PROFESSOifc,X KOFOIC si vis me cavere, cavendura est Priraum ipsi tibi! I' KUNOPJEDIA. A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON BREAKING OR TRAINING THE niwf &pamel or pointer. WITH INSTRUCTIONS FOR ATTAINING THE ART OF SHOOTING FLYING IN WHICH THE LATTER IS REDUCED TO RULE, AND THE FORMER INCULCATED ON PRINCIPLE. BY THE LATE WILLIAMiDOBSON, ESQ. iT OF EDEN-HALL, CUMBERLAND. LONDON: fop <. OT)tt:tino$am, ogtoell Street, FOR THE EDITOR ; AND SOLD BY J. CALLOW, CROWN COURT, SOHO ; AND WH1TTINGHAM AND ARLISS, 56, PATERNOSTER 1814. SF *} 31 - GIFT OP PROFESS DUG. A, KOFOID CONTENTS. ESSAY ON BREAKING THE ENGLISH SPANIEL, &>c. Page INTRODUCTION . . . * Novitiate of the pupil, and preparatory treatment by the tutor . . ... .3 Prefatory breaking ; not approved . ... 7 Preliminary introduction to game; how far expedient 9 Going on duty ....... 10 Means of acquiring command ... . Throw off to hunt H Pupil kept up in form... Puzzle-peg . . . 12 QUARTERING the ground . .13 Giving the rudiments . .14 How further managed . . -17 Form and mode of the evolution required . . Its importance . . . . . Diagram for the purpose of showing and of cor- recting errors in beat IB Method of acquiring a direction of the range . 21 Stubble and broken ground to be avoided, in giving the first ideas of outline . - 21 a M2IG854 VI CONTENTS. Page Pupil finds . . . Springs and chases , / . 27 Reclaiming from chase . . . . . 2, 40 Summary view of this duty ... Compared with inferior tactics % . . V'UHI . . 42 The formalities of correction to be strictly adhered to ^ . . <--m ,-..- *& . . 43 The transferable source of every other excellence 4(> Lecture, never to be omitted . !m*i*<":m '.* 47 Naval anecdote . f>cftj{{: - r c fe*vb'; ; .ii Bringing the game, disapproved . -rma & SEEKDEAD... Conduct towards the pupil ^^ . 5 1 Legitimate approach, and final treatment . . .52 Footing out the game . . . The inestimable value of this quality in the field, contrasted with troops of parade and ignorance . . . %*? . 53 CONTENTS. Yll Page Progress of a haunt 53 Working out a retrieve . . . .54 Bird found winged.. . Conduct in approaching it . 55 Bird again sprung, flutters off, and seized . . 56 Apologetical note for a friendly admonition . Severity of discipline necessary . . . .57 Case varied, requiring the tutor's judgment . 58 Bird missed, and gone . . . Attention to the pupil neces- sary 59 Another note of admonition to the tutor Bird killed, and pupil dashes . . . Treatment . . 60 Pupil finally firm, and regularly brought up to the dead Bird s , : ...... Last severe trial of his endurance, and conclusive solemnity 61 A scrap of ancient morality 62 Inaccuracies in language, a grievous impediment to advancement in knowledge . . . .64 Blasphemy, not necessary to make a Man intelligible ; with a conclusive remonstrance against swearing . . . One qualification necessary in a tutor . 65 THE VOCABULARY. COME IN, &C BACK... HEY AWAY, &C. . . 67 WARE HARE, &c WARE LARK . . . .68 GONE, GONE... HOLD UP.. .HAVE A CARE . . 69 TAKE HEED; or, TO HO ...... 70 WARE CHASE... DOWN CHARGE . . . .71 SEEK DEAD . .. . 72 WARE BIRD... DEAD, WARE DEAD . . .73 DOWN 74 Subsidiary expletives . * - .75 Vlll CONTENTS. Page Abstract of duties, as contained in the vocabulary, referred to their previous illustration . . 76 MAXIMS, a decalogue of 77 Further admonitions, of less general application . 86 SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS. On Blinking 'V*" ? ' *'] . 89 Confirmation of Point, and Leading up to Game . 100 On Hunting in Company, Brigading in the Field, fyc. 122 INSTRUCTIONS FOR ATTAINING THE ART OF SHOOTING FLYING. Introductory address . . . Subject proposed ,.,,.? . 16 J Stock of the gun, imperfect knowledge of just fitting, the cause of much indecision, and consequent error . . 155 Again referred to, in note 168 Length of but recommended , rV; , . . . Portrait of unskilful advance to point . . . 166 A better example offered for imitation &;>^ ^ Blunder at a black cock . . . Swearing not allowable, out of professional language - . . .167 Approach to game, or advance to point . *v**> . 168 Arrival within chance of spring . . . .169 Take form, and handle arms . *<* . . . . 170 Balance of position ; being that station upon the lower limbs, which admits of using the upper ones to most advantage . .. ,ty . ,v^ ^ . CONTENTS. IX Page A submission to an actual drilling of the person of the shooter necessary, and its efficacy demonstrated 171 An appeal to the drill, for the correction of error on the part of a more advanced pupil, indispensable 173 THE DRILL EXERCISE. Difficulty of conveying, by words alone, any adequate idea of the methods of personal motion . . 1 74 Apology for attempting it on the present occasion 175 CARRY ARMS... Inverted bearing of the barrel pro- posed and described ..... 176 The superior ease and elegance of this carriage, and its convenience for the shot indicated . 177 The greater security afforded by it against the consequences of accidental discharge, demon- strated 179 Its peculiar use, as applied to shooting in cover Equipment for drill 180 HANDLE ARMS 182 MAKE READY; or, MARK 184 To be instantly accompanied by " Take form" . Position of the lower limbs for a straight forward, or left-hand shot . . . . . . 185 Varied position, necessary for a shot to the right PRESENT - Line of sight, and line of level... The former to be irremoveably fixed on the object, and the latter subsequently brought up to it , . 18C More particularly explained . . . . Impediments created by erroneous and undisci- plined handling . . . . . . X CONTENTS. Page FIRE... Queries concerning the shooter's ability to stand fire 187 Test proposed . . . . . . .188 GENERAL COMMENTARY. Radical difference of level necessary for a flying shot, to be considered as the arcanum, or grand secret of the art iy? ' . . .0 '&h . 189 The lines of sight and level ... The precedence due to the former again insisted on ... If you invert this order, as in the rifle view, you will assuredly be lost... Axiom [Wj^r . . . ^KJ M . Subsequent adjustment of the latter to a due coinci- dence with the line of flight . :tjK'-n,v . 190 General opinion of " Birds being shot under," combated 191 Suspicions concerning an opposite, but unperceived, cause of much error . . . Extreme caution neces- sary to avoid any approach to such habit . 192 Point of time for the fire discussed, as applying to the cross, the straight forward, or the diagonal Line of Flight . i-tyttWpM&Vt MSK- 1 ' - Exemplification of a Shot at the last, as exhibiting the principle upon which the rapid, or snap-shot is founded . . . *<.,< H^f lj ;>< . 193 Level effected by contact of the line of sight with the line of flight, at killing distance, compared with the slow deliberate level ... Preference due to the former . . . . . "# iS . 192 Disposition of the limbs, or "balance of position," necessary to command the shot in every direc- tion . 196 CONTENTS. XI Page Cocking the gun... Not allowable until the game is actually on wing . . . Reasons . 200 Snap-shot, as required for shooting in cover . . 202 Variation, in " taking form," necessary . . . 203 Variation of the manual motions, with a different mode of coming to " present," specified . . . 204 Secure carriage of arms, for march through cover . Compared with an opposite .... 205 Example of untutored bearing . . . . . Security finally enforced 207 Recurrence to the drill; with an immediate view to the progressive instruction of the junior pupil 209 Swallow-practice 211 Measure of level for a cross-shot ... Respect had to the state of the weather .... 212 The pupil hardened to stand fire . . . .214 Discipline of the eye , 215 A continued or prolonged hold of the flight, of the last importance to certainty of shot ; and highly expedient as a matter of security . . .217 A test proposed, as the experimentum cruets on this head, and as the means of cultivating level to the extreme of perfection .... 219 Pupil admitted of the order . . . Terms . . . Motto 220 Equipment for the field . * . . Introduction to game ...... 221 The final conquest over himself indispensable . . 223 High authority for the means of obtaining it . . 224 The author's defence of his system against the attacks of irregular practitioners .... 230 Xll CONTENTS. Page A familiarity with the differing flights of the different species of game, of importance to ultimate perfection ..... . 231 P. A.'s admitted as licentiates of the profession ' ;' i . 232 Academical honours, in gradation upwards, from B. to S. S. S. *q .-'..ia^'i . 1 *:*, -nu . . 234 Classical claim, on the part of THE KNIGHTS OF THE TRIGGER, to the Collar of the Order *j i : > . . 235 -fan*: " Veniam pro laude peto ; laudatus abunde Non fastiditus si tibi, Lector ! ero : Hos quoque sex versus, in primo fronte libelli, Si praeponendos esse putabis, habe. " Orba parente suo quicunque volumiua tangis, His saltern vestra detur in urbe locus : Quoque magis faveas, non sunt lisec edita ab ipso, Sed quasi de domini funere rapta sui : Quidquid in his igitur vitii" tentamen "habebit, Emendaturus, si licuisset, eram." OVID. TRIST. lib. i. el. vi. PREFACE. AT is a misfortune, the consequences of which are rarely overcome by any merit whatever, on the part of an individual, whose fate it is to have his way to seek into life, after having lost that parent who alone was capable of giving to him his due direction ; and to whose fostering care, in the performance of which duty, a child becomes scarcely less indebted, than it has already been for its original existence. This serious truth will apply in a manner still more forcibly to a man's literary offspring. A posthumous work has all the difficulties of the orphan to contend with. It comes out exposed to all the consequences of its own uncorrected errors, and the mistakes of the person b2 XVI PREFACE. who with the zeal of friendship, rather than with any similar feeling or adequate knowledge on the subject, may be induced to push it forward on the world. The disadvantages attending on such a situation are but too manifest; and few are the instances in which the case has been more strongly exemplified, than in that of the volume which now presumes to offer itself to the notice of the public. It will be proper to apprize the reader, that the original sketch of what is here ^ given was done at the request of a parti- cular friend in Scotland, to supply him with a more correct means of pursuing upon principle, and of cultivating into a degree of superior refinement, a diversion which his situation presents very distin- guished facilities of being amused by; and in order to repay the kindness and hospitalities received under his roof there, during an excursion undertaken with a fruitless hope to renovate a declining life, somewhat prematurely sinking under one of those distressing affections of the lungs, PREFACE. which thrust a man out of the world before his time ; the further seclusions and mise- ries attendant upon which, and that dere- liction which a man, who under the teasing fluctuations of personal uneasiness, can no longer partake nor contribute his share to the cheerfulness of others must expect, however heavily it may weigh upon his feelings, to experience, were occasionally cheated away by the arrangement and transmission, from one time to another, of the precepts here communicated. It is to this friend, indeed, that their present appearance, in a shape consider- ably more extended than that in which they were originally transmitted to him, must in a great measure be attributed. He had been struck by the novelty of perceiving a subject, from general practice so little reconcileable to order, treated with so much appearance of system and of science. He recognised in it the prin- ciples of that refinement of discipline, which he had recently so much admired in some troops which the author had led XV111 PREFACE. down thither, so superior to that of the unmanageable rabble which alone he had hitherto been a witness of. He viewed it, as he had beheld the dogs, with the enthu- siasm of a sportsman ; and conceiving that every man who ranked in this class was deeply interested in the truth of the doc- trines here developed, and that he would be equally gratified by the manner in which the subject had been handled, he ceased not to press the author for their instant publication. Nor was it with less than a strong remonstrance against the threats of their publication, in the state they then were, that the letters were obtained back again by the author: under the promise of a further attempt on his part (if per- mitted), by means of a more perfect arrangement of the whole matter, which in its original transmission he was in no wise solicitous about; by dismissing, as much as was convenient, some local and personal familiarities, which had given a peculiar zest to it with the individual to whom they were addressed, but which might not be equally relished by the PREFACE. general reader; and by the further eluci- dation of collateral points, to render it somewhat more deserving that favourable S3 reception, which, without any direct hope of seeing accomplished, he was not alto- gether indifferent to the idea of its meeting from the public. It is by the gentleman here alluded to, for obvious reasons, that the business of editor would best have been conducted ; but the incommunicable distance at which he resides, and his total want of acquaint- ance with the avenues to the press, having placed an insurmountable bar to his under- taking the task, it has now devolved upon one, who, excepting by a long-continued peculiar intimacy with the author, has to feel himself little fitted for its execution. The subject, indeed, is not within the com- pass of his tact. It is beyond (he will not dare to say beneath) the sphere of his intelligence. For he will confess, that in his occasional attempts to smile, it has not been without some " compunctious visit- ings" of regret, that he has felt himself XX PREFACE. incapable of taking his share in the heart- felt pleasure, with which he has heard these associates of the field recounting, with reciprocal delight, their thrice-told tales of triumph; dwelling with rapture on the exemplary virtues of a Cato, or the unshaken firmness of a Brutus ; and pur- suing through an eloquent detail of slaugh- ter, the renovated glories of some fortunate campaign. Much, however, as he may have been made to perceive his own infe- riority upon these occasions, it is with somewhat of more serious concern (for alas! these harmless transports will be heard no more), that he has now to con- template his deficiencies on the subject: and it is no more than the truth to acknow- ledge, that in the midst of the material* which compose not a few of the following pages, he has found himself very much in the situation of a man editing a book in an unknown tongue : in which tongue, with an assurance only of the fidelity with which the matter, as far as he has found it com- pleted, is now given, and not without the necessary probatum est from the deeper PREFACE. XXI reading of the friend aforesaid, it is here left to speak for itself, and to meet its due appreciation from those whom it may concern. It appears from the author's papers, that subsequent to the first arrangement, by which the tuition of the dog was wrought into somewhat of regularity of system, together with further illustrations of some particular points, which he conceived of importance to its due explanation, and of peculiar application with the friend to whom they were addressed, a considerable variety of further matter had been thrown together by him, classed under different heads; with views as yet undetermined, with regard to the precise mode in which they should be applied, so as fully to convey the amount of what he had to say on the subject. Two of these only, viz. On Confirming Point ^ &c. and On Blinking ', with some further illustrations of the great duty of Down charge, have been in any degree finished; and which, in the form of distinct chapters, under their respective XX11 PREFACE. heads, are here added to the Treatise on Breaking. The others were. On Hunt- ing' in Company, and regular Brigading in the Field*: General Discipline; its distinguished advantages, examples of perfection, and method of enforcing it in refractory cases. To these were to have been added, A Comparative View of the respective merits of the English Spaniel, commonly known by the name of the Setter, and the Pointer; with some subsidiary matter, if the size of the vo- lume were not likely to be too much increased, upon Breeding, Management in Kennel, &c. That the first of these, m. " Hunting in Company " did not get entirely finished by the author, is perhaps to be regretted by the true sportsman ; inasmuch as it appears to have been his purpose to treat this * The author had made considerable progress in this chapter, but was prevented from completing it: as such, therefore, it will be received. Being, however, brought up to a certain point, it will give a pretty correct notion of his views ; and as otherwise, perhaps, not without its value to the reader, it is here given in the state in which it was found. PREFACE. XX111 finishing branch of all-perfect education, of which he had so well laid the foundation in a separate early discipline, with singular effect. But beyond what is given as having received an arrangement from his own hand, the materials belonging to this, as well as the subsequent heads, are not in such order as, either in justice to the author or in deference to the public, would warrant any attempt to offer them in their present dislocated form. It is to be attri- buted, indeed, in a good measure, to a feeling of this latter kind on