Though fatigued to the utmost, and shifting- 
 the load from side to side, he was ashamed to 
 complain, and arrived at the mansion in a state 
 of perspiration, similar to that of a racer that 
 had run a five-mile sweat under the heaviest 
 allowance of clothes. 
 
 Coursing the Hare, a favourite diversion in 
 England through several past centuries, is always 
 performed with greyhounds, an original species 
 of the dog, and of high antiquity. The modern 
 species, however, has varied considerably from 
 the ancient, which was a much stouter, more 
 rough, and more courageous animal ; and, in all 
 
probability, not tuiiial in speed, the great 
 characteristic of the greyhound of the present 
 time. In the early ages, this species was used 
 in hunting the wild boar and the wolf by our 
 ancestors. The ancient Greeks, indeed, coursed 
 the hare with gazehounds, or greyhounds, and 
 they are, in modern times, confined exclusively 
 to that sj)ort. To course fairly, and in a 
 sportsmanlike style, a brace of greyhounds only, 
 should be slipped to a hare ; and the chief 
 maxim in coursing is, when the dogs have 
 found, for the partakers of the sport to be so 
 distributed and disposed, that the hare may be 
 baulked in her usual attempts to turn, and 
 compelled to a straight course, that as long a 
 run as possible, and as full a view, may be 
 obtained. The annual s{)lendid and numerously 
 attended Coursing Meetings, fully demonstrate 
 the high estimation in which the Sport is held. 
 
SHOOTING 
 
 GOING OUT 
 
 THE Artist presents to our view a general 
 outline of the " Going Out " for a Day's 
 Shooting ; exhibiting the Sportsman and Attend- 
 ant, the Dogs, the Horse, all in the appropriate 
 costume of the day. Shooting, to do the thing 
 with ardour and perseverance, particularly over 
 a heavy country, is, at no rate a fit amusement 
 for a milksop, but requires some roughness of 
 constitution ; and even the most robust, in a 
 long day, will appreciate the convenience of 
 having a nag at hand, to rest their wearied 
 loins and joints : some shooters prefer riding the 
 day throughout. The Shooting Horse, then, as 
 an object of importance, merits particular con- 
 sideration : In the first place, for convenience 
 sake, he should be of the galloway size, at any 
 rate not above fourteen hands in height ; per- 
 fectly quiet, and master of his business, that is to 
 say, steady to shot — to be shot from ; able to 
 jump any moderate fence or ditch, and expert 
 
at brushing through any gap in his way : a good 
 walker and canterer^ and safe on his legs : if he 
 will follow^ and lead through a copse or wood, 
 handily, the sum of his perfection will be nearly 
 complete. 
 
 A complete Sportsman makes assurance double 
 sure, by a provision of the necessary materiel, for 
 every possible purpose, and to meet every 
 probable contingenc}-. Clothing demands a first 
 consideration, in our moist and fickle climate, so 
 abundant in the blessings of cold and rheumatism ; 
 the latter too w^ell known aifection, so affection- 
 ately attached as to stick close to a man through- 
 out life. In all our field sports, the head, throat, 
 and feet, should be amply defended, the legs and 
 feet by good firm leather and water-proof soles : 
 nor will the keen air permit the inside to be 
 neglected ; and, after a few hours' excursion, 
 belly-timber will not fail to be the most valuable 
 timber in view, however woody the country. A 
 piece of hung-beef, corned pork, or any solid, will 
 then prove a stomach jewel, and the more bright 
 for being washed with a draught from the bottle 
 of sound beer : an occasional recourse, also, to 
 the liqueur-hottle, in a cold and foggy air, will 
 prove, in the Turf phrase, a good hedge. 
 
 The prime subject of the Gun has filled 
 volumes : and no wonder, since the invention 
 of that fatal black powder Mrought so great a 
 
change in human affairs. Among the rest, it 
 gave a vast fiicility to our dominion over the 
 beasts of the field and the fowls of the air ; and 
 the enjoyment of its exercise, which, inde- 
 pendently of its utility, or rather, necessity, has 
 been from the earliest age deemed a sport. In 
 the choice of a gun, whether a single or double 
 barrel be preferred, there are two paramount 
 considerations — the first, its being trustworthy ; 
 for life and limb are intrusted to its soundness ; 
 and he is not fit to be trusted with such a fatal 
 implement, who has not, in his mind's eye, the 
 deplorable accidents which so perpetually occur ; 
 and the second, the price he is disposed, or can 
 afford to encounter. The marks of proof, it is 
 true, are found upon every barrel exposed to 
 sale, which, nevertheless, is no absolute security 
 that they shall never burst, since, that dreadful 
 accidents have happened to so many of high 
 price, and even from the crack makers. A 
 careful purchaser may then satisfy himself, by 
 having the gun he has chosen tried, and if he 
 be very scrupulous, and in London, he may have 
 this process put in force, by fire and water, or 
 at the Target, at Baker's, in Whitechapel Road ; 
 or, he may have the common trial at any gun- 
 smith's. As to the price, it is at his own option, 
 how much he may chuse to pay for feshion, tak- 
 ing this with him ; the goodness and effectiveness 
 
of a piece, do not always depend on either 
 fashion, maker, or price ; " for a good gun is a 
 good gun, whether it cost one hundred guineas, 
 or three pounds ten shilUngs." — Lightness, with 
 sufficient substance, are next to be considered ; 
 and also length, the most convenient degree 
 of which, for partridge and common field-shoot- 
 ing, was formerly supposed to be about three 
 feet in the barrel, a length, which present fashion 
 has reduced several inches. These light pieces 
 are certainly most convenient, in a thick and 
 wood country, and in a long day. The most 
 useful colour for a gun barrel is brown ; the real 
 goodness of a lock, fashionable or common, 
 depends on the medium impressed on its springs, 
 between too great stiffness, and too much readi- 
 ness in being moved. The same of the trigger. 
 Some persons, from habit or otherwise, are curious 
 as to the length and form of their gun-stock. 
 This, however, should always be sufficiently long, 
 as, in case of the accidental bursting of a barrel, 
 the danger may thence be probably reduced. 
 The BALANCE also of the piece has its due con- 
 sequence, and there should always be sufficient 
 weight at the shoulder ; since, should the butt- 
 end be overloaded, or, as the Old Sportsmen 
 term it, should the peice be ^butt-heavy,' not 
 only will the weight tell in a long day, but the 
 aim will fail of a portion of its due correctness. 
 
POINTERS 
 
 A POINTER is merely a poiiiting-/wMwr/ ; but 
 although, probably, any hound might be 
 taught to point, or set the game, there may be a 
 variety of the hound, which are natural pointers. 
 This seems to be the case. There is a hiatus, 
 however non va/dc de fiend us, in our sporting 
 records, respecting this variety of the hound. 
 For we are quite in the dark, as to the period 
 at which he was introduced into this country, 
 where, in former days, the Setter or Setting- 
 Spaniel was in use for similar purposes. It might, 
 probably, be nearly or somewhat subsequent to 
 the Revolution. It is agreed that we obtained 
 the Pointer from Spain, as the Spanish pointer 
 is first noticed in our sporting annals, a dog much 
 resembling the old Southern hound, in head, ear, 
 exquisite fineness of nose, and general heaviness. 
 This original pointer has been since crossed with 
 the modern English fox-hound, thereby giving 
 him superior lightness, elegance of form, and 
 speed, but detracting from his olfactory powers. 
 6 
 
Very few^ or none^ of the true Spanish breed 
 remain in this country, but many which strongly 
 resemble them, as having been slightly crossed : 
 the Pointer also has been frequently crossed with 
 the Setter ; indeed, crossing has been inter- 
 changeable between those rival breeds. 
 
 The purposes to which the gunner applies his 
 Pointer are lojind and point the game ; and also, 
 particularly in the absence of the Spaniel, to find 
 and bring in the dead or wounded game. In 
 order to the due performance of this last duty, 
 the dog must be trained to have a tender mouth, 
 and great carefulness, that the feather of the 
 game be as little broken as possible, and the 
 flesh as little bruised and torn. Some Sportsmen 
 contend that neither Spaniel nor Pointer should 
 be suffered to intermeddle in this affair : in which 
 case, the duty of finding, however difficult and 
 fatiguing, must devolve upon their servants or 
 themselves. 
 
 Of all sporting-dogs, the Pointer is the most 
 difficult to train, not only as being void of that 
 ductility of disposition by which some other 
 species are distinguished, but that his lessons 
 are more numerous and tedious, and requiring a 
 greater share of sagacity and heed. To complete 
 his education, he must be made staunch to ' bird, 
 dog, and gun,' — to back his partner — to qua?ier 
 his ground thoroughly and honestly, — to know 
 
his place, and to yield a steady obedience. A 
 stately, high - ranging Pointer, endowed with 
 these qualifications, is a valuable property to any 
 gentleman attached to the sports of the field. 
 Pointers and Setters may be used indiscriminately 
 for the same purposes ; but the former are 
 chiefly employed in Partridge and Pheasant- 
 shooting : in the pursuit of moor - game, the 
 Setter, as the most hardy, is now universally 
 preferred. The price of a good Pointer is about 
 twenty to twenty-five guineas ; but some indi- 
 viduals of this species, endowed with very high 
 qualifications, have obtained for their owners 
 proportionate prices, of which, Colonel Thornton's 
 famous Dash is a well-known example. Dash 
 was sold for between two and three hundred 
 pounds, in wine and other property. 
 
SETTERS 
 
 THE Setter is an old English variety of the 
 shooting Dog, which has been in sporting 
 use between two and three centuries. He was 
 doubtless, originally a long-flewed Spaniel, taught 
 to find, and then to set or mark the game for 
 the net or gun, as the Pointer has been since 
 trained to stand, or point it. The setter of the 
 present day, long since universally crossed with 
 the Pointer, the two breeds having indeed been 
 mutually intermixed, is correctly delineated in 
 the annexed Plate. He is lower in stature than 
 the Pointer, but of considerable length, his coat 
 generally sheeted with brown, or liver-colour and 
 white, with his long ears, tail, quarter, and legs 
 feathered. It has been remarked that this breed 
 is deficient in substance upon the loins ; they, 
 however, resemble in that respect the Spaniel, 
 from which they are descended, and evince no 
 weakness in consequence, being among the 
 stoidest, which is to say, most lasting of sporting 
 dogs. 
 
This dog is endowed by nature, in an eminent 
 degree, with all the attractions of the Spaniel, 
 — sagacity, affection for man, and a pleasing 
 docility. — He is the successful riv^al of his 
 kinsman the Pointer, and preferred upon the 
 moors, and in thick covert-shooting, for his 
 unceasing activity, spirit, and hardiness, which 
 never desert him in the longest day ; his narrow, 
 hard, and hairy feet fearing no kind of ground, 
 and his coat defying the closest covers. The 
 Pointer is, nevertheless, his superior for stately 
 figure, high ranging, a deep rate, and, generally, 
 steadiness. Setters, it should seem, have been 
 always in high estimation in Ireland, from the 
 vast prices recorded to have been given for them 
 in that country, even to the extent of exchanging 
 a, considerable estate in land for a single dog of 
 this breed ! In this country, they have never 
 attained those extraordinary prices which have 
 been lavished for Pointers ; and in several sales, 
 in the last Autumn, at Tattersall's, Setters were 
 sold at the hammer, at from two to ten guineas 
 each. The Setter is liable to the offensive 
 discharge from the ears common to most Spaniels, 
 but which does not appear in dogs kept in good 
 condition, until the approach of old age and 
 ■debility. 
 

GROUSE-SHOOTING 
 
 THE Season for shooting red game, or Grouse, 
 commences on the 12th of August, and 
 ends on the 1 0th of December. For black Grouse, 
 from August 20th to December 10th. In the 
 Neiv Forest, Hants, and in the counties of 
 Somerset and Devon, black game, or heath-fowl, 
 may be taken between December 10th and 
 September 1st. The possession of either of these 
 species of game, at any other time than as above 
 stated, incurs a forfeiture of ten pounds for each 
 offence. 
 
 Shooting the red Grouse forms the subject of 
 the opposite Plate. These birds, red or black, 
 are in the form of, but larger than, the partridge. 
 The black Grouse are considerably the largest, 
 some of them weighing upwards of four pounds. 
 They perch on trees, like the pheasant. Grouse- 
 shooting has long been a favourite and prevailing 
 sport, and the game itself is equally a favourite 
 at the best tables. The birds are easily capable 
 of domestication. 
 
The head rendezvous for shooting the Grouse, 
 are the Scots and Welsh moors and mountains ; 
 in general, the moors and wolds of the west and 
 north of England. The nearest places for this 
 sport, to the metropolis, are the New Forest, 
 Hants, and, perhaps, some parts of Sussejr. The 
 pursuit of moor-game is not to be classed with 
 those gentle exercises which afford gratification, 
 without fatigue to the Sportsman ; on the 
 contrary, it is one of the most laborious and 
 fatiguing exertions which can be taken Avith the 
 gun ; and, indeed, is practised by those ardent 
 votaries alone, who, in pursuit of their favourite 
 diversion, are intimidated neither by long 
 journeys perhaps in the first instance, nor by 
 long walks or rides, beneath a burning sun, over 
 moor, mountain, and bog, and in the roughest 
 ways which matted heath, loose stones, concealed 
 cavities in the earth, and obstructions of all 
 kinds can produce. 
 
 A deep-flewed Setter of the old breed, is the 
 dog to be preferred to all others for the moors, 
 as the most hardy and active, and likely best to 
 stand the labour. For the stoutest of such,, 
 however, half-a-day of Grouse-shooting, more 
 especially in the early part of the season, is quite 
 sufficient, and a relay of dogs in proportion is 
 therefore necessary. The Sportman's attire 
 ought to be the lightest possible over flannel 
 
shirt and drawers, the feet and legs being 
 substantially defended. A shooting-horse, ac- 
 customed to the country, is a great convenience. 
 Great caution is necessary with respect to 
 drinking water, or too cooling liquors, in a state 
 of perspiration ; and in the management of the 
 gun, lest a sudden fall occasion some fatal 
 accident. 
 
 Grouse lie best in fine weather, and may, in 
 the early season, be followed from eight o'clock 
 in the morning, as long as day-light lasts, 
 provided the stamina and inclination of the 
 gunner last also. A good refreshment at mid- 
 day will forward this. Late in the Autumn, 
 from ten to two or three o'clock, is the longest 
 shooting-day. Large shot, and the heaviest gun 
 a man can conveniently carry, will then be found 
 most effective, as the birds will run to a great 
 distance. Sportsmen generally try to kill the 
 old cock, which runs cackling away, in order to 
 deceive and lead the pursuers from the brood. 
 The cock being dead, the pack will lie until the 
 dogs run upon them. 
 
PARTRIDGE-SHOOTING 
 
 THE season for Partridge-Shooting com- 
 mences September 1st, and finishes on the 
 1st of February. 
 
 There are several varieties of the Partridge 
 species in the British Isles, and in Ireland. The 
 chief of them, and the most nmiierous, are the 
 common indigenous grey birds, and the red-legged 
 kind, which have been introduced from France, 
 and which are found in Norfolk and Suffolk. These 
 occasionally alight and roost on trees, the common 
 variety never. Farther mixtures have resulted 
 from these, throwing uncommon colours. By 
 Sporting usage. Partridges are styled birds, and 
 notwithstanding their great plenty, they have 
 ever maintained their rank at the best tables as 
 a delicacy. 
 
 The form and plumage of these birds are soft 
 and beautiful ; and, like the Pheasant, they may 
 be domesticated, and the breed increased in any 
 requisite degree. They jmck or assemble, and 
 pair, early in the Spring, unless prevented by 
 
severe frost, beginning to lay in six or seven 
 weeks after pairing ; and from a numerous nest 
 of eggs, amounting in some instances to upwards 
 of thirty, produce generally one-third more of 
 cocks than hens, which circumstance is afterwards 
 the occasion of so many fatal battles among the 
 cocks, from their competition for the too limited 
 number of females. Hence the necessity in 
 preserves, of reducing the number of cocks, 
 sometimes by netting them. The breed, however, 
 is liable to a number of casualties, by which it is 
 greatly reduced in some seasons, as in the two 
 opposite extremes of wet and drought. Great 
 numbers also of the eggs and young birds are 
 annually destroyed by field-vermin and birds of 
 prey. The Partridge sits twenty-one days, and 
 in a good season broods early enough in June for 
 the young birds to fly within the same month. 
 
 The Partridge, like the Pheasant, feeds during 
 the Summer-season in the corn-fields, and is to 
 be found, during the Winter, in the turnips, and 
 in brakes, and in other coverts. The pointer and 
 setter, with or without spaniels, are the dogs 
 appropriate to this game ; and a brace, or a leash 
 of the former, are a very handsome attendance 
 for two or three shooters. According to the 
 rules of Sporting, not always so well observed as 
 is necessary, by hot-headed juvenile gunners, 
 every one should wait patiently for his OAvn bird. 
 
when they rise singly, rising on his own side. A 
 bird rising between two gunners may be, in 
 course, shot at by both. When the covey, being 
 flushed, rises together, every gunner should mark 
 a bird, and watch its fall ; but it is held unfair to 
 ' flank the covey,' or fire into the thickest of them, 
 without aiming at a particular bird. One great 
 object, never to be neglected by shooters in 
 company, is to beware of accidents. 
 
\ 
 
 
 *^^% 
 
PHEASANT-SHOOTING 
 
 PHEASANT-SHOOTING commences on the 
 1st of October, and ends on the 1st of 
 Februanj. The possession of either Pheasants or 
 Partridges at any other time, such excepted as are 
 kept in mews for breeding, incurs the forfeiture of 
 five pounds for every bird, by the Game Laws of 
 England. 
 
 The counties of Siiffolk and Norfolk are 
 supposed to afford the best Plieasant-shooting, 
 their coverts and preserves breeding an immense 
 stock. These beautiful birds lie upon the corn 
 and stubbles, and in the adjoining coverts whilst 
 any corn remains abroad for their support. 
 Their feeding-times are morning and evening. 
 In the Winter season, their food consists of wild 
 berries, and being carnivorous, they not only prey 
 upon insects and reptiles, but upon any dead 
 animal or carrion which falls in their way. 
 
 Furze coverts are the favourite resort and 
 shelter of the Pheasant, which also delights in 
 the opposite situations of springy and boggy soils. 
 
where the willow, and other aquatics, are found 
 in clumps. They also attach themselves to the 
 salt-marshes, when they can find covert in the 
 neighbourhood ; and in any of the above situa- 
 tions, if fed and attended, will make a wonderful 
 increase ; at the same time, they are not given to 
 stray, or take distant flights, although constantly 
 alarmed by the gun. The covert of woods, 
 however, seems necessary to Pheasants in the 
 Winter season, and they generally choose the 
 large middle branches of the oak upon which to 
 roost. Whilst flying up to perch, at sunset, the 
 Pheasant-cock crows three or four times, which is 
 answered by the hen, in her ascent, with a single 
 shrill cry. 
 
 The provident Sportsman, by ancient custom, 
 spares the Hen Pheasant, and thins the cocks. 
 With respect to the dogs most proper for this 
 branch of sport, in woods and difficult coverts, 
 the strongest and best spaniels, which are fear- 
 less, and able to thread the thicket, however 
 close and thorny, undoubtedly deserve the prefer- 
 ence ; and a good cry of them, the fuller of 
 tongue the better, will be found of the greatest 
 use, as well as most pleasant and cheering, in 
 extensive woods. Newfoundland-dogs have been 
 trained with success to wood - shooting of 
 Pheasants, but neither those, pointers or setters, 
 can do the business of spaniels in a thick covert. 
 