the part of the author, as much as to his own situation, that some of these articles were permitted to linger in an uncompleted state : for after being led seriously to adopt the idea of publication, although we find him* sti- pulating with his corresponding friend, as the representative of the public on this occasion, for the privilege of unfolding himself in his own way, it will readily be conceived, that in the more extended view which he was compelled to take of the Vide p. 3. XXIV PREFACE. subject, he found it expanding under his hands ; and being a thing in the purposed mode of treating it so totally novel, it is natural that he should be averse to its passing out of them, in less than a state of perfect order. Impressed by sentiments of this nature, I know that it was in his contemplation, after having completely rounded his scheme of discipline, entirely to re-model the whole, by a re-arrangement of the matter in chapters, upon the pro- gressive points of duty, in which these points, with all their various relations, should be separately discussed; and doing away entirely the present form of personal address, in the familiarities connected with which the public might not be in the humour of feeling much interest, to give unto it the more assuming form of a regu- lar treatise on the subject; in which the general rule should precede, agreeably to grammatical order, and be immediately followed by elucidation through all the variations of practice. Now that this is the very best possible mode of teaching grammar, I am not without some doubts ; PREFACE. XXV and with regard to the subject in question, that such alteration did not take place, I certainly must be permitted to say, is not to be regretted : for what the matter might have gained in form, it would have more than lost in spirit and in interest. The prompt and immediate introduction to the whole business of the field, followed by the compressed view of the system, as again brought before the eye in the Voca- bulary, puts the reader more directly in possession of his subject : and the neces- sary elucidation of particular points could not in any way so well have been given, as by a complete separation of the latter from the general outline of duties, which with- out such interruption, has been already more distinctly traced. In saying this, it will be understood, that the editor has very much in view the matter intended to be delivered in the unfinished chapters above alluded to ; and being aware that a man who is not heard to the full extent of what he has to say upon a subject, is not heard to every PREFACE. advantage, he has only to lament that dis- ability, which, in the conscious apprehen- sion of marring the materials, has deterred him from any attempt to give what he has reason to think would have been of value to the reader. In its present form, how- ever, it is presumed, and that upon some- what better authority than his own, that there will be found in it quite enough to claim the attention of every man who is at all tinctured with the love of the sport; and that by having kept a firm eye on prin- ciple, as the ground-work of duty, more especially upon the great point of " Down charge," immediately connected as it is with all the perfections required for " Hunt- ing in company," although falling short of being heard to the full extent of his pur- posed explanations, the author has not failed in rendering his system, as a scheme of education, sufficiently complete : and while the man of more standing than skill in the pursuit, may from the perusal of these sheets find himself awakened to a higher sense of discipline, the younger sportsman will still more strongly feel the PREFACE. XXVH obligation conferred upon him, by the means here afforded of fitting himself for the dignity of command, and by the impor- tant lights held out to him upon a subject, where he is " at present without any rational direction whatever for his con- duct/' It is on these grounds, that in giving the Kunopaedia to the public, the editor feels himself warranted in looking forward to its favourable reception, to adopt a language which he finds bequeathed to him, "from every man who can perceive beauty in order ; from every man who has the ambition to become the leader of efficient troops ; from every man who takes the field with the idea of taking the direc- tion of his dog, or whose notions of the diversion rise at all above the level of an unmeaning ramble after the tail of the latter, in the mutual indulgence of a gaping inquiry which way they are to go." It remains now only to make an obser- vation or two concerning some shadows of personal, or at least of local, application ; which, although contemplating an address XXV111 PREFACE. of a general nature, the author has yet permitted to remain; as well as on the obvious predilection in giving the illustra- tion of precept from a species of game, with which the great majority of readers are little, if at all, acquainted. It may be proper to do this, not from any apprehen- sion that the skilful sportsman will any where be at a loss to make a transfer of the idea intended to be conveyed, but for the sake of bringing the reader more com- pletely acquainted with the author's views. It was not merely on account of the per- sonal application to the friend to whom the letters were addressed, but it was by choice that the scene was originally laid in Scotland. Considering himself as pledged to give the outlines of a perfect education, he has claimed the privilege of doing this in a situation, where certain great princi- ples are most directly and eminently attain- able. On this head, it may be satisfactory to hear the author in his own words. I extract the following, therefore, from an unfinished chapter, apparently designed as a concluding review of the main points PREFACE. of his system ; and which may, with great propriety, be given in this prefatory man- ner to the reader, as conveying, in very expressive terms, some hints which he will do well to attend to. "The reader will understand, that for the illustration of these doctrines, the scene has purposely been laid among the hills in Scotland. The small enclosures, and the sneaking practice, which it is not very easy to restrain, after its nearer con- nexion with a mid-day find has been dis- covered by the pupil, of sweeping along the outlines of a hedge, instead of making good his regular fieldings as he ought, in the first instance; and still more, the obstructions and entanglements, created by the green crops of a cultivated country, are all against "the consummation devoutly to be wished," of establishing early upon the pupil that first great principle of utility and beauty, an extended but regulated range. Even the fair extents of open field, which in the more fertile plains of the south offer themselves to the sportsman. XXX PREFACE. and some of them very sufficiently stocked with objects of pursuit, are by no means equally favourable to our purpose. Three- fourths of the ground of this nature pre- sents only a close-shaven barley-stubble or oatersh, that will barely perhaps afford cover for an ant ; over which, although in justice to a young dog it be necessary to keep up his regularity of beat, we are wasting our own time and his powers, without a chance of interesting his atten- tion ; whilst every now and then, a narrow stripe of turnips, or some equivalent, holds out a temptation of threading it from one end to the other; thereby interrupting,, and by frequent repetition doing away, all attention to the first great lesson of a regular quartering to windward; which from the incalculable advantages con- nected with it, it so much behoves the tutor to enforce and to establish. In fact, it is only where some such scope of coun- try, as that which lies open to the more exalted pursuits of the sportsman, amongst the mountains of the north, that this great lesson can be practised to every advan- PREFACE. XXXI tage; where, with little interruption, he can maintain his line of advance for miles, with a furlong or two of beat on either hand, over ground where, from the more rambling habits of the game, if not from its greater profusion, the expectation of the dog is more continually kept alive to find; and over every inch of which, in the regular completion of his alternate sweeps, he is to be called on to do his duty; It is here only that we can draw with most effect the first outlines of gran- deur : and as first impressions have no inconsiderable influence on character, we are fairly warranted in looking forward to the superior performances of an animal, who has had his energies called forth in a scene like this, when compared with one, who has been doomed to plod away his youthful vivacities, by the hour together, in a patch of potatoes, and to play at hide- and-seek with his master along the wind- ings of a ditch, or amongst the thickly- wooded fences, in some of the richer soils of England. The gentleman in the south undoubtedly has many advantages, in the c2 XXX11 PREFACE. variety of game which, in the course of the season, is presented to him; but of the grandeur and style in which the diver- sion of shooting admits of being prose- cuted amongst the hills of the north, for the somewhat too brief period during which, for a variety of reasons, the pursuit is at all practicable, he can have but a very humble conception ; and for the means of creating perfection in the dog, the advan- tages are altogether on the side of the former. Let me add, that with a some- what various acquaintance with different counties in the south of this island, although I have seen many dogs, to whom, without having had their noses elevated above the level of a partridge, it would be unfair to refuse the epithet of good, I have never witnessed one whom I could consider as entitled to any very eminent distinction, who had not in early life the good fortune to have his legs stretched, and his faculties expanded, on the moors. " And here I shall take the liberty of pausing, for the purpose of giving way to PREFACE. XXX111 some sensations, which in the present rage for agriculture, I know not whether it be quite safe to avow. Considering, how- ever, the scene we have been contem- plating, as a school of superior education, a man who steps forward as a professor on the subject, may be pardoned for a confession, in which he will perhaps be joined by not a few devoted to the sport, that it is not without an evil eye they have had, from one year to another, to mark the increasing progress of cultivation, which has been driving from their native hills the denizens of the mountain ; and with the exception of two or three of the most northern counties, has gone pretty nearly to the total extinction of the breed in England. Our acquaintance with them, indeed, has become so limited, as scarcely to admit elsewhere the due application of a hint, that wherever it lies within a man's reach to have his dog awakened to the first perception of his own powers, by a sufficient acquaintance with this species of game, he will find his account in neg- lecting no means whatever to accomplish &XX1V PKEFACE. it. Even on the other side of the Tweed., a keener attention to pasturage, exerting itself in the more frequent burning off the redundant supply of food and shelter for the game, has of late years been making some lamentable inroads upon the natural privileges of the sportsman. Still, however, there remains for those who have the means of seeking it, an ample field for superior instruction : and, without the risk of setting national partialities on a blaze, by any conjectural opinion how far the milder atmosphere of the south may ven- ture to come in competition with the keen air of the Caledonian hills, for the cultiva- tion of intellect*, I can have no hesitation fi5j6t Oil! O v * In a book recently " put forth " by one of the Lords of Session in Scotland, containing Memoirs of the celebrated author of the Elements of Criticism, he has thought fit to eke out his two ponderous quartos with observations made by a professor of natural history in the University of Edin- burgh, who had been appointed by Lord Kaimes to make a survey of the Western Isles, A.D. 1764. Amongst other equally valuable matter, we are informed, that in order to instruct the inhabitants in the art of spinning flax, a woman had been sent thither from the county of Fife ; and it seems that " she was struck with bodily amazement at the quick comprehension of the natives of these isles; who, without understanding a syllable of her language, perfectly compre- PREFACE, XXXV in saying, that were my fortune of that description which would make it conve- nient to realize choice, my pointers at least should have the full benefit of an education in Scotland/' In proceeding to the remaining part of this volume, containing " Instructions" to hended, in a day or two, every thing she meant. But," adds the doctor, "I was not at all surprised," not even bodily surprised, being as how " that I have, for these two months past, been more and more convinced, that the mind of man is more perfect as one moves northwards ;" Q. Does he mean the mover's mind? "that a penetrating air produces pene- trating souls ; and that wind and weather, the keener they are, appear to give a sharper edge to the human understand- ing." Doubtless the world is under infinite obligation to this sapient lord (Woodhouselee), for thinking it worth while, after an interval of fifty years, to bring forth these deeply philosophical reflexions of a man so eminently capable, as this Edinburgh professor shows himself, to judge of human intellect. Leaving him, however, to settle this point, about "penetrating souls," as well as he can with his southern readers, and to exhibit his powers of phisiological research, by showing the relation of cause and effect between " the wind and weather, and the human understanding," I confine myself within my own immediate province, and am solicitous only to have received, as a kunogetical truth, that the best of all possible situations for the cultivation of canine intellect, is " the Muirs." XXXVI PREFACE. the shooter for acquiring a skilful use of his arms, there exists little necessity for any accessory introduction on the part of the editor : it will very sufficiently speak for itself. But it may not be superfluous to say something concerning the more perfect form, in which what is here pre- sented for the mutual improvement of the shooter and his companion would have appeared, if the author had been permitted to complete his intention on the subject. The reader will have already seen, from the titles of the additional chapters con- cerning the dog, the manner in which what was yet wanting to give some finishing touches to his education, together with what the author wished further to commu- nicate on the subject of the animal himself, was meant to be arranged ; and which, as furnishing ample materials for one volume, it was his purpose to publish first. As a companion to this, a second volume, con- fined solely to the business of the gun, would have then made its appearance ; of PREFACE. XXXV11 which, what composes the second part of the book as now offered, would have made the leading article ; being followed by several additional chapters, containing a considerable variety of matter, imme- diately connected with the subject: alto- gether, giving to the sportsman a more perfect knowledge, as well as a more dex- terous use, of his weapon ; and evincing, with somewhat more clearness than some modern philosophers have hitherto been able to make out their application of the doctrine, that on this subject, at least* " knowledge is power/' Such was the regular order of our author's views ; but as a man who puts forth to sea, although with a clear idea of his destination, is exposed to winds and currents, and can not always tell where he shall make land, so did it fare with him ; and in the prosecution of his plan, the latter part of his subject got considerably the start of the former. Having seriously adopted the notion of giving his matter to xxxviii PREFACE. the public, he had begun the business of enlarging and of arranging the Kuno- psedia ; but the chief part of the materials was already in the possession of his friend, in a state imperfect enough, but amply sufficient for him to go to work with the pupil : and being not a little anxious for the success of his system, well knowing, as he did, that " good shooting is a very necessary ingredient in the making of good dogs/' and aware of some material deficiencies on the part of his friend in this respect, he volunteered this attempt to give a greater accuracy to the hands in which its credit was so immediately at stake. Having thus taken up the fowling-piece, with a view of giving instructions for its use, the subject led him directly to a dis- cussion of its power and its construction : and here it was that he got diverted out of his original course. He had a peculiar fondness for whatever came within the compass of an ingenious use of figures, as PREFACE. XXxix well as for the superior contrivances of mechanism ; in which last he had acquired no inconsiderable skill : and conceiving that he had acquitted himself to the full extent of his friend's speculation for the establishment of a kennel, by the ample means here supplied of " creating one good dog/' he felt himself as it were on a kind of landing-place, where he might stop awhile to take his breath ; and was in no wise solicitous to put a finishing hand to his dog-discipline, so far as the public were further concerned in it; or to press himself forward on their notice, until his mind had run its course, in its own way, over some favourite