It requires experience in the shooter to take a 
 connect aim at the Pheasant when sprung among 
 the trees, and he should recollect instantly to 
 wheel to the right or left, when his aim may be 
 obstructed by an intervening tree. Pheasants 
 also, like Partridges, which know the gun, 
 instead of springing, will run, and suffer them- 
 selves to be pursued by the dogs ; another 
 respect in which the active and babbling spaniel 
 is of use. In the early season especially, and 
 whilst the leaves remain upon the trees, the 
 Pheasant-shooter must not be too late in the 
 morning, because the game then lies too high to 
 be easily found ; nor must the Sportsman be too 
 delicate, either with respect to his person or his 
 clothes, both of which may acquire the honour 
 of some wounds. 
 
 * Thus through the yielding woods I drive along, 
 With various fortune. Oft the whirring bird 
 Eludes my threaten'd aim ; or makes escape 
 From the fast following shot, by numerous boughs 
 Half intercepted : oft the unwelcome hen, 
 Secure from danger of the sounding gun, 
 Rises before me. But enough for me 
 The spoils I gain.' Vincent's Fowling. 
 
FOWL SHOOTING 
 
 THIS Sport, or rather useful occupatiou, since 
 it affords a considerable, as well as 
 luxurious addition to the public stock of provision, 
 is, in course, practised upon the sea-coasts, upon 
 the large rivers or estuaries, in those marshy and 
 flooded districts called fens; and, in general, 
 wherever are found extensive pieces of water, 
 with margins or borders presenting the proper 
 shelter of reeds, rushes, and aquatic vegetation. 
 The eastern and western coasts of England are 
 famous for this diversion, and the chief fen-districts 
 are those of Cambridge, the Isle of Ely, Rutland, 
 and Lincoln. 
 
 The aquatic fowls may be simply classed as 
 swimmers, and divers, and iv ciders, the former 
 living upon the water, the latter upon its margin, 
 never swimming, but wading with their long legs, 
 and thrusting their long necks and bills to the 
 bottom in search of their prey. The principal 
 aquatic fowls, and which are usually to be found 
 in the markets of the metropolis, are — the Duck 
 
and Mallard — Dunhird — Easterli?io; — JVia;eo?i — 
 Teal — Plover and Bittern. Wild-geese, the largest 
 of aquatic fowls, are seldom eaten, the flesh being 
 coarse, oily, and tasting strongly of fish ; but the 
 young broods, often taken in the fens, are easily 
 domesticated ; and being corn-fed, their flesh 
 proves superior in flavour to that of the common 
 goose. 
 
 The methods of taking Wild-fowl are various, 
 that of the decoy-ponds being the most wholesale 
 and considerable ; and upon which the chief 
 dependence is placed for the supply of the 
 markets. These ponds, situate near the sea or 
 large rivers, are provided with decoy-fowl, for the 
 purpose of enticing the wild ones ; which, alight- 
 ing in flocks, are driven with the help of trained 
 dogs, into the netted creeks, ditches, or pipes of 
 the ponds, where, being prevented from flight by 
 the nets above them, they are easily taken. In 
 successful seasons, a decoy-pond is a very valuable 
 estate. 
 
 Other methods are, the use of p?^«/i- or canoes, 
 a branch of the sport perhaps no where so much 
 practised among us, as on the coast of Hants. 
 Some of these boats carry a swivel or stanchion- 
 gun, of great length and calibre, a successful 
 discharge from which will bring down two or 
 three score, and upwards, of the largest fowl. 
 This being generally a night-employment, it is 
 
obvious that a great niiiiiber of the fowl, only 
 ■wounded, must escape the most diligent search 
 of the fowler and his dogs ; and it is wonderful to 
 observe the cunning and activity of the gulls, and 
 other sea-birds of prey, in attacking and devouring 
 the wounded fowl ; thereby forwarding nature's 
 universal expedient, but merciless plan — eat and 
 he eaten. 
 
 Some fowlers venture upon the ooze, with mud- 
 shoes, or pattens, in order to approach, or wait 
 for the birds. Others sink an old cask upon the 
 shore, in which they watch their game, unseen 
 and unsuspected, the upper part of the cask being 
 left sufficiently above-ground, to admit of firing a 
 gun through a loop-hole. The plate before us 
 represents a shot obtained from the gunners stalk- 
 ing along the shore ; this is still more certain 
 where the sea or river is bounded by a wall bank. 
 The seasons for wild -fowl -shooting are both 
 Winter and Summer, both night and day ; the 
 night-work being most perilous and laborious, 
 adapted solely to those who make a profit or 
 livelihood by it, and to a few of the gallant 
 description of enthusiastic amate%irs. Colonel 
 Hawker s book is the best authority on this 
 subject. Any shooter may take a day's success- 
 ful amusement at this sport with a common 
 fowling-piece ; but if he do not mind a little 
 extra weight, or dread a somewhat heavier recoil 
 
upon his shoulder, he will find his purpose far 
 better answered by the real duck-gun ; the barrel 
 being never less than three feet eight inches in length, 
 nor more than four feet four inches, the stock having 
 the proper curve. A charge for this gun will 
 contain a sufficient number of the larger shot, and 
 execution will be generally done at the distance 
 of upwards of fourscore yards. 
 
SNIPE SHOOTING 
 
 SNIPES are to be found in most countries^, and 
 are bred in considerable numbers in some 
 parts of this, although, perhaps, the greater part 
 migrate with the woodcock. They are found 
 generally in rushes, bottoms, and upon fen and 
 moor-land, and in the Winter-seasons near springs 
 not frozen. Some take this sport without the 
 assistance of any dog ; but generally cocking- 
 spaniels, setters, or steady pointers, are used. 
 Snipe-shooting is a test of the marksman's skill, 
 and excellence at this sport serves to complete his 
 qualification. These birds lie best in windy 
 weather, indeed will lie until nearly under the 
 gunner's feet. Being upon their walks, it is usual 
 to go silently down wind first of all, to beat up 
 the most wild ones ; then let go a pointer up 
 wind, to find those which have laid close. When 
 a Snipe is flushed, mark, as it 'hangs against the 
 wind. But no writer has given more practical or 
 satisfactory directions, brief, however, for Snipe- 
 shooting, than the experienced Colonel Haivker. 
 
The Colonel says^ — if you flush them nearly under 
 your feet, remain perfectly unconcerned, until 
 they have done twisting in their flight ; then fire ; 
 or take them whilst describing the semicircle, 
 which sometimes gives an opportunity ; but if 
 you present in haste (see the Plate), you cannot, 
 from a common panic, bring the gun up to a 
 proper aim. If they rise at a moderate distance, 
 dow?i with them before they begin their evolutions. 
 When they cross, fire well forward. Endeavour 
 to get to windward of them, and catch a cross 
 shot, by which you will not be so embarrassed by 
 their zig-zag flight. 
 
BITTERN-SHOOTING 
 
 IT is said there are two varieties of the Bittern, 
 the common and the HUle Bittern ; but there 
 appears to be no other distinction than that of 
 size, the quaUties of both varieties being perfectly 
 similar. This is a fen -hird, of considerable re- 
 semblance and similar habits to the Heron, but 
 somewhat smaller; leading a solitary life in the 
 fens and marshes, and among the reeds and flags 
 on the borders of rivers, as represented in the Plate. 
 Both the Heron and Bittern, in former days, were 
 brought to table, but the superiority of quality in 
 the flesh of the latter is striking, considering the 
 resemblance of the birds, and their use of the 
 same kind of food. The flesh of the Bittern has 
 no fishy taste, but is of a high flavour, generally 
 esteemed superior to that of the hare. The 
 Bittern always figured as a capital dish at our old 
 English feasts ; subsequently with the peacock 
 and curlew, losing the ground of fcishionable 
 choice, which, however, the Bittern has regained, 
 having been for many years in high estimation. 
 
and generally to be seen at the London poulterers, 
 whose charge for this biixl is from half-a-guinea 
 to fifteen shillings, according to the size. 
 
 The Bittern is a common European aquatic bird, 
 and breeds in this country. It nests in April, 
 amongst reeds and rushes, the hen laying four, 
 sometimes six, eggs of a pale ash-colour, shaded 
 with green : she sits twenty-five days, and after- 
 wards, with the cock, feeds their naked, leggy, 
 and long-necked brood, upon small fish, frogs, 
 slugs, and insects, during nearly as long a period, 
 before they are able to shift for themselves. The 
 birds of prey, which are accustomed to commit 
 great depredations in the nests of water-fowl, 
 never venture to attack those of the Bittern, one 
 of the most courageous of birds. The Bittern, 
 like the Heron, is strongly attached to some 
 particular and secluded spot, where they will 
 continue in solitary pairs for a length of time, 
 unless disturbed by the fowler. In the Autumn 
 and Winter seasons, these birds retire to the 
 nearest woods ; if the woods are distant, they 
 take their journey bv night, commencing at 
 sun-set, by soaring aloft in a spiral ascent, until 
 lost to the eye which watches them, always whilst 
 mounting, making a cry which it would be 
 difficult to describe. In this Autumnal retreat, 
 they are known chiefly to feed upon mice, those 
 animals beincr often taken whole from their 
 
stomachs, and on this provision they become ven* 
 fat. In the Spring, and during the breeding- 
 season, the male Bittern makes a deep, hollow, 
 lowing noise, during the morning and evening. 
 This will be a signal to the gmjner ; but, with the 
 view of increasing and preserving the breed, may 
 be taken as a note indicating forbearance. It 
 being ascertained in the evening, that is, at flight- 
 time, that Bitterns are in the neighbourhood, they 
 may be hunted with Spaniels in the morning, in 
 their well-known retreats, where they will some- 
 times lie exceedingly close ; and at others, as the 
 present writer has experienced, be equally shy. 
 This bird is a heavy flyer, and a large mark, but 
 will carry away a great deal of shot, and when 
 dropped from a wound only, is dangerous to ap- 
 proach, fighting like a hawk, with its bill and 
 claws. The male Bittern is the largest, and is 
 sometimes nearly a yard in length. Their 
 plumage is handsomely variegated, the ground 
 yellow, marked with numerous zig-zag lines of 
 black. The head-feathers are long, those of the 
 neck loose and waving. 
 