topics; upon which the intimate knowledge he had acquired of the construction of the gun, and a miscellaneous collection of obser- vations and experiments concerning its effects, that from one time to another had been accumulating with him, had put it in his power to expatiate. Hence the " Instructions to the Shooter," together with the supplementary chapters growing x PREFACE. out of the subject, got an undue prece- dence in the order of completion. In fact, these chapters are so nearly finished, that they might with no great trouble have been put into a condition of appear- ing here, in their proper place, agreeably to the original design of the author, as an appendage to the " Instructions/' This unquestionably would have made the latter appear with additional advantage : but such an increase of bulk would have inflamed the price too much beyond the ordinary calculation for a volume upon our present scale. It has been deemed advisable, therefore, to confine the present publication to the leading matter of each subject, given in an united state; with a presumption, that by embracing thus the mutual improvement of the dog and of the shooter, it will more effectually than in any other, support a claim to general attention. Of course, the supplementary chapters, concerning the gun itself, must for the present be withheld ; but contain- ing as they do a variety of amusing and PREFACE. Xli instructive information to the sportsman, it is by no means the intention of the editor that they should be suffered to perish. In the little that remains to be done to prepare them for the press, he has not, as in the unfinished materials for the tuition of the dog, to encounter profes- sional idiom, or the technicalities of lan- guage belonging to the business of the field. He finds nothing in them much out of the way of ordinary composition ; and if the present publication should meet that favourable reception, of which he is led to entertain an earnest hope, it is his pur- pose, at an early period, to offer them to the further approbation of all those on whom it has pleased our author, with allowable whim, to confer the honourable distinctions of his new-created ORDER OF THE TRIGGER. In the mean time, the editor has the satisfaction to believe, that in their present form, these Instructions will be read with no inconsiderable interest, not only by the Xlii PREFACE. ardent youth, who is beginning to look with contempt upon his boyish employ- ment among the hedges, and to feel within himself the ambition of rising to the honour of a flying shot, and of taking rank as a sportsman in the open field, but by the numerous band of more advanced preten- sions, and familiar enough perhaps with arms, but who are still grievously labour- ing under some habitual awkwardness or defect in the management of their wea- pon ; the unperceived source of continual blunder and disappointment. By the whole of this irregular corps, the advan- tages derivable from a due submission to the rules here laid down, can not fail to be still more immediately and importantly felt, if they be not incurably lost in the hopeless heresy of continuing to flounder on in their own way, rather than by an assiduous appeal to principle, to work out a thorough reformation in themselves. In the further support of which prin- ciple, as requiring " an actual submission PREFACE. xliii of the person of the shooter to the disci- pline of the drill/' to offer any formal train of argument, or by any of the usual modes of reasoning, to repel the sneer with which petulant vulgarity, or unreflecting ignorance, may be prompted to entreat " the novel action of a man's working himself into a shot by rule/' and the "fire- side foolery," here inculcated, would, on the part of the editor, be an idle trespass on the reader's attention, and only detain him from the better employment of his time. Every such objector will receive his answer in the course of the following pages : and in taking leave, I have only to avail myself of the author's own language, in a passage selected from the unappro- priated matter within my reach ; and which, as an impressive appeal to the understand- ing of the reader, may be accepted as conclusive on this point. " In the supe- rior attainment of all art, a submission to method and to rule is of the very essence of instruction: and if that rule be not already supplied, we are under the neces- PREFACE. sity of making it for ourselves. Rules are only the analysis of perfect practice : and he who takes the trouble of analyzing, furnishes himself with the best means of adding facility to certainty/' THE EDITOR. ESSAY ON BREAKING THE ENGLISH SPANIEL, #c. IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND. SIR, As I have always looked upon a promise, even on a trivial subject, as a thing of some solemnity, I can not hold myself acquitted, without the attempt, at least, to fulfil an obli- gation, which the. approach of the season, and your wishes recently transmitted to me, remind me of. I have been urging my mind, therefore, to the recall of thoughts and of notions on the subject of a pursuit once so agreeable to me, and on which the exhibition of niy practice with you has made you conceive that it is in my power to convey useful instruction. Heaven knows ! it is in a state most unfitted for a task so immediately connected with the idea of cheerfulness and all thegayeties of health. But, whatever be the sighs which the comparison of a my present condition with such a train of ideas must necessarily excite, I will endeavour to trim up the point of a neglected pen, and to set it a running on the subject of Dog-breaking, as solicited ; because I do think that it will do you good as well as your four-footed friend. By your leave, Sir, permit me the introduction of this w^ord; for, if you are not prepared to admit, nor solicitous to create, something like this reciprocity of feeling between you, you will never be able so effectually to second my attempt, to put you in the way of establishing to yourself a little system of occasional amuse- ment together, in a situation where the nearly total negation of what the world calls society, makes it of more moment that you should not be undeserving of each others company, upon something like principle. In the introduction of my subject, connected with a word of such very formal import, I can not help expressing my apprehensions lest I should be made a debtor to your expectations beyond what I can be at all answerable for: I can not engage to make up what I have got to say into any thing like a regular treatise, nor to be mate- rially studious of its arrangement: you must take the materials as they come; put them in order, if in that respect they should chance to be defec- 3 tive, and make the best of them, remembering that they are sketches which I claim the pri- vilege of treating in my own familiar way; by no means to be handed elsewhere, or as giving any adequate idea of that scientific treatment (I am not ashamed of the word) of which I do think the subject capable. I can only, indeed, from the mass of my conceptions, select a few points, which, with a view to something like system, are of chief importance, and which are most applicable to what will be within the scope of your practice. You must be prepared also to follow most literally and implicitly my directions, without asking for reasons which I may hint at, but which I can not allow myself room enough to give at large. If your pupil should turn out to have any brains in his head, you will not fail to find out those reasons ; and, if I ever have the pleasure of seeing you again, we will discuss their propriety and their impor- tance, which you will by that time be able to conceive somewhat more strongly then, I appre- hend, you do at present. In the first place, then, send for the dog from *, the moment you receive this * The nearest little town, about ten miles off, where the dog was brought up. u 2 letter. " A week or ten days hence," you reply, " we shall have a cart going; and, as there are yet three weeks to come before " Sir, you will excuse me; but I can not admit an inclina- tion on your part to fly off, in limine, from the letter of my instructions. It is not directly with a view to the longer advantage that will be thus afforded you of taking him out, and of introducing him to a knowledge of his game before the season actually begins. "bu do not apprehend my motives: I must be allowed, however, to renew my peremptory order to have him sent for immediately; and, on his arrival, let him be shut up in some agreeable, but retired situation, well bedded with clean straw: clear his nose, if necessary ; this will be effected by two or three doses of one to two ounces of Jlor. sulph. Keep him thus chained up under your own immediate care : feed him yourself; yes, Sir, by no means let his food come from any person but yourself, and that at some regular hour. In a morning give him a short airing in the field behind you; let him gambol off at pleasure, but under the occasional check and acquired command of " COME IN here!" being the first word he has to learn in your voca- bulary: no permission to bound over the fence, nor to be off beyond the perfect control of your eye and voice: no rambling about to pick up idle acquaintance in the village ; but back immediately to the security and retirement of his chain and kennel. As it suits your conve- nience, look in upon him occasionally in the course of the day; talk to him a little cheer- fully ; caress him ; let him out for a few minutes ; play with him, and ag % ain chain him up. On no account let this, or any part of this, be done by your servants or your children ; and let him be secured, therefore, where they have not access to him*. " What, in the name of wonder, is all this preparation for?" you will say. I will tell you; it is to get acquainted with your dog; it is to break the habits of gossiping, too pro- bably acquired where he has been brought up; it is to endeavour to make the first necessary incision in his head, to insert the idea that, " Here is something more than ordinary going- forward, and this master of mine ;" you may show him the whip, in order that he may per- ceive and acknowledge you as such, by letting it fall lightly over him in the course of these visits to him, making him " DOWN" at the time. At the sound of this word, he must be formally taught a close and handsome crouch upon the * A fortnight at least of this particular attention on the part of the breaker himself, to get acquainted with bis pupil, and. to awaken his attention, will be required. 6 ground ; the fore-feet extended straight, and his nose exactly parallel between them. This lesson must be uniformly given when taken out on airing as above ; first with the chain in hand, and your foot pressing on his neck, if necessary, to keep him close; while the whip falls gently, but with such expression of its meaning as may be called for, over him: pro- ceed to practise this lesson with the chain dropped, and the foot withdrawn; and, lastly, when loosened from the chain, until he shows obedience. Much, very much, will be antici- pated by some proficiency in this apparently simple lesson; and, from all this form of feed- ing and visiting, he will begin to perceive, as above, that, "here is something going forward; and this master of mine is the only person from whom I can find out what it all means." I am no great advocate for what the game- keepers earn their two or three guineas a head by, upon dogs put out to them to, what they call, break in; that is, to make them stop to example, and then exhibit them to their gaping employer, with " A capital dog this will make you, Sir; I'll warrant him complete, staunch, firm as a tree; wants nothing but working; backs up to my old boy there ; see, how he stands!" Why, ay! so does a cipher on the wrong side of an unit, signifying nothing; for the poor animal has not a single idea put into his head about the great business of finding game, and is totally lost without his fugelman : like the witless eleves of other hireling acade- mies, he returns home from this mockery of education with every thing to learn. You, however, are not in a situation of thus squan- dering money, or of wasting time; and so much the better for your dog; for whom I have in contemplation a better tutor and a wiser master. Besides, in the commencement of a system, when I am engaged in laying be- fore you the ground-work of education, I feel myself bound to keep general principles in view; and, considering the matter as a general ques- tion, I must repeat that I am no advocate for the common practice of a prefatory breaking-in, without the object of killing the game being made a part of the lesson: it is to trifle away time; or, perhaps worse, to trifle away atten- tion by the unexplained foolery of pursuit without object ; and to throw a damp over the rising ardour of that pursuit, by the perpetual disappointment of instinctive wishes. This is an observation which must be understood sub modo; and I have it not in my plan to enlarge upon the modifications which, in various cases, or even in yours perhaps, this treatment must 8 admit of. Suffice it to say, excepting that a young dog should be taken out to know, and to enjoy, under command, the scent of his game; and so be led yes, Sir, led* back again, in order the better to fix attention : I would have mine, prepared as above, brought directly to his work, and to the actual business of having game killed before him. It is here implied that he has been made familiar with the gun, in the course of your visits to him, and to stand fire by degrees, and to enjoy it as a signal for food, or as the prelude to the little privilege of being occasionally at liberty under your eye, during his novitiate, as above directed. I shall be under the necessity, I believe, of transporting myself, in idea I mean, nearly four hundred miles: ah! Sir, would that it were as easily practicable in reality ! in order, in some measure, to accompany you during the earlier part at least of these instructions. You have only to borrow a little of the second sight upon this occasion ; a commodity which, amidst the recesses of your mountains, is yet, I fancy, * I may, probably, seek occasion to discuss this point of discipline hereafter ; but I can not pause here to give my reasons at large why, after having his faculties first awakened to the perception of his game, I am prescribing this con- strained mode of conducting your pupil home again. 9 though with more difficulty than formerly, to be procured; and to let me attend, like a familiar, at your elbow, as you now proceed in your attempt to exemplify them. I shall be relieved thus from the dull task of tracing, in a didactic form on paper, little minute regulations, and shall thus be enabled to render myself more briefly, as well as forcibly intelligible. So, Sir, we are about to take the field in earnest: you are equipped ; and we are setting off. Stop, a moment; "COME IN HERE, Cato! will you? See the wanton devil has got a hundred yards ahead, "COME IN, I say." Remember this; it is one of the first secrets in the science of dog- breaking, and it has an influence far above your power at present to conceive, never to suffer him, when going upon actual service, nor indeed upon common occasions of mere travel on a road, to have his nose ahead of you. It is no more than decent to see an older dog at heel, and in order ; but with an untutored younker it is absolutely indispensable, as the means to acquire command. I repeat it, therefore, never suffer your dog to put his nose ahead of you. Keep him, literally so, close to your knee ; check him with the voice, with the crack of the whip, and thence to a good round trimming, if a most perfect and direct obedience to " Come in here," is not otherwise to be obtained. For 10 this reason, your first lessons must be on foot ; and do not mount a horse, until you are decidedly master here. I must insist upon your attention to this ; for I want to arrest and to ingross that of your dog, undisturbed and undiverted by gossiping or trifling, or by any other object than that which is about to be presented to him ; and I have to employ his disposition to be off upon his range, to better purpose than that of the undirected scamper of a puppy, who has just found the use of his legs, and is willing to try how fast they will carry him. It is owing to a lazy inatten- tion on this head, for it requires some trouble at first, that many a dog gives you ten times more plague in perfecting than he other- wise would do: Remember, therefore, the whip in hand ; the dog close to your knee ; we are going upon duty ; no wantoning, no trifling ! And so proceed, until you come upon your ground, to throw him off in form. For this purpose, choose the finest piece of unbroken ground of fair extent, and where you are likely to find. Here you have an instant advantage which scarcely any man can equally possess; and it were unpardonable, therefore, to lose it, by failing in the very commencement to teach him, what, if neglected, he will not 11 so readily learn hereafter, that first of all lessons, yet so seldom witnessed in tolerable perfection, a regular quartering to find. Of course, you will give him the advantage of the wind, and of the morning air, while the feeding haunt is fresh. Caress him, and talk to him, with " GOOD DOG ! &c." before you throw him off; and then "HEY, AWAY!" giving, with an eager extension of your arm, the direction of his range, walking after him a little, and obliging him, as well as you can, to take this range across the wind. His legs will lead him off, and instinct will soon make him find that he has a nose that was meant for something. He begins to hunt; I hope he throws it, in an attitude of inquiry, into the wind : for, though his range be across, his nose, as his own sagacity will by-and-by teach him, should ever have a bearing to windward. If he puzzles on the ground, you must get up towards him, and encourage him to get on*; with " HEY ON ! * Young dogs, who have not yet acquired a carriage of themselves, are very apt to get their noses upon the ground, and to waste their time upon inquiries they have no business with, some of them of a very improper nature. It behoves a tutor, therefore, to endeavour to keep up the nose to pointer-pitch ; for which purpose, where this grovelling pro- pensity is too prevalent, it is not unusual to see recourse had to the " marvellous device" of the puzzle-peg : but, I must confess, I never saw any good done by it ; on the contrary, 12 HOLD UP, good dog !" again presently recall- ing him, showing him on his road the other way, and giving him by these seemings of example, his first rudiments in the crosses of quartering. It is hard work at first ; so is the business of all sound instruction ; drudgery ! sad drudgery! But at present you are fully able, or to a pupil of powers you would be incompetent to the office of a tutor ; and if you would lay a good foundation, you must not make account of the toil ; you will be amply repaid hereafter. It is not of importance how the perpetual fretful interruptions to beat, which it occasions, operates against the very principle of a radical cure. Where the circumstance arises, as is frequently the case, from a dulness of nose, which is obliged to seek for information downwards; or perhaps from some bastardizing touch of derivation from a dog of an inferior trade, the proper employment of whose nose is on the ground; these are defects which will never be cured by splicing a bit of stick to the under-jaw, and you may as well let the half-bred creature grub on untormented in his own way. The only real remedy, with an animal that is worth cultivating into form, is to get the dog on, and to keep him up in rate ; to give him a confidence in himself; and, as he rises in acquaintance with his game, he will elevate his nose, as well as his notions, to superior objects, and get above being stopped by every babbling inquiry. There is yet a stronger reason for getting the better of this propensity : if permitted to work like a hound upon the foil, he will infallibly acquire a habit of puzzling up too near the game, without being early enough alarmed into that instructive stop, by which he is to be wrought up into the dignity of a pointer. 