4':^ 
 
 
 .'^% 
 
BANK SHOOTING FOR FOWL 
 
 THIS is a good representation of a Sport 
 which the present writer has often pur- 
 sued. We have the Gunners^ attended by their 
 Water Spaniels, b'^^S ^^^ yvAit under a hill, as they 
 usually also do under the marsh, or sea wall, for 
 the rising of the fowl, in expectation of getting a 
 shot. The dogs, both from nature and training, 
 vigilant, and equally anxious with their masters, 
 are ready to start at the discharge of a gun, and 
 bring in the dead or wounded fowl. For wild 
 fowl shooting, the guns in use are necessarily of 
 considerable length of barrel and large calibre, as 
 they must be expected to do execution at long 
 distances, and to carry a spreading charge of large 
 shot. A man ought to have some considerable 
 strength of arm, and firmness of body and nerve, 
 to use these pieces with effect ; and some are in 
 use which, being too long and heavy for any man 
 to present, recourse is had to a rest, or bumper, as 
 it is provincially termed, usualfy a stick of wood, 
 with a cross at top, on which to rest the gun. 
 
These guns cany a vast charge of shot^ and some- 
 times bring down an ahnost incredible number of 
 fowl at a shoot. We have heard of a man in 
 Suffolk dropping thirty-two wild geese at a shot. 
 We have also known a things one would suppose 
 equally wonderful — some few gentlemen^ from an 
 enthusiasm for this Sport, pass whole nights in 
 the marshes, and on the small inlets near the 
 ocean, in the most severe heart - chilling and 
 rheumatising season. The sorts of fowl chiefly 
 in pursuit are duck and mallard, dun-birds, wigeon, 
 easterling, and a few others. With respect to 
 those men who pursue this game for a livelihood, 
 they ought to be the most hardy and robust of 
 the species ; and whatever profit they may obtain, 
 they truly earn it dear enough. From the decoys, 
 which are in favourable seasons very profitable, 
 and the labour of these men, oui- tables are sup- 
 plied with wild fowl, and generally in sufficient 
 plenty. Newfoundland dogs, where they can be 
 obtained, have been, of late years, used in this 
 sport ; and, it may be presumed, are to be pre- 
 ferred to all others for wild fowl shootinoj. 
 
1^-?; -I 
 
PUNTING FOR FOWL 
 
 \ LL the world has seen and admired ' Patience 
 Jr\. in a Punt/ the work, as we recollect, of 
 that facetious and celebrated amateur caricaturist, 
 the late H. Bunbury, Esq. whose drawings, pro- 
 voking irresistible laughter, adorn some of the 
 rooms of Barton Hall, in Suifolk, we believe the 
 house of his birth. But the punting, in our 
 eye, is not in pursuit of fish, but of fowl, never- 
 theless requiring equal patience and phlegm ; and 
 incurring far greater hardship and danger. The 
 punt, in the eastern counties, usually called ajlat, 
 is a flat-bottomed boat, which, drawing only an 
 inch or two of water, will float along the creeks 
 of the marshes, or over the ouze in the great 
 rivers or estuaries ; enabling the gunner silently 
 to approach the fowl, within shot, at their feeding- 
 places ; or to watch and get a shot at them as 
 they fly over. Beside the great gun, fixed on the 
 staunchion, it is proi)er to have other pieces ready 
 loaded ; and in a favourable season several dogs 
 may be employed. We were, in our youth, near 
 
the sea in Suffolk, much attached to this sport 
 by day, but always begged to be excused by night ; 
 having a regard for number one, and a correct 
 view of the balance between pleasure and pain, 
 somewhat above our years. A caution is necessary 
 against overloading the punt, as we recollect the 
 circumstance of one having two men on board, 
 being overset, fortunately, as it happened in the 
 day time. Flats are not the proper embarkations 
 for those hardy fowlers, who venture on the ocean, 
 or even on great estuaries. The present w^riter 
 with another young aspirant, attended by a sea- 
 man, ran over Harwich harbour to Landguard 
 fort, in a flat with a lug-sail. About mid-way of 
 the three miles, a breeze sprang up from sea-ward ; 
 had it blown stiff, or in gusts, we must have gone 
 over, inevitably. In shooting at a flight of fowl, 
 gunners always find it necessary to take their aim 
 well before them, from one, or two or three feet, 
 according to their course ; and another necessary 
 precaution is, to keep the locks of their guns dry, 
 either by proper cover, or using those which are 
 said to be waterproof. 
 
SLEDGING FOR FOA¥L 
 
 THE Sledge is merely a different float from 
 the Pmit, applicable to a similar pm*pose. 
 It is composed of rushes or the like^ laid over a 
 bottom of wood. On this soft bed^ as the Plate 
 exhibits, the fowler lies extended at his length, 
 with his long gmi presented, and floats about the 
 lake, mere, or large piece of water, frequented by 
 fowl. Certainly, this plan does not present the 
 facilities and conveniences of a punt ; nor are we 
 aware that sledging is practised by night. It is 
 perhaps not so liable to alarm the fowl by day as 
 a boat. These shooters have also their plashes or 
 mud shoes, on which they slip over the ouze, in 
 search of the fowl they may have shot, a service 
 not without danger by night. The numbers of 
 fowl shot and brought away, in a successful day 
 or night, are wonderful ; and yet the wonder 
 ceases, when we consider, that upwards of seventy- 
 four brent geese have been dropped by a single 
 shot. The advantageous time for wild fowl shoot- 
 ing, is either the first breaking up of a sharp 
 
frost and deep snow^ or at the commencement, 
 with a strong easterly wind ; in both these crises, 
 the fowl fly lower than beneath a clear sky and 
 settled frost. In the latter case, they fly with 
 such a wonderful rapidity, and must often be 
 aimed at in nearly a perpendicular direction, 
 perpetually crossing the shooter, that a practised 
 hand, with a good piece and correct lock, are 
 real requisites to success. Indeed, all fowl do not 
 reach the speed of wild swans, or brent geese, 
 the former of which, with a brisk wind in their 
 favour, are said to reach the wonderful speed or 
 rate of one hundred miles per hour ! When killed 
 they seldom fall less than from twenty to fifty 
 yards from the spot where they were stricken by 
 the shot. 
 
POACHERS 
 
 OUR Poachers, in the act of bagging their 
 game, appear suddenly stopped, with their 
 eyes anxiously directed to a quarter, whence some 
 noise has issued that may portend the sudden 
 pouncing upon them of the keepers ! The 
 watchful and faithful dogs, likewise, share in 
 the alarm ; and the lurcher, standing foremost, 
 shows great agitation. Thus these wretched 
 men, whether in their nocturnal expeditions, 
 or by day, in their insecure home, exist in a 
 constant state of anxiety, which confirmed habit, 
 and desperation alone, can render supportable. 
 
 The methods taken by this class of outlaws, as 
 they may be deemed, are generally snaring and 
 netting the game ; shooting, chiefly, pheasants, 
 which are a sufficiently visible mark on the 
 leafless trees ; and they sometimes make use 
 of a game cock as an assistant, and various 
 other manoeuvres. Poaching is carried on to a 
 great extent, by the miners, in those districts, 
 particularly in the vicinity of the lead mines. 
 
The trade has been long estabUshed and regular_, 
 and thence is suppUed that vast body of the 
 population, great part of it in opulent circum- 
 stances, which certain wise and noble landed 
 noodles have decided shall not eat game, the 
 common property of a whole people, without 
 their gracious licence and permission. In con- 
 tempt, however, of such notable resolve, the 
 regular traders have always dared to sell game, 
 which they purchase from those irregular pro- 
 veditors, the Poachers. The stage-coaches 
 materially assist in the transit of this commodity 
 to the metropolis ; and all the parties concerned, 
 bestow their broad grins and their contempt on 
 those wiseacres, who still feel bold in opposing 
 those enlightened and patriotic Members of 
 Parliament, who would use their endeavours to 
 expunge from our statute-book that tyrannical, 
 bloody, and senseless farrago of ancient rubbish, 
 too well known by the name of the Game Laws. 
 
 This legislative and too serious burlesque has 
 introduced and perpetuated, in a civilized country, 
 a constant state of warfare between two classes of 
 the inhabitants. The successors and imitators of 
 the ancient feudal tyrants, finding no other means 
 of supporting their peculiar laws of odious monopoly 
 than by an armed force, have had recourse to an 
 army of game-keepers. Between these, and the 
 game purveyors for the nation, or poachers. 
 
constant and shameful scenes of hostility and 
 bloodshed are going forward. However, the 
 newspaper relations of these, must be received 
 with some grains of caution, as to armies of 
 poachers, or of such numbers in a body, as are 
 said to march together. From two, to four or 
 five, are the most usual numbers, and they are 
 generally well armed. They sometimes make 
 use of the air-gun to prevent discovery. The 
 keepers have smarted so severely in some of 
 these encounters, that it is reported, they, as a 
 body generally, are not much enamoured of the 
 service ; and a poulterer, of whom we occasionally 
 purchase game, has lately informed us, that, on 
 several large estates, the keepers have come to 
 a compromise with their adversaries, wink at 
 their employment, and have only, now and then, 
 a pro forma brush with them, to save appearances. 
 Unjust and impolitic laws, in an enlightened state 
 of society, necessarily defeat their own ends ; nor 
 will mere half-way and palliative legislation much 
 amend the matter. 
 