13 short his ranges from you are at first ; but this system of crossing the general line of your progress into the wind must be adhered to. He will soon, if you manage him with judg- ment, take his ranges each way; and leave you, without so much fatigue, nearly in the centre. We will suppose that he is gone off hand some hundred yards to the right ; this is full far enough, or perhaps too far to trust him at first : Check him with the whistle, and " Cato ! BACK HERE, BACK!" stopping yourself at the time. We w r ill suppose that he obeys your call, by his head thrown round at the summons ; by a stop of attention in sympathy with yours ; and, with some hesitation at being thus inter- rupted in his gallop, by making an, as yet, imper- fect hunt of his way back directly towards you. Receive him with all possible encouragement, and show him his road to a similar range on your left, by setting off towards it yourself as he approaches, by the eager index of your hand, and by the cheering notes of " HEY ON, good dog ! HEY ON." If, in the increase of his distance from you, he looks back under the apprehension of control, let it be, " HEY ON ! HOLD UP !" to the limits of your intended range. If he do not obey your summons of recall, 14 you must patiently find the means of making him do it, by stopping immediately yourself. Go not after him, nor move, subsequent to the challenge, as above; calling to him again and again, and demanding his obedience. He may shuffle a little at first, under the sense of being thus interrupted ; he may, likely enough, make a pretence of hunting, as an excuse ; but you must keep a discriminating eye upon him ; and if it be only a pretence, permit it not, but continue to insist on his return ; and if he have been taught no vices, I will warrant he will give up the point. If he exhibit symptoms of being refractory, let the note of " BACK" be exchanged for that of "COME IN HERE*," and make him " DOWN ;" showing him the whip, i.e. let it fall lightly over him, but no flogging: -then, again " HEY, AWAY ;" but to the side opposite to that from which he has been called in, giving him the direction of your hand, &c. as before. It is scarcely necessary to observe why I say, " no flogging," here : I wish to establish a prompt and willing obedience to the summons of recall ; an undreading and gallant return to the employment of his powers else- where, and to better purpose than that of * I beg to refer to the Vocabulary for the different import of these two words of command, whose use and meaning I wish to have preserved unconfounded and distinct. 15 having them trifled away under his own non- guidance; and where, from the distance, he may begin to conceive too, that he is out of the reach of control, and that he can dispose of them full as well himself. Sir, we must extinguish, even before they exist, the jarring elements of self-will ; we shall have a world of trouble else: I will have the direction of his every motion ; and I begin here. You must labour, therefore, with diligence this lesson of " Back," until he yield implicit obedience in it. It is by no means a difficult one; if he has not already been rendered lewd, by mismanagement, or by some unlicensed ramble, during his puppyhood. If the seeds of vice have thus unhappily been sown, I am sorry for it ; for there is only one way to eradicate them, and that is against the cheerful, undreading return, which we so much wish to obtain. But there is no alternative, the whip must be instantly called in to your assistance; we can not think of advancing on beat; we shall do nothing; we shall never be understood in the higher parts of our geometry, in the fine delineation of our curves and angles, unless we have acquired a thorough command here. I shall now presume that he begins to com- prehend this lesson ; that he takes his cue from 16 / you, and ranges off pretty well in line; and that, under the immediate submission to the call of " BACK," you have now acquired a tolerable direction of his course to the alternate sides of your intended line of beat, upon which we are now preparing to advance. When he has got a good round rate off each way/ take occasion, as soon as he has fairly passed you, being cheered as usual, to advance with quick steps, unperceived by him, directly into the wind : if he perceive, and turn towards you, bend your course instantly towards him, and urge him, as before, with " HEY ON ! HOLD UP !" &c. to the completion of his proper range ; and so contrive, without interruption to him, to get on about fifteen or twenty yards in advance ; by which time he will be arrived at his limits. Stop ; give him the whistle, with " Cato ! BACK HERE, BACK !" waving with the hand next him, to indicate his line of advance. Let your eye be on him, but your face into the wind; in order that, looking to this as the index of his motions, he may learn to make this advance, and to cross you in front. Cheer him as he passes ; show him on his way ; and urge him, as before directed, to the other side of his beat. As he gets off towards his permitted extent, again make your advance of twenty yards into the wind, and again bring him across you. The IT rarest accomplishment of a dog, and not less valuable than rare, is fine quartering ; and I am, therefore, thus minute on the mechanical method of creating it, because there is no one thing which makes such a distinction in the scale of merit between one dog and another, as the sagacious expenditure of his powers in hunting- to find, or an unmeaning, undirected ramble over a country for the chance of stand- ing at game, when he happens to stumble on it. To produce perfection is difficult, and must be the work of time ; so much the more reason for sticking patiently to the principle. You will observe, the great object is to procure a regular advance into the wind, at each end of his line of range, abreast of your line of march in the centre, and rather ahead of you, and then to cross direct to the call or whistle. When in perfection, the whistle only should on all occa- sions be the signal of check; but, at first, the voice also, with the more varying expression of its tones, within the compass of range above alluded to, must be called in to explain and to enforce its meaning. In the conduct of this lesson, there is a point of very considerable difficulty, which puzzles a young tutor much ; and in the unskilful manage- ment of which, the talents of many a promising c 18 pupil are utterly lost. I must, therefore, enlarge upon it a little ; and for this reason, as well as for the sake of correcting some other errors, and of more amply elucidating and inculcating the whole lesson, I shall make out a bit of a diagram, like the tracing of a seaman's courses on his chart, in order the better to explain myself. N. Let the above represent a Beat to windward, with a Breeze from the North. 19 From our first station at (A), his range is towards (B); you check him at its extent; but you have not advanced, or he does not perceive, or not understand your advancing, and he turns to the right about and half hunting, and half shrinking, perhaps under the apprehension of being chid, he returns within his beat; now this is all direct loss, and crosses behind you; that is, it would be behind you, if you did not face about * directly towards him ; * For this valuable idea, as the clue by which we are to get hold of the dog, I feel myself bound to record my obli- gations to the author of a little volume published about forty years ago, entitled, "A Treatise on Field Diversions;" by a Gentleman of Suffolk, a stanch Sportsman. It comprises within a small compass a considerable variety of matter; which, deriving force from an agreeable originality of man- ner, can not fail to interest every man who has any fellow- feeling on the subject. It was from a perusal of this that I first caught some general hints for a rational conduct of the dog ; upon the reduction of which to practice, the system of education which I am now offering was originally founded. I had, at one time, thoughts of republishing it with the addi- tion of notes; but, as its leading article on the mode of training (the setter) is confined entirely to the purposes of the net, an amusement in vogue during the earlier part of the author's life, but now sunk into total disuse, it would not perhaps be relished at this time of day ; nor is it otherwise consistent with the plan, or even the principle of discipline unfolded in the Kunopaedia. If I should be induced to complete a chapter which I con- template on Breed, I shall not fail, by a liberal use of some original and important hints, to bring the reader more fully 20 which, the moment you perceive him beginning to swerve, you must do ; in order to teach him, for you have no other method, that he is ex- pected to cross under your eye; and in order that, looking hereafter to your eye for his direc- tion, he may learn to take the true turn, as he should have done, into the wind, and ahead of you. As he crosses you thus in error, more particularly if his temper be tender (which I hope yours is not; for we shall have a deal more of difficulty in carrying our point), encou- rage him with " Good lad! HEY ON! HOLD UP," &c. ; and, as he rates off boldly towards (c), make your advance briskly to your next station (D) : Give him the whistle ; and, as intelligibly as you can, the wave of your left hand into the wind, with " HOLD up THERE, good dog !" making a show of advance yourself, in order to get him forward : but, as yet he is raw, and understands not the meaning of his turn ; it depends on chance, therefore ; and he acquainted with this " Suffolk Sportsman." It is under such title that he conceals his real name ; doubtless, from a proper sense of delicacy on the subject of a serious profession to which he belonged : time, however, must ere this have with- drawn him beyond the reach of squeamish censure; and the busy historiographer of forgotten books may, without offence, be gratified by the permission of interlining a title- page with the name of the Rev. Simons, of Kelsal, near Saxmundham, Suffolk. 21 takes it the wrong way : here, however, he begin* to find his mistake, for it keeps him still further behind you ; and so, with some little deviations occasioned by it, he makes his way to the note of " BACK*," emphatically continued as the mark of these deviations, directly towards you at (D) : contrive, if you can, to let him cross before you; if not, you must face about, and, at any rate, urge him boldly towards (E) : get on to (F) : give him the summons and the wave of your right hand ; he remembers his mistake, turns short, and beats directly towards you : so far it is well ; but get him, if possible, to pass you in front; or work with him until you accomplish it; and turn his angular approach (from E to F) into his proper and direct course (from F to G), by showing him on his way, &c. as before : from your next station (at H) let him have the summons and the signal of the hand; here he mends in his turn; which, with his head thrown round towards you, he evidently takes from your direction with a sweep: bravo ! greet him on his approach ; notice him * I request that your attention may not be misled by the relative meaning which this word conveys to you with regard to your advance on beat. I must endeavour to simplify to him the idea to be excited by it, as being that of general recall^ from an erroneous waste of hunt, to a beat under your immediate direction. See Vocabulary. 22 strongly as he passes, which you will now take care shall be ahead ; and perhaps stop him for a moment to caress him, if you have reason to conceive that it will be understood as an acknowledgment of his improvement, and then " HEY, AWAY !" &c. towards (i). Let him be near his limits here before you move ; and then, about half-way towards your next station, give him the summons and the signal of advance as you still continue to get on to (K) ; he under- stands you, and increases the curve (as at i) of his return towards you, which you thus secure to have ahead. Inspirit him as he passes ; keep up his rate ; but correct his line, by giving him his proper rectangular direction (from K to L). Again sweep him round, give him the signal of advance as you move onwards towards (N), with " HOLD UP THERE, good dog ! HOLD UP 1" until, by these regular advances of yours, with which he begins to act in concert, and his increasing inclination to extend his beat, his turns become longer and longer ; and, at last, feeling the permitted extent of his range as an imaginary chain, and yet willing to keep at its utmost extent, this centrifugal tendency of his, connected with your habitual recall of him, becomes converted into the true and perfect advance (as at L, M) at the end of each turn, with a regular cross about ten or fifteen yards 23 ahead of you, as you move forward on the line of inarch. If he turns out a high ranger, you will have enough to do to keep a straight line in the midst of his beats : but be sure you do not get ahead of his range, for fear of inducing the defect which, through the course of some past pages, I have been endeavouring to guard against*. It is, I own, a work of labour to complete this perfection of quartering; but if it be your luck to have an animal of capabilities to deal with, it is well worth all the toil : it will spare you the dull waste hereafter of many a * I must not have it objected to me that, in my advance before from A to D, &c. I have incurred this risk : I con- sider him there as in leading-strings; and I have no other method of teaching his proper turn to windward, and of getting him on the way I want him. The manner in which these leading-strings are to be dropped, is indicated in his progress at H, I, K : and, to the regular sportsman, it is scarcely necessary to say, that when in perfection, I expect my pupil, during my advance from one imaginary station to another, as from H to K, to make the whole evolution K, L, M, N ; that is to say, having passed me to the left at K, as I continue to march forward from H, and taking his own turn of further inquiry into the wind at L, he makes an advance to M, in obvious unison with mine towards N ; where, finally, taking his distance under the guidance of his own sagacity (but, at first, with instant attention to the check of the whistle, and in most intelligent obedience to the signal of my hand waving him to the right), he makes his cross direct ; so that by the time I am got on to K, he may- be passing me, or nearly so, at N. 24 weary mile. By the indolence which admits inattention to it, many a fine young dog acquires the afterwards incorrigible habit of running half his ground to utter loss. Let me observe, as I pass along, that the breaking in stubble, more especially in a strong country, is extremely liable to produce a deficiency in this respect : the wind is across the course of ridges ; the dog takes his range up a furrow ; to a lazy or a heedless tutor, a good deep furrow is mightily convenient to keep the line of range withal ; is checked at his permitted limit, or on his approach to a hedge; and returns, where he finds it the easiest travelling, regularly down the same furrow, or within a remove or two of it; and you are puzzled to know how to get on, or to teach him the measure of his distances in his advance to windward. But, I forget myself; of this, in your situation, where the genius of desolation, his brows involved in clouds, stalks uncontrolled, and where nature hath set all culture at defiance, you do not run the risk; but for some part of this reason let your lessons be given on the most unbroken ground ; and where the great outlines of beauty, which we are now making the first traces of, may not be deformed and distorted by the channels and the windings of your peat-mosses. 25 Before I quit entirely this part of my subject, and get oat of reach of my diagram, 'I wish to notice another error on this head of quartering: it occurs to me, from the recollection of one dog who, from an original defect in his instruc- tion here, would uniformly take a tolerable beat on one side towards (o); and as regularly make the most ridiculous twist back again on the other (as at Q): now, it is pretty obvious how this error has been created ; his teacher has been one of those who want to get on too fast, and are more solicitous about getting over the ground than of hunting it : the pupil had never been duly drilled with " To the right or left face!" but, taking his cue from the strides of his companion, he had learned to range off ahead too much in the diagonal (from N to o). Here he turns to the whistle given him by the tutor already in advance near (N); and, not being much out of distance, off he goes at his habitual angle towards (p) ; and, stretching away to the left side of the beat, arrives at (Q) by the time the other is got up to (N) : here he takes his proper turn into the wind ; but, on receiving a summons, he perceives his increas- ing error in distance, and does his best to repair it immediately, by sweeping in towards his director; on whose advance towards (P) he curves off on beat to the right ; where, in con- 26 sequence of this last sweep of return, he is again more within compass : but, by repeating from here his angular advance to his counter- range on the left, he is again thrown out, and has to repair it as before. You can not but perceive how much every tendency to this be- comes a direct loss of so much useless range, in addition to the slovenly manner in which the extremities of the beat are left very imperfectly examined. For these reasons I have somewhat minutely dwelt, but I think not unnecessarily so, upon this important and indispensable preliminary of regularly quartering. In order to facilitate its attainment, I have pointed out some errors; and have endeavoured to trace those errors to their source, as the surest means of preventing what, if once established, does not admit of correction. The impression of early habits is every thing in education ; and it is in youth only that you can lay the ground-work of perfection. Nature and experience will instruct him in the performance of some of his other duties ; but the habitual establishment of regulated range, the due performance of his evolutions, the quar- tering of his ground to all advantage, is the work of art, and must come from yourself alone. To you, therefore, I now leave it, in proportion 27 to your sense of its value, and after all due meditation on the incontrovertible truth of what may be received as an axiom, viz. that " the dog- who hunts his ground the truest, will always find the most game," to lay this ground- work, and to labour with unabating perseverance towards its completion : and, for pity's sake, do not you, who in the scope of country around you have so instantly at hand the superior means of creating excellence and beauty; I say, Sir, do not you, upon a principle of indo- lence, or seduced by the hope of a surer mid- day find, and by the paltry consideration of a few brace of birds more during his first season, begin by degrading your pupil into a low and despicable bog-trotter; and so cut off all the promising blossoms of high range for ever. If your ideas do not rise above this, I am indeed wasting paper most sadly: but, I will hope better of you ; and will, therefore, go on. Look ! to the right ! see ! he finds ; I hope, for his sake, he does not blunder up the first bird without finding, i. e. feeling it in his nose : he stops ; presses onward : notice him, the instant you perceive him find, with a smart " Cato ! Cato ! have a care !" and, in a marked and lengthened tone, "TAKE HEED!" which is henceforth -to be to him a word of so much 28 solemnity and observance; but do not rush towards him : he stops again ; and again presses more eagerly ; the energies of nature are unfold- ing : avoid all appearance of hurry, but endea- vour to get near him by degrees, in order the better to observe and awe him ; and, on his every attempt to rush, call to him, still more harshly, " Have a care, Cato ! TAKE HEED ! TAKE HEED !" As you challenge him thus, stop instantly; and, in order that he may witness these stops, let your approach towards him not be directly behind; but, if convenient, with a sweep somewhat ahead, or at least on one side of him ; yet with caution, lest you tread up the game before him ; which, to give full effect to this lesson, should rise from his own intem- perance : he continues to press ; is checked ; grows hotter; hurries on, and springs; is stag- gered for a moment, and then chases as hard as he can. Stand still; and warn him, as he sets off, as loud and as sternly as you can, with " WARE CHASE ! Cato ! WARE CHASE !" Whistle him in when he has had his run out, and do not stir till he comes. If by previous mismanage- ment he has been made shy of return, it is an awkward circumstance, and will cost you some trouble : but there is no help for it ; that return must be waited for ; you can do nothing by any other means. Sit down; you will find this pro- 29 duce great effect; he will approach you more nearly ; and, when at length within your reach, get hold of him, but without violence ; and, in proportion as he may thus have been injured by ignorance, you must by conciliation and by a serious lecture of " WARE CHASE ! how dare you ?" &c. reclaim him to a thorough sense of error, regain his confidence, and prepare him for a submission to some degree of discipline. Where no such injury has been done to him, the regular treatment will be as follows : lay hold of him, as he arrives, with gentleness ; make him DOWN at your feet; and then* lead him with reproaches, " How dare you ?" &c. to the very spot where the bird rose. Here let him be sensible of the haunt, make him crouch and down, close down ; pin him with your foot upon the chain, or on his neck: then, "TAKE HEED! WARE CHASE! WARE CHASE! will you?" This word of it-are chase must be thundered in his ears ; and it must be adequately explained by the use of the whip ; coolly and slowly, " WARE CHASE ! how dare you ?" each admoni- * A collar and a light chain is an indispensable requisite in the business of breaking, in order to prevent an escape during discipline; which, as productive of incalculable mis- chief, must at all events be guarded against. The chain may be coiled around his neck, and fastened tight while on range. 80 tion being regularly followed by a few cuts of the whip. This first flogging on duty to be considerably within the compass of his en- durance ; but he must be most deliberately and awfully threatened, and kept down, for some time after the w r hip has ceased, close. Let him not spring to rise, even when your foot is withdrawn ; but, again " DOWN," and a slight cut; until he lies, being lightly held by your foot, and at length when not held at all, under the gentle fall of the whip over him ; always finishing this lesson with " TAKE HEED ! and WARE CHASE then, Cato! WARE CHASE !" Caress him to rise : if his temper is good, he will show symptoms of forgiving you the beating, by some action of his stern, or by licking his lips as he lies, or by a submissive crouch towards you; and, until he clearly show these symptoms, suffer him not to rise at all. When risen, let him not spring and gallop off; but keep him in awhile, encouraging every approach of his towards a reconciliation ; caress him ; but still to the solemn sound of " WARE CHASE then !" which he is hereafter to understand as an awful warning against the most unpardonable of crimes. As I go along, let me introduce this as a maxim : never part ivith your dog after a beating, to whatever extent, until you are con- vinced thai you are perfect friends again. If 31 you are not friends again, your beating has done mischief. Again throw him off; away he goes, more gallantly; he will do, I warrant him; but, at a short distance, check him with " Cato ! BACK here!" he obeys; I am sure he will do. Well! w r e beat on in form. The next spring is a blun- der ; for it is clear he never found the bird : for the purpose of this discrimination, you must keep a critical eye upon his motions ; he is staggered, alarmed, stops upon the challenge of " TAKE HEED there, and WARE CHASE ;" and, perhaps, comes running in behind you ; we have gained a point, and shall do by-and-by: cherish him, but keep him in ; and take him up to the place : make him sensible of the haunt, and down; letting the whip again fall gently over him, but no flogging : then " HEY AWAY, good dog !" It is probable we are not far from another find: see! there he has it;' stop ! " Cato! have a care there ! TAKE HEED !" He is off the haunt ; he hunts again ; again he has them in another direction ; presses on ; " Cato ! will you?" again in another; "TAKE HEED!" he is deaf, starts, and is convulsed for a moment; again presses more eagerly; runs riot on the haunt ; is confounded, and hears nothing, until the whole brood rattles up about his ears, and away he scampers in full chase of a squeaker, that can scarcely rise above the reach of his 82 hopes to catch it. This is all nature ; it is not vice: it is by neglect alone at this moment, from indolence, or the wish of following up the game, that it will be converted into vice. Sir, the dog was overcome, staggered out of all self- command, by the overpowering enjoyment of the scent: but, see! he comes back, looking like a fool, as he has found himself; he stands aloof, partly under the consciousness of this, and partly under the dread of correction. This is a delicate point: stand stock still; call him, " Cato ! COME IN ! COME IN here !" On no account run after him to catch him ; you will ruin him for ever : you teach him to find out that he has got four legs, and you have only two ; a discovery which it is of some conse- quence to you that he should never make : if he shuffles, again call ; but in a tone not calcu- lated to repel him : still keep your place ; stop for an hour rather than spoil him: if he will not come in without it, have recourse, as before advised, to the last expedient of " sit down :" in which position, if you are not previously con- vinced of the necessity for some other means of control than what you are likely to gain by a race after him, I leave you at your leisure, with due respect had to this duplicate ratio of legs, to solve, by any scheme of figures you are most familiar with, the difficult problem of 33 increasing velocities and distance ; by the time you have completed which, it is probable that he may be disposed to listen to your persuasions of " Come in here !" and yield himself to your hand. Have a care here that you do not abuse his confidence; cherish him a little, but " DOWN! DOWN !" Then lead him, awe-struck, but not terrified out of his senses, to the very spot where he first broke ground from your " TAKE HEED,'' and give him a very solemn, but not a severe correction, in form as above directed, duly inter- larded with "TAKE HEED then! have a care!" TAKE HEED !" When the discipline is over, keep him in a little; and then put him on the reeking haunt; and again " TAKE HEED! good boy !" &c. I think I may now, Sir, venture to commit him to your care; leaving it to your own judg- ment to apportion the amount of future disci- pline, as it may become due for unperceived blunder, the burst of unguarded eagerness, or the wilful desperate wickedness of a head- long spring or chase : remembering that no slip on the first head must ever pass unchallenged and unawed; nor the shortest indulgence of the last without the most determined punish- ment. Under the possibility of necessities created by this last circumstance, let me note D 34 that your whip be no foolish buttonhole bauble: let it be heavy enough to give an intelligible and adequate translation of the sternest language of command, or you are only making work for yourself. I do not forget that you have a gun in your hand ; but I have hitherto suspended its use, in order that it might not interrupt our first attention to the establishment of range: and in order to preserve more distinct what, in my want of acquaintance with the age, disposition, and state of experience of your intended pupil, I have just given as a sketch of treatment during my preliminary introduction to game; the adoption of which, or otherwise, must, with a view to the above circumstances, be left with the discretion of the tutor: again, requesting to premise that, with the exception of having his faculties thoroughly awakened, and being- made eagerly alive to the sense of his proper game; with an improvement of his instinctive stop into an instant check of self-command at the challenge of " Take heed !" I would, for a variety of reasons, some of which have been before hinted at, defer all attempt at working up this stop into a confirmed point, until the object of that point can be presented to him in the game killed before him. For this purpose 35 we shall now proceed, and in all due form introduce him to a knowledge of his business, with the direct use of the gun. Prepare your- self to do it with effect ! I will suppose that by these preparatory lessons, either with or without the gun, you have obtained a stop upon game; a pause, at least, of reflection, although not stanch. I have already said, Never rush on towards your dog the moment you perceive him find. Sir, the great secret of making a dog stand, is to stop yourself. If you have no other method of stopping, than by the chance of a race with him, you had better lay hold of his tail at first going out, and never quit it; for fear that he should get, as he has at present, the start of you by fifty yards at least. Let your attention be alive to his every show of haunt; if he grows hot, and gets on too fast, warn him with " Have a care, Cato !" and, on the first draw towards a find, arrest him with " TAKE HEED !" Keep him there as well as you can, by the warning of your voice, which by this time he ought to respect; by the signal of the hand, or whip, raised in threat ; and by the certainty of a trimming, if he springs. Advance deliberately : if he per- ceives it and presses, check him and stop ; and D2 36 thus, by a due modification of the language of restraint, and these necessary pauses, endeavour to get within certain shot of the game before him ; and contrive that the first bird killed to him, be from one of these points or unconfirmed approaches, when he actually perceives the game before him. On no account take a chance shot at first, if it should offer as you go along, or as you are bearing down, at any distance from him. But, for example : as he rates back towards us on his last range, see ! he is struck ; a stab ; and nearly within shot: stir not; and handle arms ! " TAKE HEED !" he stiffens at the sound for a moment, but is in doubt; throws round his head into the wind ; it wanders ; his stern relaxes, shivers, and he is off; but with a brief start of manner, and a stare of expectation, which evince his conviction of game : " HAVE A CARE, Cato !" He feels the warning, and shrinks into a closer inquiry on the ground, but with his nose borne eagerly to windward for intelli- gence, yet can not make them out : " BACK here then, Cato!" He quits with reluctance his notions of the find ahead ; but, at the second summons of " BACK here !" he bears down direct; and, in sweeping inwards, is again struck; bravo! "TAKE HEED there! TAKE HEED!" It is fortunate we have them within 37 him, and shall command the shot : patience, now ! his head keeps still straining to his left, his stern bristles, his eyes start, and his lips quiver in convulsion; "TAKE HEED, good dog!" he has them close ; ha ! from your left there steals up the old cock : hold ! it is not his bird ; reserve your fire : confound him not ; but head him to your right : he moves, turns, stops, draws : they are on the run, and up rises the whole brood : the centre bird ; mark ! it mounts well to level ; cool and steady ! now ; let it take its distance ; and 'tis well ! your shot was, as it ought to be, decisive, and the bird is down. Now, Sir, I have you to break, as well as your companion there. Stand stock still ; look to your dog : it is probable that, from the alarm of the gun, he will stop a little ; challenge him instantly with the important note of " DOWN CHARGE !" loud and fierce : I hope that a dash at the bird, in his present state of ignorance, is a vice that he has yet to learn : if not, down with your gun, for you may injure it in the exertion, and I want both your hands at liberty: run to him ; disengage the bird, but do not tear it from him ; let him yield it to your threat, or to its instant explanation by a tremendous cut from the implement of authority, and leave 38 i it on the ground*. Unwind the chain around his neck, and drag him by it. Sir, I mast insist on your literal compliance with my instructions here, and that you shrink not from the labour (for it is a labour) of thus dragging him back. He is a criminal now; and may readily become one of the most desperate order: this unbridled violence will lead to deeds of blood ; and then - ah, Sir! they must be extinguished even before they exist, if you mean to spare your- self the slavery, and save him from the horrors of many a future laceration. Lug him then at the chain's end, and rate him all the way with " Ah ! you brute ! how dare you ? how dare you?" in the severest and harshest tone of reproach, in order fully to awaken the sense of crime : stagger him also with a few throttling jerks upon his collar; and thus conduct him, with every mark of your extreme displeasure, directly back to the identical spot where he was when the challenge of down charge was given to him, in order to make him understand this lesson. Sir, it is that of the highest importance in the whole of my system of education; the great hinge upon which all its future retinements * We shall return to it presently, at seek dead, after having given the necessary correction, in order to complete the present lesson. 