FERRETING RABBITS 
 
 THE prolific nature of rabbits, and the de- 
 struction they occasion to the land and 
 crops of the farmers in the neighbourhood of 
 the warrens, renders it necessary that corre- 
 sponding exertions should be made to keep their 
 continually increasing numbers under. For this 
 purpose, the snare and springe is frequently used 
 as an auxiliary to the gun ; but, owing to the 
 profit accruing from their skins and carcases 
 when in a wild state, the breed is encouraged, 
 to the detriment of every one but the warrener 
 and the poacher. 
 
 The ferret in its wild state, is a most destructive 
 enemy to the rabbit, and when domesticated is 
 used for the purpose of either drawing or driving 
 them from their burrows. 
 
 To bring the ferret to a knowledge of what 
 is required of him, is to be accomplished only 
 by frequent employment with the more domestic 
 ones, whose sagacity generally complete what art 
 can with difficulty teach, though in some, so 
 
inveterate is habit^ that they can never be 
 reclaimed from kilHng. 
 
 The warrener having a nmnber of ferrets that 
 he can depend on, and provided with his dogs, 
 netting, &c. with which to surround the burrows 
 for some distance, he proceeds to send a single 
 ferret in. Owing to their depth and intricacy, 
 it occupies some time before the ferret can find 
 his adversary, who by occupying the compartment 
 the ferret has previously searched, frequently 
 baffles his sagacity ; and sometimes the ferret, 
 finding an outlet unperceived by his master, 
 makes his escape to his native woods. When a 
 reasonable time has elapsed, and neither the 
 rabbit or ferret make their appearance, another, 
 and sometimes two are sent in, for it may happen 
 that a rabbit is a match for his antagonist. Let 
 the reader suppose a ferret in view of his prize, 
 the rabbit at the bottom of his burrow, waiting 
 with anxiety an opportunity to spring over his 
 enemy, and the ferret watching the moment to 
 seize him in his attempt, his eyes glaring with 
 an eagerness and keenness hardly surpassed by 
 the brilliancy of fire itself; he escapes, pursued 
 by the active ferret, and on his emergence into 
 the light of day, he is seized by the still nimbler 
 dogs, and in an instant is no more ! 
 
 In this manner successive burrows are visited, 
 and great numbers taken. To prevent the ferret 
 
catching the rabbits by the throats, warreners are 
 obhged to sew up their mouths, a precaution 
 which should not be neglected, or the rabbits 
 would be killed by the ferrets in their retreats. 
 
 This sport in a great measure depends on the 
 tractability of the ferrets. The eagerness of the 
 dogs, who are ever on the alert, and who seem 
 to enjoy it with greater zest than their masters, 
 greatly adds to the pleasure and amusement of 
 its followers. It is sometimes necessary to dig 
 the ferret out, who is reluctant to leave the 
 asylum he has cleared of its inmates. 
 
RUNNING A BADGER TO BAY 
 
 THPj Badger is the largest animal in this 
 country of the vermin class, being between 
 two and three feet in length, exclusive of the 
 tail, and weighs from fifteen to upwards of thirty 
 pounds. It is an animal of thick and awkward 
 form, bearing some resemblance to the hog ; but 
 in its progression, treading upon the whole heel, 
 like the bear. It was formerly said, among other 
 wonderful and ridiculous assertions, that the legs 
 of the Badger were longer on one side than the 
 other ; the truth is, that the rather disproportionate 
 superior length of the hinder legs impedes the 
 animal's progress over a level surface, whilst the 
 circumstance is said to accelerate it over ridged 
 or ploughed land, thereby affording it an adv^antage 
 over the dog. The hoax of the aged and blind 
 Badgers being fed by the young, and of the truly 
 scientific division of Badger-labour in the digging 
 and construction of their earths, or chambers, the 
 one Badger being a carter, and the other a cart ! 
 is well worthy of the disciple of the prince of 
 
marvel-mongers, Pliny. The legs and feet, 
 however, of these animals, are short, and very 
 strong, each foot being armed with long and 
 powerful claws, by which they are enabled to 
 dig their subterraneous dwellings, having but 
 one entrance, yet several divisions or apartments. 
 Modern research has not confirmed the ancient 
 assertion of two varieties of the Badger, the one 
 carnivorous, the other feeding only upon roots 
 and vegetables ; nor verified the bad character 
 of the animal, formerly believed or pretended, 
 with respect to his mischievous propensities. He 
 will eat flesh, no doubt, but being rather a sluggish 
 and sleepy animal, he is generally contented with 
 roots, and any aliment of the vegetable kind which 
 can be obtained without the labour of much re- 
 search. In some parts of the world. Badger's 
 flesh is a common article of human food ; and 
 in this country. Badger-hams are said to be 
 excellent. The fat and skin are also in great 
 request. 
 
 This animal is by no means so plentiful in 
 England as formerly, nor the hunting him so 
 much in vogue. It is a night-hunt, by moon- 
 light. The arrangement is to stop all the earths, 
 one or two excepted, whilst the Badger is abroad 
 questing, and to place a sack at the entrance of 
 the holes left unstopped, with its mouth extended, 
 the drawing-strings of the mouth of the sack 
 
being so contrived as to shut the mouth fast, 
 the strings being strained. The Badger driven 
 to earth will enter the sack, strain the strings, 
 and confine himself. In the meantime, it is 
 necessary for men to be concealed near the earth, 
 in order, on the instant, to secure the prisoner. 
 The traps being thus laid, two or three couples 
 of hounds, or terriers, are thrown off, at the 
 distance of about half or three-quarters of a mile 
 from the earths. These start and drive home 
 the game, which is either caught, or left above- 
 ground, for the pursuit of the hounds. The best 
 of this sport is, when the hounds run in upon 
 the Badger, before he can reach his den, when 
 he will stand at bay, like the wild boar, and 
 turning upon his back, his natural position both 
 for offence and defence, he will use his sharp 
 teeth and claws with such vigour and effect, that 
 two or three couple of staunch and fierce dogs 
 will not achieve a conquest over him, without 
 retaining many bloody marks of his powers and 
 of his vengeance. 
 
OTTER HUNTING 
 
 THE Otter is an amphibious animal^ formed 
 like the Weasel, but of considerable size 
 and predatory habits, and found in all European 
 countries ; indeed, generally in the cold and 
 temperate zones. The average weight of this 
 animal, when full grown, amounts to nearly thirty 
 pounds ; the maximum being upwards of forty. 
 Its flesh is rarely eaten, being very coarse, and 
 like that of all animals which feed upon fish, of 
 a rank and disagreeable flavour. There is an 
 exception, however, in favour of the inwards of 
 the Otter, and the heart is said to make a high- 
 flavoured and luxurious dish. The skin, well 
 dressed, makes soft and lasting gloves, which 
 will resist the wet beyond all others. The Otter 
 is naturally of a playful disposition, and has often 
 been domesticated and used for the purpose of 
 catching fish ; and has even been said to have 
 accompanied the hounds in the hunt of its own 
 kind. Having been generally hunted with the 
 view of extirpation, as the great destroyers of 
 
fish. Otters have seldom been very numerous in 
 this country, but have increased considerably in 
 Essex, where has lately been a successful hunt of 
 them. 
 
 This animal breeds but once in the year, 
 producing three to six cubs. It frequents fresh 
 water, particularly narrow rivers, meres, and 
 ponds ; and, exclusive of the destruction made 
 among the fish, would pay an equal attention to any 
 man's poultry at a reasonable distance from the 
 water-side. The Otter is a fox upon land, and 
 has, in some few instances, been found several 
 miles distant from the water-side. Alarmed, it 
 always takes water. It affects a dry bed, with a 
 portion of the cunning of its cousin-german, the 
 beaver, forming its couch under-ground, with a 
 small opening or mouth, which is sometimes 
 found in the midst of a thick bush, and at others, 
 in the hollow of a willow tree, or even in the top 
 of a pollard. 
 
 The Otter may be taken by nets or traps, or 
 hunted and speared. Formerly, according to 
 Somerville the poet, the deep-flewed, heavy-eared 
 hounds were used in this hunt ; but any strong 
 and courageous dogs, which take to the water 
 readily, will answer the purpose ; granting them 
 of size and weight too great to be drawn under 
 water by the Otter, and of skin sufficiently thick 
 to endure his badger-like and radical bite. 
 
HUNTING THE MARTIN 
 
 THE Plate gives a very natural and correct 
 view of the Martin huiit^ which is con- 
 ducted in the same manner as that of the squirrel. 
 We think, however, that, terriers are better fitted 
 for hunting the Martin, than heavier dogs. The 
 chase of this animal will sometimes continue for 
 several hours, during which many miles of ground 
 will be run over, the dogs, if at a check, never 
 losing, as the cat seldom or never runs to earth ; 
 but when run in upon, climbs a tree, leaping from 
 one tree to another, or takes shelter in a covert. 
 When the cat is obstinate, and will not quit the 
 tree, which it has climbed for security, and the 
 recovery of her wind, the hounds baying her 
 below, it is usual to throw at, and cudgel her 
 down. Driven to her last shift, she will sometimes 
 jump down, and alight in the midst of the very 
 jaws of the dogs, all and every one mad to snap her 
 up, which she generally and almost miraculously 
 eludes, by her wonderfully natural agility. This 
 is the very acme of the sport, and the escape of 
 9 
 
the cat^ and renewed chase^ is greeted by a merry 
 and thundering halloo ! At the death, if the 
 chase has not been long, and the Martin fresh, 
 she sells her life dear, and never fails to leave 
 to the most forward dogs, a good legacy, by 
 will, w^ritten on their noses. 
 
 The Martin is of a musky and sweet odour, 
 which greatly enhances the value of its fur. Its 
 general length of body at full growth, about a 
 foot and a half, with a bushy tail almost a foot 
 long ; of a black tan colour, with a white throat, 
 the belly of a red dusky brown, the legs and feet 
 of a chocolate brown, the lower sides being 
 covered with a thick ash coloured down, similar 
 to the under coat of the other parts of the body. 
 The whole fur is of a lighter hue in winter, and 
 when old, the animal is nearly ash coloured. 
 The Martin, like the squirrel, inhabits the woods, 
 breeding in hollow trees, and making use of the 
 nests of magpies and the larger birds, the young 
 of which it may have devoured. It preys on 
 small birds and game, rats, mice, and poultry, 
 when that comes within its reach ; and is said to 
 be very fond of honey, whence bee-hives are not 
 very safe in proximity to woods. It must never 
 be suffered near pheasant preserves, as it will 
 tear those valuable birds down from the roost. 
 We have often wished to domesticate the Martin, 
 on account of its agility and playfulness, and its 
 
pleasant scent. The Pine Martin builds its nest 
 on the summit of trees of the pine tribe. This 
 animal, formerly rather plentiful on the New- 
 Forest, and in Essex and Suffolk, has for many 
 years, become annually, more scarce. 
 
ANGLING 
 
 THE subject of the accompanying Plate is 
 Ground Fishing, with a float. The suc- 
 cess of the angler de})encls not only on a perfect 
 knowledge of the requisite baits for each fish, and 
 for each successive month, but a careful observance 
 of the weather. Fish are veiy susceptible of 
 cold, and a wind from the N. or N. E. invariably 
 drives them for warmth, into holes, among the 
 thickest weeds, or under shelving banks, whence 
 the most tempting baits will not allure them, 
 particularly in pond fishing. The best time is 
 when the weather is moderately wanii and close, 
 the motion of the water scarcely perceptible, and 
 a thin smoke gradually rising on the surface of 
 the stream. The kinds of fish angled for on the 
 ground, are chiefly barbel, bream, carp, chub, 
 dace, eels, gudgeons, pike, perch, roach, trout, 
 tench, &c. The angler having arranged his 
 tackle in order the preceding night, should never 
 be later at the spot than four o'clock, when, if 
 the weather is favourable, he may depend on 
 
success. The depth bemg ascertained, he fastens 
 his float that the hook may swim about three 
 inches from the ground, and the nearer he puts 
 in to weeds, shelving banks, or under the roots of 
 trees, the more successful he is likely to prove for 
 perch, which generally choose their haunts in 
 those places, or in deep holes, where they keep 
 together in great immbers. The perch is ex- 
 tremely voracious, and as he is seldom known to 
 leave a bait till he has gorged the hook, some 
 time should be allowed him for that purpose ; 
 when the float is pulled fairly under water, then 
 the Angler should strike, and he may remain 
 secure of his fish. By this method he may take 
 every perch ; but if, through impatience, he 
 strike before the hook is swallowed, he may shift 
 his quarters, for not one will he take in that 
 place. 
 
 The usual period for perch fishing, is the 
 beginning of May, and it may be continued till 
 September, but professed Anglers seldom follow 
 it longer than the end of June or the commence- 
 ment of July. The common baits are small fish, 
 lob and red worms, well scoured, cad-bait, and 
 gentles. When angling for the perch in rapid 
 streams, among weeds, a minnow or small frog 
 are the best baits. With the hook placed through 
 the upper lip of the minnow, he should be suffered 
 to swim about mid-deep, having a large cork float 
 
on the line, which should be leaded to keep it 
 at the proper de})th. Perch of a very large size 
 are thus caught ; and as any attempt to kill them 
 by play, from the situation, would be fruitless, 
 the tackle should be of a strength to defy his 
 utmost efforts. This branch of angling will put 
 the patience of the sportsman to the test, for he 
 may expect to catch but few, and far between ; 
 but they will, however, amply compensate for his 
 time, for perch caught by the minnow or frog in 
 these places, are of great weight and delicacy. 
 
 Barbel and pike are generally taken by trolling, 
 with live bait ; a small dace or gudgeon is pre- 
 ferable. They are to be found in still, shady, 
 unfrequented waters, among weeds : the season 
 is from the beginning of May to the end of 
 February. The rods used in trolling must be 
 strong, about three yards and a half long, and the 
 line of green silk, at least thirty, which will make 
 it requisite to use a winch. Plenty of time must 
 be allowed them to gorge the hook. 
 
 Carp, tench, trout, dace, roach, eels, are taken 
 by a similar method to the perch, except that a 
 sweet bait is best for the two former, made of 
 flour and honey. They should be angled for as 
 near weeds (if in ponds) as possible. Trout, dace, 
 &c. are most frequently found at the bottom of 
 deep, clear, gravelly streams, or at mill-tails, where 
 they lie in great numbers. Owing to the quantity 
 
of feed they meet with in the latter places, they 
 are very shy, and cautious of biting, though the 
 largest kinds are there to be found. Various 
 other ways of taking fish may be pursued ; but 
 as we do not mean to encourage poaching, or 
 unsportsman-like methods, we shall abstain from 
 saying anything on the subject. 
 
FLY-FISHING 
 
 FLY-FISHING for Trout may be considered 
 as the ue plus ultra of angling ; as it not 
 only requires greater skill in the pursuit^ but 
 yields more true sport than any other mode of 
 fishing in practice. The season commences in 
 the beginning of Aprils and may be followed 
 through the Summer months. The earliest hours 
 are generally recommended, but the Trout or 
 DacCj will take a fly at almost any hour of the 
 day. The best streams are mill, or rapid shallow 
 stony-bottom rivers, to the gravel of which the 
 sun can penetrate, where the Trout delight to 
 bask in its heat. The angler having })rovided 
 himself with a light, taper, ringed rod, armed 
 with a spear, and a good running winch, and an 
 assortment of well-made flies, he will consult the 
 appearance of the weather : if the wind blow 
 light from the S. or S. W. he may depend on 
 good sport. Great judgment and frequent use is 
 required to throw a good line. The length of it 
 to a good caster is immaterial. The angler, hold- 
 
ing the rod in one hancl^ and the hne just above 
 the fly in the othei% should give his rod a motion 
 from right to left^ and, as he moves the rod back- 
 wards, must dismiss the Hne from his hand at the 
 same time ; in raising the rod to throw the line, 
 it is necessary to wave the rod a little round the 
 head, for if it is brought directly backwards, or 
 returned before it has streamed its full length 
 behind, the fly will be whipped off. The jDrofessed 
 sportsman only bags those fish that he may feel 
 a pride in showing, or such as will grace his table ; 
 the smaller fry he returns to their native element, 
 as it will increase his sport at a future opportunity. 
 When a good fish is hooked, then the skill of the 
 Fly- Fisher appears, and it is truly a delight to 
 those who may be looking on, to observe the 
 judgment requisite to kill the fish. Trout and 
 salmon-trout are taken sometimes of so large a 
 size, that it excites surprise in persons unacquainted 
 with Fly Fishing, how a fish can be brought safely 
 to land by a few horse hairs, which, but for the 
 skill of the angler, were it ten times the thickness, 
 the fish would snap with the greatest ease. On 
 the whole, independent of the gratification 
 Angling affords, we know of no amusement more 
 rational, or conducive to health, than Fly-Fishing. 
 
^-^••■r 
 
A PRIZE-FIGHT 
 
 PRIZE-FIGHTING with the fists, formerly 
 styled Boxing, subsequently Pugilism, but 
 in our modern fashionable slang, Milling, a truly 
 significant term, is no doubt derived from the 
 contentions of the gladiators, in the arena of 
 ancient Rome, where the most bloody scenes, 
 wounds, mutilation, death itself, were witnessed, 
 not barely with apathy, but with extreme and 
 enthusiastic delight by the spectators, male and 
 female, and those in the most elevated ranks of 
 society ! In the modern English milling arena, 
 in good and comfortable sooth, we do not indeed 
 expect or desire to behold sights so appalling and 
 tragical ; yet we do experience a gratification in 
 the spectacle, of robust bodily powers, and un- 
 daunted courage, exerted with manly fortitude 
 and true English game. For the chronology of 
 this sport, and the biography of its votaries, w^e 
 must refer our readers to those text-books, the 
 volumes of the Sporting Magazine, and Boxiana. 
 It is sufficient for us to repeat, that pugilism, in 
 this country, has been contemporary with horse- 
 
racing, and that their rise^ progress, improvement, 
 and popularity, appear to have been simultaneous. 
 Whatever may be urged against the roughness, 
 vulgarity, and even cruelty of this sport, there is 
 no want of weighty arguments in reply, and even 
 independently of the aid of special pleading, a 
 fair case in the premises may be easily made out. 
 Contentions are unavoidable ; the science of 
 offence and defence is necessary ; without practice 
 science is vojc et preterea nihil ; and pugilistic con- 
 tests, and the bodil}^ sufferings arising therefrom, 
 are voluntary. Surely then, these well-regulated 
 matches are legitimate objects of curiosity, and 
 worthy the attention of a martial people. But 
 our grand milling argument still remains, which, 
 we doubt not, will prove a knock-down blow to 
 the adversaries of Prize-Fighting. We refer to 
 its unquestionable utility, not merely as an 
 exercise or diversion, but even in a moral view ; 
 and to the strong hold which it has so long main- 
 tained upon the inclinations and habits of the 
 English people. Indeed, the regular scientific 
 system of pugilism is peculiar to this country, 
 neither known nor practised in any other. Its 
 moral effects have been strikingly beneficial. It 
 has not only afforded a vent for the human 
 passions in a milder form, but it has impressed a 
 superior character on the lower orders of English- 
 men, who, in consequence, so seldom assume that 
 
of the assassin. ^'' The appointment of umpires 
 and seconds, the shaking of hands previously to 
 the set-to, as much as to say, we mean to contend 
 fairly and like men ; the general solicitude and 
 caution in the spectators, that perfect equity take 
 place between the contending parties, that no 
 foul blow be stricken, and that the fallen and the 
 vanquished be protected ; and, lastly, the parting 
 salute, when the conqueror seems generously to 
 have divested himself of the haughtiness of 
 triumph, the conquered to have resigned with a 
 natural and manly submission, and both to have 
 disburdened their hearts of all malice and appetite 
 of revenge — is, upon the whole, and in all its 
 parts, so excellent a practical system of ethics, as 
 no country can boast, and has chiefly contributed 
 to form the characteristic humanity of the English 
 nation." 
 