89 rest : Sir, the great secret of creating a perfect down charge, that triumph of superior breaking, and firm bond of all dutiful obedience, is this circumstance of leading back to the very spot, and administering the discipline there; the object being to inculcate this idea : " I should not have stirred from this spot ;" or, " from the instant of fire, I am expected to keep my ground." If your flogging is to gratify your anger, and not to inculcate this idea, you had much better let it alone. I have here taken the extreme case of a head- long dash at the falling bird ; let me now make a transition to one of a milder nature. He perceives it fall ; I hope it does not flutter, for it will interrupt and puzzle us in the lesson : it flutters ; he offers to rush, and you make a dash towards the bird: Od's triggers and pans*! why will you set me a swearing? Did I not tell you I had you to break ? I insist upon it, stand stock still : give him an instant volley of " TAKE HEED !" and " DOWN CHARGE !" And, unless there be a risk of his tasting blood, by his having actual hold of the bird, as in the * I beg to make my acknowledgments to the celebrated author of The Rivals, for the appropriate use of an expres- sion, which spares me the risk, under such flagrant provoca- tion, of a less harmless explosion. 40 former case, do not rush forward : Sir, he will be apt to mistake your run for encouragement, and it will inflame his dash : thunder out the " DOWN CHARGE !" and try what that, and the crack of the whip will do, perhaps it will stop his pointing towards the bird; still keep him stopped ; patience ! and load at leisure. Now, Sir, here is a nice point ; you must not call him in, for fear of laying the foundation of blinking; and he must not stir one inch until you get up to him : and yet, gasping as he stands, within a few yards of the bird, felt full in his nose, and perhaps quivering before his eye; under the conflict of passions, of surprise, of instinctive impulse, and the dread of correction ; his nerves wound up to agony ; your first step, the very motion of your hand in loading, will give him a tendency to start: you must watch him nar- rowly, therefore ; and, by the slowly-continued note of " TAKE HEED !" sharpened into instant harshness, and aided also by the keen crack of the whip upon the least motion to stir, keep him in check until you manage this point, and are reloaded. If he dashes and seizes, at him directly ; drag him back as before ; and, on the spot where he broke ground from the fire, give him, in form and order as already prescribed, to the solemn notes of " DOWN CHARGE ! how dare you? DOWN CHARGE, then!" a thorough 41 dressing. If he stops in perfect check until you get close to him, we will for this time, but for this time only, forgive him his breaking ground from our " down charge." I am willing, Sir, to encourage his here manifest obedience to your take heed, because it is a great point gained under such trying circumstances : but I can by no means allow this to grow into a precedent, or permit the breach hereafter of what is to be to us the all-in-all of his ultimate perfection. I have, I perceive, been led away by this flut- tering, as well as by the headlong dash just before, which I have however thus met in the first instance, because I am apprehensive it may be what, from some previous injustice done to your pupil, you may have first to contend withal. But I will now return to what, in a state of mere unvitiated ignorance, would more probably be the treatment called for. I will suppose the bird falls unperceived; or not as an acknowledged object of pursuit, but of astonishment, from novelty only: you stand stock still ; he does not obey your " Down charge!" At first he certainly can not; but, after being alarmed, probably into a brief stop by the energy of your voice and manner, yields to the mingled emotions of youthful curiosity and instinctive impulse, and makes towards the 42 fallen bird; or, in obedience to that impulse, runs riot and devours the burning haunt; or, from the mere excitement of spirits by the spring of the game and the report of your gun, perhaps giddily rattles about without much meaning. By no means suffer one single article of all this; but attend to him; repeat the "DOWN CHARGE!" until you fix his attention; and then exchange it for " COME IN HERE !" In the inflamed state of his sensations, it is pro- bable he may not attend to you ; but go on for awhile his own way : if in doing this he should happen to spring some remaining bird, chal- lenge him fiercely with " TAKE HEED ! how dare you? TAKE HEED then !" and with " WARE CHASE !" if a start of such tendency should ren- der it necessary ; and then, finally, with " COME IN HERE !" to which the most implicit obedience must be insisted on, and with patience, at any rate, be accomplished*. As soon as you have him in, let him be led in the most formal man- ner, at the chain's end, under the continued admonition of " DOWN CHARGE then ! how dare you? DOWN CHARGE!" but without that harassing and terrifying violence of manner which has been prescribed as necessary to restrain the tendencies to blood, until you bring . . .'.: * For the method of effecting this, recur to page 29. 43 him to the place of execution. We can not help it, Sir! we have no other method of explaining to him the full meaning of this word, which is hereafter to petrify him. Besides, he is guilty, manifestly guilty, of a neglect, if not of con- tempt of authority ; he has turned a deaf ear to your warning, and resisted your summons of recall. On the spot, therefore, where he broke ground from your challenge upon fire, make him " DOWN !" with his head turned towards the spring of the birds; pin him, as before directed, and give him, to the tune of " DOWN CHARGE !" most solemnly and deliberately urged over him, such an explanation, engraven in stroke (as an artist would express it) upon his back and sides as, with a view to the urgency of the case, evinced by the amount of his dis- obedience, may most effectually open his per- ceptions to the inflexible truth of this corollary, that, if he means to sleep in a sound skin, he must know his post, and keep at it in future. I know, Sir, that, to a novice in the business of the field, or to a man who never witnessed a review of regular troops, the beauty of a perfect down charge appears wonderful. I do recollect the time when I was more struck with it than the animal before me : but, believe me, by an undeviating recurrence to this discipline on the |P 44 spot, by never once suffering your dog to find an excuse to trifle from it, and by standing stock still yourself, for there is a great deal in this, and if you move the dog will assuredly take his cue from you, it is much more easily effected than you would suppose. You will remember then, that the object to be attained is, a dead stop at the instant of fire, upon the spot where the dog chances to be at the time, whether that fire be to a prepared point, or not: you are fixed ; so is he; his eye directed towards you, and waiting your commands ; at first it will take its more natural direction towards the fallen bird ; but, at any rate, there he is to remain fixed, under a continued memento of " DOWN CHARGE !" in a lengthened tone of voice, as a check upon emotions excited by your action of loading: *when reloaded, pause a little, in order to teach him patience : then " COME IN HERE, Cato !" which he should obey, in a direct line to you, still unmoved from your place; when he will receive from you the commission, and be conducted to the next lesson of Seek dead. To this previous return towards you he will at first more readily yield submission than, it is probable, he may be inclined to do in a more advanced state of knowledge; when, * See its more explicit description in the Vocabulary. 45 having waited your commands until he hears the notice for seek dead, or until you begin to move towards the bird, he will make his way more direct to it: but by no means suffer this, until you have him in such a thorough state of discipline as to be trusted near the bird alone. I would here observe, that it is a very general practice, even with what are esteemed high- broken dogs, if surprized when at a distance by some casual shot, and it is their conduct also when hunted in company, for the dogs most remote from the point to come galloping in upon fire, with a sweep behind you : nor is this always the result of their natural inclina- tion to come in for their share of a snap at the game that may be down ; but you will hear them actually summoned to it by the whistle of their mis-leader : and many a bird of a well- broken covey is thus rattled up without your having a chance at it. The distinguished pre- ference due to the other method needs not be pointed out. But it is not so much the loss of this chance that I am disposed to take excep- tion at: it produces mischief; your attention is engaged in marking some of the other birds; or in reloading, or perhaps in gossiping; and those broken birds, as your dog scampers down the wind, rise before him unchallenged; which, 46 lays the foundation of heedlessly blundering up upon beat ; a thing never to be suffered without the sharpest notice, nor indeed with impunity. But I perceive that I am wandering; and it is proper that I should return to the more regular detail of instruction. I left you in the act of giving the correction necessary to pro- duce a perfection which effectually precludes these errors. I beg to refer you to the manner of that correction ; which, with a view to the effect intended, you will by this time begin to perceive is somewhat material. You have just finished the q.s. of absolute flogging; the dog close down ; your foot upon his neck, or on the chain ; Wid the whip falling lightly down upon him to the now softened tone of " DOWN CHARGE !" Withdraw your foot ; if he springs, again " DOWN !" and a cut : repeat this until he lies from the sense of awe, and close ; the whip continuing to fall unimpressively over him, and you at his head : draw back a little from him ; if he follows upon crouch, it is well, as a token of conciliation ; but he must finally be close : if he offers to rise, again advance to him, and " Down !" move a little on one side, and then upon the other; your ey^in the most deter- mined manner fixed on his: do this until he will let you walk round him to the note of 47 " DOWN !" and still under the gentle fall of the whip : circle him a few times : " Now, what the djevil is all this tedious formality for ?" you cry ; " why, we have a bird down, and we shall lose it." ***'* * you and the bird too, Sir! do not interrupt me ! otherwise I shall give you the whip as well as him. I say, Sir, it is to enforce command, and to create obedience : if you do not produce this effect, you are fatiguing yourself, and torturing your dog to no purpose, or worse than none. It is only by thus solemnly lecturing, that you can explain the full meaning of all this flogging f. You may flog until your * I place these stars to occupy a blank, which I request the reader to fill up with any word he likes best, most strongly to express my just provocation at being interrupted in so interesting a moment. If he should happen to fill it with one which may shock the delicacy of his own ears, I beg to say, that I do not hold myself amenable. Be that, however, as it may, I do hope, before we part, he will be induced to think that, even on this head, I have made him ample amends. t There is an anecdote afloat in the navy, of an officer, most deservedly of the highest rank in it, not long ago deceased, which applies so well to this point of discipline, that I beg permission for its introduction. He was a most judicious disciplinarian, but somewhat too fond of his own oratory ; which, upon every occasion of punishment on board his ship, he never lost the opportunity of displaying in the form of a preliminary lecture, generally bordering on the tedious. It happened, one day, that a black sailor was brought to the cangway, and stripped ready for the boatswain. The captain 48 heart, as well as your arm, aches with its seve- rity ; but, if you do not awaken his reflections as well as his feelings, and teach him thus, through the sense of awe, to seek a reconcilia- tion with you ; if you suffer him to escape from you, or to rise and set off when he likes, the moment it is over; be assured you have only been doing mischief: he will soon improve upon the suggestions of self-will, and bid you defiance in the open field; and then all is over. I say, Sir, circle him a few times thus down; there is magic in it ; we must subdue him thus ; draw a little off, in the course of these circles ; the whip still ready to rise, and the note of " Down charge!" continued: stop, two or three yards from him, full in front ; his eye still rivetted by as usual attended, and had just begun one of these homilies, when the poor fellow, with a singular shrug of the shoulders, as if he already felt the cat upon them, and with a rueful look of drollery in his countenance, thus bespoke his commander : " If you floggum, floggum ! If you preachum, preachum ! But don't floggum and preachum too, massa !" This address had the instant effect of stopping the sermon, amidst the unsuppressed smiles of the surrounding officers : whether he was equally fortunate in getting rid of the other part of the punishment, the record does not say. Now, of the effect of the latter, upon the animal whose irregularities it was here intended to correct, I own, I have my doubts : but, with regard to the other, whose tuition I am directing, I wish to say, that you must "floggum and preachum too," if you mean to do any good ; and that the latter is, perhaps, the least, dispensable part of the ceremony. 49 yours ; and now deliberately reload. If the motions in loading excite him to spring up and be off, again " DOWN" with him ; the object being to compel, and to familiarize him, to bear this action, in patient expectation, at any dis- tance : you are loaded ; pause a moment ; caress and encourage him; but still to the tune of " DOWN CHARGE !" and then " Come in!" - yes, close in, as you now proceed direct to your bird. Give him the wind at some distance to leeward; and then, in a marked tone of voice, " SEEK DEAD ! SEEK DEAD, good dog!" Let him find the scent ; your whip ready, and you within reach of him: if he finds, keep him steady with "TAKE HEED, good dog!" There lies the bird; he sees it; if he offer to dash, meet the attempt with a severe cut, and make him attend in patience to the conclusion of the ceremony, with the solemn dirge of " WARE DEAD I will you ? DEAD P Take it up gently ; caress him, and present it to him : if he attempt to snap, awe him with the whip, and lay it down before him ; but do not toss it to him, lest he should mistake the matter for insult, and be discouraged from acknowledging a dead bird : and from the persevering study of this impor- tant lesson of seek dead, in which we are about to give him some further instruction, let him amuse, himself by turning over the bird with E 50 his nose, to the tune of " DEAD ! WARE DEAD !" but no mouthing. For the sake of encourage- ment only, just at first, I am permitting this amusement; but remember it is no part of my system to suffer a clog ever to touch a bird: no ! the generous triumph of a conscious find dead is all. None of your poaching fetch-and- carry kind of business, which you will hear so much extolled by some people, for a pupil of mine: it leads to a million of mischiefs. Besides, I wish to take my game home handsome; in condition such as may render it acceptable to a friend: I would not affront him with the apparent refuse of my kitchen, as though just rescued from the tousellings of some turnspit of a terrier, attending in his extra capacity of quill-plucker to the scullion. When your dog is sufficiently gratified, take the bird up gently, and pocket it in his view. Sit down ; caress, and talk to him a little, with "Good dog!" inter- larded with a mild " TAKE HEED, good boy !" &c. Be not too lazy, or too proud, to sit and talk with him a little thus ; for, exclusive of its contributing to mark to him this moment as the end of his pursuit, this familiarity wonderfully conciliates the affections of a young dog : and the affections must be conciliated, if you expect a submission to your commands, and an endu- rance of discipline from your hand. N. B. A 51 morsel of biscuit, or of something made pur- posely more agreeable, in the form of