 In fact, we can adduce the most respectable 
 authorities in favor of pugilism. The late 
 patriotic Mr. Whithread, in the Poor Bill, which 
 he introduced into the House of Commons, thus 
 defended boxing — ^^ We must choose between the 
 fist and the stiletto. ' ' And Mr. Knight, in his elegant 
 work on the Principles of Taste, goes the length 
 of affirming, that " not only is boxing the best 
 guardian of the morals of the common people, 
 but, perhaps, the only security now left, either 
 for our civil liberty or political independence." 
 
The plate fully and correctly expresses the 
 manner and costume of a modern Eng-lish Prize-Fisht. 
 
 o o 
 
 The periodical sparring meetings in the metropolis, 
 are well known. Two circumstances, with respect 
 to this sport, are greatly to be regretted ; first, 
 the want of a regular pugilistic theatre, and the 
 frequent degrading necessity of stealing a boxing- 
 match ; and last, but not least, the accompaniment 
 of bull and badger-baiting, an infamous and 
 nationally disgraceful practice, on which we have 
 already expressed our sentiments. For the best 
 specimens of the modern dang, used in boxing 
 descriptions, we once more refer to the works of 
 the ingenious Mr. Egan. 
 
DOG-FIGHT 
 
 THIS Sport is the most captivating, the very 
 crack of all others, not only to the butchers 
 and drovers of the metropolis, but to the whole 
 herd of the lowest and most infamous rabble of 
 nackers, dog's-meat men, jackass drivers, prigs, 
 kencrackers, rum kiddies, flash men, and knowing 
 ones of most descriptions. The far greater part 
 of the business is transacted in the fields, near 
 the town, westward, and towards the east, beyond 
 Battle-bridge, where, on every Sunday morning, 
 great numbers of the most execrable miscreants, 
 under heaven, are collected, and allowed to 
 perpetrate the most horrible cruelties on such 
 unfortunate animals as may have been provided 
 for the purpose, or may fall in their way. The 
 poor cat, stolen from her home, is one of the 
 most common victims. These are the great 
 schools of barbarism and cruelty for the lower 
 classes, and the best nurseries for thieves ; and 
 seem to be winked at in this reforming season, 
 under the strange notion, that 'we must not 
 interfere with, or abridge the Sports of the lower 
 people.' Whatever policy there may be in such 
 
a proposition, it surely has not much morahty to 
 boast. The Sport, however, is conducted in a 
 more regular way at the Westminster Pit, and at 
 Reuben Martin's Pit, in Tottenham Court-road, of 
 which the plate gives a very correct specimen. 
 These meetings are usually attended by a class 
 somewhat above those already described, and 
 even by a few individual choice spirits of our 
 Aristocracy. Whether Mr. Lawrence, in his 
 Discriminative View of Animal Sports, classes 
 Dog-fighting among the legitimate and allowable, 
 we cannot determine ; but he seems to make no 
 objection to ^voluntary combats.' There was 
 formerly a phrase much in vogue among the flash 
 men and women of the day, applicable to both 
 flats and sharps — ' He does not, or he does, know 
 common sense from dog -fighting.' For some 
 years past the Bull-terrier, a mixture of the two 
 breeds, has been the fashionable sort chosen for 
 this choice diversion. Some months since, there 
 was a match for a cool hundred between the tyke 
 of a gallant Colonel, hight Razor, in colour white, 
 and the buffer of Oxford Bill, Driver, a fallow- 
 smut. It turned out, however, to be a double 
 rum, or rather queer go, as the Colonel found 
 to his cost, being clearly out-generalled by his 
 honourable associates, who seem to have known 
 ' common sense from dog-fighting,' though the 
 Colonel did not. 
 
COCK-FIGHTING 
 
 COCK-FIGHTING, or as it has been long 
 styled, Cocking, is a sport of high and 
 classical antiquity, having been practised by the 
 ancient .Greeks and Ixomans, and, in all probability, 
 by the ancient Hindoos, since in the Eastern 
 countries customs are unvarying, and equally 
 permanent with the nations themselves by whom 
 they are practised ; and in the present times, this 
 is a favourite sport with the natives of India, 
 where they have a large and fine breed of Game 
 Cocks. Yet, probably, Britain and Ireland are the 
 only countries in which, by analogy of the race- 
 horse, game, or thorough-bred Cocks are kept 
 apart, expressly for the purpose of fighting. The 
 common, or dung - hill cock, indeed, of all 
 countries, will fight, but such are utterly unable 
 to contend with that species, which, like the 
 thorough-bred horse in the course, nature seems 
 to have formed with peculiar aptitude and 
 qualification for the battle. This species it is, 
 distinguished by symmetry of form, fineness of 
 lo 
 
bone, and beauty of plumage, which has been 
 selected by our original amateurs for the national 
 diversion of Cock-fighting. 
 
 Cock-fighting has been practised in England 
 during seven or eight centuries, or in all prob- 
 ability much longer, since it is the opinion of 
 some antiquaries, that it was originally introduced 
 by the ancient Romans. Its head-quarters in 
 London are the Cock-pit Royal ; in the country, 
 it generally attends racing, as there is seldom a 
 race - course without the accompaniment of a 
 Cock-pit. 
 
 As has been observed, the breed of Game fowls 
 is a distinct variety, trained or fed for the express 
 purpose of fighting ; and the breeds of this or 
 that county, or breeder, in turn bear the bell ; 
 as this or that racing-blood upon the turf bears 
 the stamp of fashion, until supplanted by some 
 other, from incidental success. The young Cock, 
 being well bred, and of sufficient promise from 
 shape and size, of the latter a medium being 
 preferred, is sent to his walk, as it is called, where 
 he remains until two years old ; at which period 
 he attains his full size and powers, and his spurs 
 their perfection. It is held that Cocks, before 
 the completion of this age, do not, on trial, 
 discover their goodness or game, however con- 
 spicuous their courage. Considerable sums are 
 won and lost, annually, at this not very tender- 
 
hearted diversion ; and a certain number of 
 persons obtain a living from their calling as 
 feeders. The Hesh of Game fowls has ever 
 maintained the highest reputation at table, for 
 delicacy and flavour. 
 
 In the justly - celebrated and decisive naval 
 engagement of Lord Howe's fleet with that of 
 France, on the 1st of June, 179^';. a game-cock on 
 board one of our ships chanced to have his house 
 beaten to pieces by a shot, or some falling rigging, 
 which accident set him at liberty ; the feathered 
 hero, now perched on the stump of the mainmast, 
 which had been carried away, continued crowing 
 and clapping his wings during the remainder of 
 the engagement, enjoying, to all appearance, the 
 thundering horrors of the scene. — Philosophical 
 and Practical Treatise on Horses. 
 
 The description of a Welsh Main will not 
 contribute to elevate the diversion of Cock- 
 fighting in the estimation of those w^ho can feel 
 for animal nature. It consists of a fixed number 
 of pairs of cocks, for example, sixteen. These 
 sixteen first enter the lists, and fight until the 
 one half of them fall. The sixteen conquerors 
 are again pitted, and fight the battle over again, 
 until half are killed. The surviving eight are 
 now summoned anew to play an effective part in 
 the same tragedy. The four left are compelled 
 to this fatal exhibition a fourth time, which 
 
leaves a single pair to contend for final victory, 
 and a single survivor ! And thus thirty - one 
 cocks are massacred, partly for the joke's sake, 
 however sorry the joke, but chiefly for the sake 
 of pelf. We recollect the account of a famous 
 Welsh Main of former times, in which the last 
 pair waged internecine battle, the conqueror 
 making a last and successful effort with his 
 weapon, and striking his opponent dead, at the 
 instant himself falling lifeless with excess of 
 exertion : — thus, in the language of King Arthur, 
 in Tom Thumb, making himself death hon goose. 
 
BUIX-BAITING 
 
 THE figure here delineated, with great truth 
 and spirit, is that which is styled a Game- 
 Bull, namely, one which is naturally spirited, 
 fierce, and prone to the combat, and which 
 besides, from the training of being repeatedly 
 baited, has acquired a skill in the exercise of 
 his dreadful means of offence, and a temper and 
 wariness of conduct in receiving and repelling 
 the attacks of his antagonists the dogs. The 
 athletic forms, and the attitudes of the bull- 
 hankers in their attempt to catch and break 
 the fall of the dogs, tossed into the air, are 
 well expressed. 
 
 The bull is generally allowed a hole in the 
 earth, in which to thrust and cover his nose 
 and lips, his most vulnerable parts, and of this 
 defence he learns to take advantage after a 
 few attacks. At least such was the practice 
 formerly. The true-bred bull-dog is known by 
 certain distinguishing characteristics, that, in 
 particular, of silence in his attack ; for he seldom 
 
or never barks. He always attacks his enemy 
 in front, aiming at the head and face chiefly, 
 although being disappointed in those parts, he 
 will fasten upon the throat. He will seize the 
 eye, but his favourite aim is the nether-jaw, the 
 lip, or the tongue ; nature seeming to have taught 
 him instinctively, that those parts are the most 
 vulnerable and most convenient for his tenacious 
 gripe. Having thus fixed the holders of his 
 under-jaw, in the lip or tongue of the poor 
 victim bull, the latter utters a most tremendous 
 and piteous roar, and these, his agonised feelings, 
 it is which impart supreme delight to the sensible 
 hearts of the surrounding crew ! 
 
 Nothing but a greater force than is in his 
 power to exert, can break the hold of the bull- 
 dog, and he is endowed by nature with the 
 highest possible degree of courage. This has 
 been repeatedly put to the most cruel tests, by 
 our savage English blackguards. The four feet 
 of a bull-bitch have been cut off, and she has 
 run at the bull upon her bleeding stumps ! Very 
 lately, in the ivest, near Exeter, a bull-dog, being 
 tossed, broke a leg in its fall. The leg was 
 instantly spliced, and the dog again, in that 
 maimed state, ran at the bull ! The rumour 
 of this beastly act of cruelty reaching the 
 magistracy, seems to have operated, as it really 
 ought, in the cause of humanity ; and bull- 
 
baiting is prohibited in future, in that place, as 
 a breach of the pubHc peace. May this be a 
 universal example, that Englishmen may no 
 longer have to blush for the government of 
 their country ! The bidl-Jighf.s of Spain and 
 Portugal are equally atrocious, but far more 
 dangerous and manly than English bull-baits. 
 May the present political reforms, in those 
 countries, also induce moral reforms, corrective 
 of such vicious and degrading national customs ! 
 To a late work, we are indebted for the 
 following account of the origin of Bull-Baiting 
 in this country. The first bull-bait, of which 
 any record is to be found, took place in Lfwco/w- 
 ihire, in the reign of Ki?ig John; and William, 
 Earl Warren, Lord of Stamford, has the infamous 
 honour of being handed down to posterity, as 
 the originator and patron of that insensate and 
 beastly diversion. This noble, worthy of the 
 half-savage times in which he lived, standing 
 on the wall of Stamford Castle, saw two bulls 
 fighting for a female, in the castle-meadow, 
 until one of the bulls, attacked and affrighted 
 by some butchers' dogs, was by them pursued 
 quite through the town. This sight so tickled 
 and aroused the sporting sensations of the noble 
 Earl, that he immediately made over, as a gift 
 to the butchers of the town, the said castle- 
 meadow, as a common, after the first crop of 
 
grass had been mowed, on condition that they 
 should annually find a mad bull, the day six 
 weeks before Christmas-day, to be devoted to 
 that sport, which was to be continued for ever. 
 
 In one or two instances, our clergy have stood 
 forth to explain the wickedness and infamy of 
 this unnatural and pseudo-diversion. The press 
 has taken the part of outraged humanity ; and, 
 in particular, the Sporting Magazine, infinitely to 
 it& honour, has, for a series of years, most 
 perseveringly exerted itself in the same just 
 and moral cause. Their exertions have been 
 not altogether useless ; for although bull-baiting 
 and the baiting of other animals still prevail, 
 to a degree to be lamented, yet the extent of 
 such barbarous follies is, in no degree of com- 
 parison, equal to that of former times. 
 
1}EA11-BA1T1NG 
 
 MR. STRUTT, in his excellent and amusing 
 book on the ' Spurts and Pasthnes of the 
 People of Euglaud,' makes the following observa- 
 tion, which, although we cannot accept literally, 
 no doubt affords a considerable degree of con- 
 solation to those who wish well to the interests 
 of humanity, and to the moral reputation of our 
 country. — ^"^Bull and Bear-baiting is not en- 
 couraged by persons of rank and opulence in 
 the present day ; and when practised, which 
 rarely happens, it is attended only by the lowest 
 and most despicable part of the people ; which 
 plainly indicates a general refinement of manners, 
 and prevalence of humanity among the moderns ; 
 on the contrary, this barbarous pastime was 
 highly relished by the nobility of former ages, 
 and countenanced by persons of the most exalted 
 rank, and without exception even of the fair sex." 
 In those days of rudeness and insensibility, 
 even the noble and generous horse and patient 
 ass were tortured under that execrable name 
 
for diversion — baiting. In shorty the brute 
 creation was ransacked^ to find out animals en- 
 dowed with the keenest sensibility^ in order to 
 expose it to the most violent outrages. A theatre 
 was erected in London, under the sanction of 
 both Church and State, for the keeping of 
 bulls and bears, to be baited for public diversion, 
 by great English bull-dogs, as a foreign writer 
 expresses it. Both Queen Mary and Queen 
 Elizabeth took delight in viewing these barbarous 
 and bloody spectacles. To the baiting, frequently 
 succeeded so mean and dastardly an entertain- 
 ment, that it is impossible to find words sufficiently 
 expressive of loathing and contempt in which to 
 describe it — whipping a blinded bear ! This was 
 performed by five or six men standing circularly 
 with whips, which they exercised upon the un- 
 fortunate animal without mercy, and which he 
 could not avoid on account of his chain. So 
 infatuated were the good people of this country, 
 in the sixteenth century, with the diversion of 
 witnessing the tortured feelings of animals, that 
 a cotemporary writer (Cartwright) says — " If 
 there be a bear or a bull to be baited in the 
 afternoon, or a jackanapes to ride on horseback, 
 the minister hurries the service over in a shame- 
 ful manner, in order to be present at the show." 
 
 The Plate discovers full as much of this 
 infamous and degrading practice as, we humbly 
 
presume^, any reader of common sense and common 
 humanity would desire to know. We learn from 
 * Hudibras/ that the man who had the management 
 of the bear was styled the hear-ivard, and that — 
 
 "First Trulla staved and Cerdon tailed." 
 
 Staving and iaU'iug then may^ for aught we know 
 or care^ be still among the technical terms of the 
 noble art of Bear-baiting ; in w hich we pretend 
 to no knowledge or experience, being fair and 
 lawful Sportsmen, not beastly and unnatural 
 torturers and executioners ! 
 
BADGER-BAITING 
 
 THIS most quiet and harmless animal, at the 
 same time possessing invincible and end- 
 less com^age, has the misfortune to be selected 
 with the bull, for the pious national English 
 purpose of baiting. Badger-baiting is even yet 
 customary throughout the country, at fairs and 
 races, and in the outskirts of the metropolis at 
 all seasons, as a standing dish of amusement for 
 the dissipated and vulgar of all descriptions, 
 noble, gentle, or simple. These relics of ancient 
 barbarism are chiefly preserved in existence by a 
 low and disreputable class of publicans, who find 
 an interest in it, and whose houses are frequently 
 the resort of bad characters. The artist, we 
 think, in this Plate, has evinced both know- 
 ledge and genius in depicting the countenances 
 of his heroes. Never were coldness of heart, 
 and a mean, grasping disposition better pour- 
 trayed in a round and jolly youthful phiz, 
 than in that of the upright-shaped gemman with 
 his hand upon his hip. Granting it a portrait. 
 
we call upon the original to look upon it and bless 
 himself ! 
 
 The instant of opening the door of the Badger's 
 kennel, the dog being loosed, darts forward with 
 the rapidity of a shot, into the box, the attendant 
 still retaining hold of his tail. The Badger being 
 drawn, one attendant, upon a level with him in 
 sharpness and strength of teeth, and true un- 
 adulterated beastliness, seizes either the tail or leg 
 of the dog, which he bites with a true vermin 
 gripe, (smoke his phiz !) in order, by the extreme 
 excitement of pain of a superior degree to that 
 afforded by the bite of the Badger himself, 
 the^^aer may be induced to let go his hold ; in 
 the meantime the Badger's ward lays hold of the 
 tail, w^hile his gemman, keeping an exact account 
 of the time expended by his brother brutes in 
 their contention, prepares to assist in returning 
 the Badger to his box, by taking him by the tail 
 or pole. Re-kennelled, the poor devil of animal, 
 which, if he possess the power of wonderment, 
 must indeed wonder what he has done to bring 
 upon himself this repeated torture, is very soon 
 exposed to a fresh attack, and is again drawn and 
 replaced ; and thus he suffers, until the beastly 
 inclinations or cupidity of his torturers and 
 murderers are satiated ! 
 
 Whilst we decry, and denounce at the bar of 
 humanity, these infjimous and torturing pro- 
 
peiisities, we have not one word to urge against 
 fairly hunting the Badger in the field, and 
 witnessing those natural antipathies and con- 
 sequent combats between him and the vermin- 
 dogs. It is a dispensation of nature^ and these 
 natural antagonists would fight, did they meet in 
 a desart, unaccompanied by man. It is then a 
 lawful, and may be a useful sport ; and, finally, 
 we have not one drop of imritanical, mixed M'ith 
 our sporting blood. 
 
 The metropolitan Badger-ward, if we may be 
 allowed to adopt that ancient phrase of the bear- 
 garden, keeps his Badger in a box, and for the 
 preservation of the animal, which is of more 
 worth, and not so easily obtained as in the 
 country ; in other words, for the prolongation of 
 his tortures, w^atches over his combat with the 
 dogs, and secures to him fair play, according to 
 the established rules of Badger-law. The dogs in 
 the highest repute for this Sport, are bull-terriers 
 or Jixers. The jist of the match, and object of 
 betting are, the number of times the dog will draw 
 the badger from his box, within a given space of 
 time, determined by the stop-watch. It is almost 
 incredible, considering the strength and powers 
 of offence, with the sharp teeth of the Badger, 
 how often he will be drawn within the usual time, 
 by a well-bred and thoroughly-trained dog. As 
 an illustrious example, it is recorded that, within 
 
these few years^ the dog of a gemman, homo 
 generosKS, no doubt;, who had possessed the 
 valuable breed during thirty years, drew a fresh, 
 strong, and game Badger, seventy-four times in ten 
 minutes ! ! ! 
 
 Printed by Morrison & Gibb Limited, Edinburgh 
 
Cummings c 
 
 200 V ^'^oad 
 
 North Grafton, MA 01536