coarse gingerbread, from your pocket, on this occa- sion, or on that of a thoroughly obedient, or tolerably obedient, " Down charge," may not be amiss : it furnishes you with an additional means of expressing to him your approbation ; of which he ought to be rendered fully as sen- sible as of your whip. I have seen the best effects produced by a little treat of this nature. Jn the above, I have been stating a case of an immediate find after the shot : I will now vary it, with a view of proceeding to a more com- plicated lesson. You bring your dog from the necessary discipline of down charge, and put him to seek dead. He acknowledges the haunt, but he is off again : ha ! here are the feathers from the fall, but the devil of any bird is here : " O !" you begin to cry, " confound this tedious system of discipline and down charge ; I have lost my bird." Be it so : you will get twenty more, in consequence of it, before the season is at an end. But, stop ! you have not lost your bird ; he again touches : " SEEK DEAD, good dog!" again he has it. Now, Sir, here pre- sents itself a glorious opportunity of giving him the first rudiments of another great and valuable lesson, that of footing out his game. I k ; no F,2 I have heard it, most coxcomicalfy, called poaching, by some ignorant advocates of the flourishing train of your stabbing, backing, brainless, mechanical boobies ; from whom (for how is it possible ?) you are not to expect any ori- ginality of charm : they have only been cut out to a pattern ; who, in the course of their unmean- ing caperings are ever more on the look-out for a point than for the game; and before whom, if a bird crawls away to die, a few yards out of the direction of its fall, and you leave it but a few minutes to cool, it is all over ; you must never expect to see it more. Still less must you expect this, if it should fall to a casual shot : they come sweeping in perhaps ; but being permitted to dawdle about, or worse, while you are charging, all their solicitude is over : in vain you would put them upon a busy close inquiry after the dead bird; they do not understand a word of what you mean ; it is a language they have never been taught: but, with your first step of advance from reloading, away they go off at score: perhaps, too, by a thundering exertion of lungs, to the infinite composure of some companions of the deceased, probably not far distant, are brought back to stare; and again, with your first motion, to rattle off upon fresh beat, and leave you, storming with vexation, to nose it out as well as you can 58 yourself. I call this therefore a valuable lesson ; because it not only insures to you the means of never losing a bird, but because it inoculates your pupil with the most valuable of all quali- fications, with SAGACITY ; with the faculty of perceiving the progress of a haunt, which these showy fools will never know a syllable of till doomsday; with every thing which is hereafter to be admired in the exertion of intellect; with every thing which is to be obtained by the advantages of design over the contingencies of accident. But to your dog. Keep close to him, on his left ; your right hand being at liberty to caress or check him: encourage him with "HOLD UP, good dog!" or, as he presses, "HAVE A CARE*!" Give him time enough, and let him make every thing out himself: if he loses the haunt, take him entirely round the spot, but near you ; let the prepared hold of your gun, and the eager- ness of your eye, express the business of inquiry ; it is a language he will very soon understand : do not you give it up, nor stop, as tired ; for he : will catch the infection, and have done: keep moving: if you do stop, still talk to him with " Good dog, SEEK DEAD! SEEK DEAD!" You * See Vocabulary, at Have a care. . , 54 must tiot think the time lost : no ! that is not right : I should have said, well employed in this great lesson. If it were two hours, you do your dog injustice, if you do not give it to him. You will be surprised, experto crede! how much a determined perseverance on your part, for two fcr three first lessons on this head, will insure to you the most resolute continuance on his part in this important business of working out a retrieve for ever after. Again take him round to the last place of challenge ; he touches again, but cannot make it out: look sharp, for you have it close to you somewhere; ay, have a care, or you will tread on it ! see ! there it lies, crouched on its side beneath that withering tuft of heath, and with its eye twinkling, in act to spring. Now, I have you to break a little : fie! how carelessly you trail your gun! did I nol tell you handle arms? Let not your dog b fooled by the possible chance of a flutter out orf Teach, before you get a decided level : call tc him, "Cato! SEEK DEAD! COME IN!" -draw ol a little; and give him the wind, if possible that he may find, and foe firmly stanch. Coolly now, and deliberately ! you have many things to recollect, to do him all justice : if the watf of air will not any how furnish you with a deac find, keep him close with " TAKE HEED !" in ar eager but solemn tone: he will readily catcl 55 your perceptible increase of attention: get directly ahead of the bird; your gun in the left hand, ready (observe, I do not admit it to be cocked), and your whip in the other, or in a situation where you may immediately command it. Pause ; and, awing him into firmness with " TAKE HEED !" extend your right hand, stoop- ing, until you grasp the bird ; but no dash ; no, not of the last few inches from it : and if such attempt should be made by him (for by this time he can not but perceive the object), thump let the but-end of your gun come down upon his nose ; have a care that it be not some inches higher; or rather let a tremendous cut of the whip, accompanied with the fiercest chal- lenge of " WARE DEAD !" restrain his violence. It is not probable, however, that your bird, evidently, from its lively appearance as it lies, only winged or staggered, will bear all this close approach : it springs under your hand, and flut- ters off. Untutored flesh and blood can not support this. Endeavour to arrest him with your loudest thunder of " WARE CHASE ! WARE DEAD!" and coolly wait, your gun now cocked and ready, in hope of the extension of this flutter, or perhaps flight, to an easy distance, for a shot which you can not miss : but it is weak, and flutters down ; gets on foot a little 56 way ; again makes an effort to rise, but can not keep on wing : this is a hard trial of our pupil : he is after it; stop him, if it be possible, with the united volley of " WARE CHASE! WARE DEAD !" and the keen crack of admonition from your whip. I can not permit you to run after him, while there remains one possibility of his recovering his recollection, or of his stopping to your threats ; because it is a pledge of your future command over him : but if nothing will do, and he should actually seize, to him instantly ! but recollect your gun was cocked as the bird sprang ; secure, or leave it ; other- wise a stumble may cost you or your dog a limb*. And now drag him back, with every mark of your displeasure, in the precise form already prescribed at page 38, to the place of this second find, where the bird rose beneath your hand : here pin him down, with his nose on the very spot, and give him such a dressing, as may be a lasting memorial of what you here- after expect from him : then, without suffering * Let not this caution be deemed obtrusive or superfluous. A part of my purpose has all along been to break in the breaker; I have, therefore, occasionally interspersed some checks of this nature, from a thorough conviction of the necessity of such hints, and of the importance of establish- ing habits which supersede the dangers arising from heedless dashing. 57 him to rise of himself, lead him by the chain again to the bird; which, agreeably to former directions, you are supposed to have disen- gaged from him, and left upon the ground, in a situation, certainly, after having been under his gripe, utterly incapable of rising more. If the bird be not now entirely dead, kill it, and lay it down before him; bring him "DOWN" to it; challenge him to his face with the crime of disobedience to your warning of " WARE CHASE! WARE BIRD! how dare you?" and in order that his ears may be more open to it hereafter, let the pauses of your lecture be duly filled with an explanatory cut: keep him close; take up the bird, toss it to his nose, and dare him to touch it, with " WARE DEAD then ! will you ? DEAD!" compel him to bear this when your foot is withdrawn from the chain: this death- song being studiously given in the harshest tone of reproach; thereby inculcating a sense of shame, to which, if he be of breed, you will find him exceedingly sensible ; and by which, upon this point of duty, he is hereafter to be held, as much as by immediate awe. If in the tumult of his spirits during the pursuit, and his eagerness to catch, he has turned savage and .has broken the game, if he has actually torn, : perhaps disembowelled it, I am most sorry for 58 it; because I have to call upon you, in justice to him, to raise your arm in vengeance, to shut up every avenue of mercy in your bosom, and let your whip, to the fierce challenge of " WARE BIRD ! WARE DEAD !" as it lies despoiled before him, tear him to pieces. We can not help it, Sir : he has tasted blood ; and the thirst for blood must be extinguished on the instant, or he is undone for ever : there is no alternative, but a halter; unless it be your purpose to become the associate and accomplice of a foul- mouthed, furious, bloody-minded ruffian, and prowl about a country, to feed the hawks with his offal, or hang them up in rags for scare- crows. Well! but he did not sieze: he paused, he stopped to the united efforts of your voice and whip, and there he stands : now, here is a case of some delicacy: if he has actually found after the flutter, and if he be fairly on point with the game in his nose, you must not lead him back from it on any account, lest you lay the foundation of blinking, one of the worst of all defects : but if he be only on stop to your call, provided you can contrive to come up with him before he has actually found, you must, notwith- standing this tendency to obedience, lead him 59 back to a lecture and correction, on the very spot where the bird fluttered from your hand ; very formal, but moderated with judgment, in order to impress a due submission to " WARE CHASE!" and then again follow up the bird as before. But you had your second shot at the bird: down or not down, stand still, and volley out instantly the challenge of " DOWN CHARGE!" If you have blundered and missed, and the bird be totally gone, exchange it for " WARE CHASE !" to check what he has by this time most likely been roused to ; and, waiting until you get him in as well as you can, give him a, thorough dressing* and lecture, to the down ch&rgt, as before directed. If you have killed, and he has dashed to thas second fall of the bird, at him instantly! lie * 'I must here admonish you that, on this as well as every similar occasion, you do not go violently to work with the whip, to flog away upon the carcass of your companion the vexations arising from your own errors in shooting. Let even4ianded justice mete out unto him only the measure of punishment due to his delinquency, A dog will have qujte enough to answer for on the score of his own heedlessness and intemperance, without being called on to exprate the blunders of his tutor. 60 has broken from you in open violation of every form of authority so studiously presented to him ; he is now a daring sinner : tug him there- fore back to the spot whence the bird rose, in form, as just alluded to, and let the amount of his punishment be proportioned to his violence committed on the game. We keep the bird alive, in idea, a little longer, for the sake of again bringing him up after it. Let him find; it is not yet dead; but assuredly crippled beyond the risk of another spring : your whip therefore in hand, keep him steady with "TAKE HEED!" Deliberately, as before ordered, stoop to grasp the bird : if he should dare to dash, meet him with the keenest cut of vengeance, and the fierce challenge of "DEAD! WARE DEAD !" The bird, I perceive, is still lively in your hand ; a slight blow or two of the back of its head upon the but of your gun is the shortest and easiest method of despatching it ; do this, and then lay it on the ground ^ it flutters for awhile violently, and perhaps bolts a little: it is a severe trial of him this, but he must be brought to endure it: be ready, there- fore, with the sceptre of authority, to check the slightest attempt to dash, and let the stern and awful notes of "DEAD! WARE DEAD! WARE 61 BIRD!" conclude the solemnity*. Accuse me hot of cruelty for thus, with seeming coolness, contemplating these last convulsive quiverings of expiring life! My mind is otherwise occu- pied, fixed on the important object of teach- ing the virtue of forbearance. Ah, Sir ! in this curiously complicated scene of things around us, the present is by no means a solitary instance in which the outlines of moral beauty become blended with those of great deformities. Under impressions arising from which reflec- tion, as furnishing in the interval a not unuseful occupation to the mind, we will, if you please, now sit down, and ruminate and rest. You are by this time, I guess, somewhat prepared for such repose, and so in sooth am I ; for I have felt myself, as it were, called upon to make some effort to lead our pupil ha! he is gone! ~ " CATO ! COME IN here !" Do not suffer him to trifle off, while we are seated, but "COME IN! - DOWN here ! DOWN !" I say, Sir, I have endea- voured to take him with some regularity, although with numberless omissions upon minor points, over the general heads of this practical * I refer to his conclusive treatment in taking up the game, &c. P. 49, 50. 02 system of ethics; in which you will perceive, as with the philosophers of old, that *TO BEAR AND TO FORBEAR make up the sum of every virtue. Thus far have I deemed it expedient, with an ideal presence, to attend you, step by step, in order to trace with more effect, the precise out- lines of that system by which the conduct of your pupil, from his first approach up to the final possession of his game, is hereafter to be regu- lated. I have exhibited to you the principle of obedience sufficiently exemplified, and have endeavoured to give you a clear idea of the method of enforcing it under each of the general heads of duty. In doing this, I have put into your hands a clue by which you will henceforth be able to manage him yourself; arid I shall now claim the privilege of withdrawing a personal attendance, which I conceive to be no longer necessary to either, whilst, in the more con- venient form of an epistolary address, I shall hereafter, in a desultory way perhaps, but not without a purpose of more extensive utility to Ave^ov Kai avf^ov. EPICT. 63 you, proceed with a discussion of some of the minor parts of practice, which, in the above comprehensive view of general duty, I have purposely avoided being led off by, as well as of other collateral points which are closely con- nected with the subject. Such form of address will be more imme- diately convenient, if the idea of throwing these notions into a shape fitted for the public eye, which you have so much urged upon me, and which you are pleased to attach so much impor- tance to, as " the means of presenting the sports- man with somewhat like a rational direction of his conduct, of which he is at present so lament- ably in want," should ever be realized. With such more general object, therefore, indefinitely in view, yet retaining, as being more agreeable to me, the form of that familiar address which I have assumed to you, I shall, as occa- sion may furnish leisure or inclination, proceed to the further elucidation of my subject, with an addition of materials, which it is probable will never assume all the advantages of form that might have been given to them ; but which, in whatever may concern a well-grounded edu- cation upon each " particular of duty," it shall G4 be my endeavour to leave as little imperfect as may be. Upon this principle, and with a direct view to the furtherance of our purpose, and the readier advancement of knowledge, I have now to notice one very general, but very important, error in the business of breaking, which impedes instruction sadly : the tutor is never sufficiently careful of his own language; that is, to express uniformly by the same word the precise idea which it is his intention to convey: he is betrayed into this by laziness or by passion, and he puz- zles, instead of instructing his pupil. It would be a waste of argument to insist on the neces- sity of precision upon this point; and I shall make no apology, therefore, for submitting to his acceptance the subsequent arrangement, in the form of a Vocabulary. To the sportsman whose tongue is already familiar with a different phraseology, I am not offering this, in order to give him the trouble of subverting his habits. Different dialects will obtain in different counties*, and a man very * For instance : whether the fixed arrest on point is con- veyed by take heed! to ho! yoho! &c. is a matter of indif- ference: but I must decisively object to the unnecessary 65 readily falls in with that which is of most general intelligence in the country where he resides, or in the societies which he may occasionally mingle with. The mere phrase, the form of the rule, is of no consequence, provided the rule itself, in the uniformity of its terms, be clearly denned by the one, so as to be perfectly comprehended by the other. One "part of speech" only do I presume to enter my most decided protest against. I can not admit the tutor to take his language, any more than his precepts, from the general rude associates of the kennel. I am endeavouring to breed up the animal before him as the companion of a gentleman; and I must not have his ears assailed, and his attention confounded, by a tor- rent of language which is utterly incompatible with that character. I have, therefore, to remind the tutor that he do not permit his tongue to run riot through all the eloquence, however power- ful, of Ernulphus*. All that he can possibly confusion arising from the use of both. I have preferred the former, as furnishing, in a variation of the sound of the two words, the more or less of meaning, which the perfect command necessary on this head may call for. * The unlearned reader, if he think it worth while, which I can assure him it is not, may consult the record of this language, as handed down to us by the very learned historian of the Shaiidv familv. 00 have to say to his dog may be conveyed in less exceptionable terms ; and there is no occasion for blasphemy to render himself intelligible. A powerful explosion of voice, a sternness of tone, and a fierceness of mariner, are necessary to give due effect to a lecture, or to warn the offender, on the instant, of the precise point of duty which is infringed upon, and for which he is to meet the certainty of punishment: but, in the burst of these explosions, "in the very whirlwind of his passion," I have to entreat that he will " keep the door of his lips ;" otherwise, under the strong excitement of that perpetual control which is necessary to be held over the sallies of the pupil, he will become " clothed in curses." THE VOCABULARY. COME IN; COME IN HERE, or, The Whistle; is to keep him in at setting off, or to bring him in from any distance upon beat imme- diately, for some purpose to be indicated to him when come in, so as to put him upon beat elsewhere, &c. The abstract meaning, at all times to be conveyed, being the check of self-will. BACK; BACK HERE; must never be con- founded with the above : its meaning is, that he is to hunt back to try his ground over again : adhere to it, and he will soon begin to understand it in this sense, much to the advantage of his own intellect : the whistle, with the wave of the hand, is, in quartering, synonymous. See Note, p. 21. HEY AWAY ; HEY ON, good dog! is a general encouragement to general beat. F 2 OB WARE HARE ; WARE MUTTON ; are checks of decisive recall from most unlawful pursuits : for the former of which, if admitted, the tutor ought to be flogged; and, for the latter, the pupil hanged. Observe, the ware is to have the full broad sound of the south : it fills the mouth nobly. WARE LARK ; a summons to break off the pupil from trifling upon a worthless haunt; which, during the obvious rising of the bird before him, he is to be challenged with, in order to rouse him to a higher sense of discernment and more dignified pursuits*. If this trifling should amount to drawing into point, let him be shamed out of the practice by a harsh tone of reproach, by a smack of the whip, and by a show on the part of the tutor of an advance on beat, with Hold up ! &c. m * On the moors, where the small heath-bird or ling-bird disturbs the attention of a young dog, the phrase of ware bird is in pretty general use for this purpose. It obtains too, I believe, in some other countries : but, as I have a superior use for that phrase presently, I beg to supersede its meaner application altogether, and to offer the ware LARK ! for it, upon all occasions. In the south this will, nine times in ten, denote the very object of interruption ; and it will be better elsewhere to admit the misnomer, than to puzzle the pupil with distinctions in natural history. 69 GONE ! GONE ; a summons to be delivered in a quick and cheerful tone of voice, accom- panied with a wave of the hand, in show of advance on beat by the tutor, to call off the pupil from lingering away his time upon the workings of an old- foil, when, from having observed the birds steal off or other- wise, it is clearly manifest that the game is gone. In the advanced stages of educa- tion, when the dog has acquired some dis- crimination, and has got some notion of the progress of a haunt, this may be applied with no small advantage to the cultivation of intellect; but with a younger subject, whose business it is never to rattle away from the smallest chance of find, it is not quite sound practice, and is advisable only on the very spot where the bird has just been killed to him. i HOLD UP, good dog! HOLD UP; an encou- ragement when he appears to find, or when he touches upon game, to get onward ; or, to break him off from a waste of time upon a false haunt. )HAVE A CARE ; a caution when you perceive him getting on too fast upon a find, or when he presses rashly the advance on point. 70 During this advance, as you bring him up under close command, a slight smack or click of the tongue, such as is used to urge the speed of a horse, immediately suc- ceeded by a low double whistle, or shaken note from the lips, whose modulations may keep his attention engaged and regulate his motions, will sufficiently express the alternate notices of advance and check; and on your near approach to game, inas- much as they create less disturbance, should be substituted in the place of the two last phrases. TAKE HEED*; a caution or challenge of still stronger import, at sound of which he ought to be instantly on full stop, stanch. This authoritative challenge must be given whenever you perceive him, by his action, so close as to be in the instant risk of a spring; likewise upon every occasion of blundering up a bird, whether from heed- lessness or accident; and the use of the whip, when called for in either of these cases, must be invariably interlarded with it, as being a word with which the idea of this said whip is ever after to be inse- *- See Note, p. 64. 71 parably and formidably connected. Let me observe here that, for this as well as other notices of restraint, the keen crack of the whip is to be accepted as an expressive synonym. It conveys more intelligibly to the pupil's ear, than can be done by the feeble paraphrase of the most powerful voice, what he has to expect for disobe- dience. For which reason, if there were no other, the thong should not be too light, and the lash kept in smacking order. WARE CHASE ; the challenge for the crime com- mitted ; to be vollied out upon the instant with all the powers of voice which the tutor is master of; and to the tune of which, re-thundered in his ears, he must have this vice, and every tendency towards it (there is no other method), most effectually flogged out of him. DOWN CHARGE; the word of command in- stantly after fire; to which I do expect from the pupil, in manner already defined, (p. 37) his perfect and dutiful obedience : whether the fire be to a point or not, I do insist upon it: if he be ranging off at a distance, and you have a casual shot, still 72 I do require it of him*. In every view of utility, as well as of beauty, it forms the tutor's triumph. Be it yours, therefore, invariably to arrest him with it, even at the utmost limit of his range, fixed and immove- able, his eye eagerly bent on you, watching, with impatience watching, the motions of your reloading, but still waiting the signal of the hand or voice, to be given before you stir from the spot (if you move, the charm is over), as the warrant for his coming in direct for your further orders. 1- \ !rO! ' W SEEK DEAD ; a notice for eager close inquiry after what he may have seen fall, or for what he is to take your word for having seen. This notice to be issued as you bring him up and put him on the haunt, and repeatedly sounded as you again and again recall him over the ground, with Back here, back ! SEEK DEAD good dog! and as you continue to move along with him and keep him up to the unwearied search ; in order to fix his attention to what he is never to * As the very cardinal point of duty, its merits, as well as the mode of creating perfection in it, have been amply and studiously indicated (p. 37 to 49); to the re-perusal of which I request explicitly to refer the reader. 73 give up, and to engage the most determined perseverance on his part to make it out. One bird thus found, after half an hour of such undefeated inquiry, is inestimable, in the certainty with which you thus, for ever after, establish the retrieve. WARE BIRD ; a check from a dash upon sight, or upon flutter, of a bird which he thus conceives within the reach of an instant gripe*. DEAD ; WARE DEAD ; a check against a similar dash or snap, or against mouthing or foiling the game, as found by himself, or as laid down before him, in defiance of his attempt to touch it. This note of dead! will be converted, as he advances in tuition, into a signal of conscious mutual triumph ; whilst, with a deliberate pause on the part * If a dash upon the ground, or snap at a bird struggling to rise, were never excited, excepting in consequence of fire, this phrase, in the sense here applied, might be spared, and the use of the next phrase, of ware dead, might be extended as a general check upon this lawless attempt to seize : but I have seen manifest advantages, in the pause of awakened discernment, from thus keeping perfectly distinct the idea of restraint from the dash at a bird exposed to his eye, or in the act of fluttering to rise, and that conscious forbearance over the dead same which is the subject of the next and last com- luandrnent. 74 of the tutor, inductive of forbearance upon that of the pupil, you gently take up the bird, smooth down its feathers to his nose, but Ware snap! caress him with "DEAD! good dog ! DEAD !" and pocket it at leisure in his view. DOWN ; In point of order, perhaps, this ought to have taken precedence of the whole, as forming so material a part of the prepara- tory treatment of the pupil, even before you take him into the field ; yet, as being of much general use, may not improperly come in at the conclusion. It is the word of imperious command, under which he is to crouch close, and that if possible with- out being held down, whilst he is receiving discipline, or under lecture. It is of most immediate use under the head of Down charge; and of general application, as an instant call of check upon any sudden violence. In the above catalogue of terms, I have pur- posely avoided the introduction of any which are not already warranted by what I conceive to be the best and most generally established authorities ; and you will not therefore, I believe, meet with any thing in it with which you are 75 not, as a sportsman, in some measure acquainted : it is in the precision of their application alone that you will find any thing of novelty ; and in this respect I must rely upon a previous docility on your part, most attentively, to break in your- self. Its further amplification, as may be called for by circumstances, must be produced by the varying tones and sudden breaks of the voice; an extension of language which will be wonder- fully well understood by the dog. For which purpose a variety of little trains of subsidiary words, or colloquial expletives, may be occa- sionally called in: such as Good dog; good boy, &c. ; or, to be set in the opposite key, Will you then? How dare you? Ah, you brute! &c. : but as they do not refer to specific duties, and may be considered only as the vehicles of these tones or breaks by which the various degrees of approbation or of reproof are to be conveyed, I have not admitted them in form, from a disinclination thus indefinitely to encum- ber my vocabulary. Of the whole of this class of words, however, 1 would recommend to the tutor to be as sparing as possible; and that they be not permitted to obtrude themselves so conspicuously upon the ear, as to rob the direct word of command of the strong and marking emphasis which is due 76 to it, or to create a confusion on the subject of the precept intended to be inculcated ; avoid- ing, as much as may be, all circumlocutory dis- coursings and admonitions, and seeking rather to confine himself within the habitual limits of the above nomenclature; which, with a view to the clear separation of duties and explicit com- munication by the voice, I have, not without some consideration, thrown together as of gene- ral use, and which I now offer for your adoption. In affixing precision to the terms of this vocabulary, I have, in fact, combined the rules also of conduct ; exhibiting thereby a summary of duties, which will have the recommendation of brevity, at least : on which account it is per- haps the only part of these sheets that you will peruse a second time; yet, without the illus- trations they contain, in the clear exemplifica- tion of precepts, you would not, I am convinced, sufficiently have understood my meaning. To the detail of those illustrations therefore I have now to request a retrospect; by the lights reflected from which, you will be enabled the better to make an estimate of my system ; of the relation of its parts and of its principles : awaiting the due appreciation of which, by your reducing it to practice, I have only to add a few general maxims, or rules of conduct, by way of 77 touching some points , which have not been within the scope of these elucidations, or of more completely enforcing some leading prin- ciple. Like other institutes of more serious import, I shall throw them into the form of negations ; to the peremptory tone of which, if you should be disposed to start objections, yon will be pleased to recollect, that the subject is of a nature upon which a man may readily enough claim the privilege of being a little dogmatical. MAXIMS*. NEVER let your dog have a will of his own : froni the first moment of his entering upon what, in the phrase of your universities, may fairly enough be termed his course of humanities, he is to take the direction of his every action from you. * TA AOFMATA. ETYM. Aaroc a &ucj/, mordeo; Anglic^, dogge; teste illustrissimo Casaubone; et /zarrw pro /uao-ffw, ferio; q. d. dog-flogging : imperiosa quippe voce enuutiauda, manuque magistri inscribenda, Axiomata. 78 NEVER go out without a whip, if you dislike the trouble of flogging. The conviction of its presence will supersede much of the necessity of its use ; and if you leave it at home to-day, you will find a threefold call for its employment to-morrow. Moreover, " it must needs be that offences come ;" and this is the mildest mode of punishing the offender. A hedge-stake is but an awkward kind of thing wherewithal to preserve the due relation between correc- tion and crime : and, in a country where "the rarity of so valuable a piece of timber" puts it out of your immediate reach, you may incur the risk, from some unguarded spring to restrain a furious dash on the part of your pupil, of fracturing his ribs by a kick, or of bending a gun-barrel over his brain-case. NEVER pass a blunder unnoticed, nor a fault unpunished. NEVER administer the punishment without an endeavour on your part to make him com- prehend the nature of his offence : e. g. of Take heed! for a spring, whether acci- dental, heedless, or vicious; of Ware chase! where such daring unpardonable crime has 79 been committed ; or of Down charge ! where his refusal to understand this great point of duty may render correction expe- dient, &c. NEVER carry this punishment beyond the law of all endurance, so as to scare him out of his senses : let it be ample, but regulated with judgment, according to temper. If upon any occasion you have carried it a stroke or two too far, take still more espe- cial care to keep him down under lecture so much the longer, until he has time to recollect himself, and to find out that his only means to be at liberty again is to be friends with you. NEVER avenge upon your dog your own errors in shooting. Neither let the giddy triumph of some fortunate shot atone for the heed- less rattle by which he may have driven the bird within your reach, nor for any lawless violence by which he may further assist you in laying hold of it. Give up the shot to a certainty, with a young dog, rather than give any encouragement to this heedless rattle; and although it were to secure a cock-pheasant, disabled for flight by a tip upon the wing, and on the full run 80 for the chance of escape into cover, com- mand yourself, and lend not your coun- tenance, and still less your example, to the unbridled licentiousness with which he may rush forward to render by his gripe all escape impossible. It is not by keeping a firm restraint upon all such lawless dash- ing at a bird before him, but by a slovenly neglect, and the want of sufficient perse- verance in the great primary lesson of " footing out," as connected with " seek dead," that a dog will have an extinguisher put upon his resolution to retrieve, or that he will ever incur the risk of sinking into the worst of all possible defects, the for- feiture of his game. I have already taken occasion to observe, that the dog who hunts his ground the truest, will always find the most game ; and I would here add, that the dog who approaches it when down, under a skilful reserve, will in the end be found most effectually to do his part of the business in securing it. NEVER, in fine, let him perceive that the pos- session of the game is your chief object in the pursuit. Non quo, sed quomodo! is a motto that will admirably apply botli to the sportsman and his dog; and it 81 were not amiss to have it engraven on the collar of the latter, with a view to their mutual regulation in the field ; leaving to the graceless boast of the mere headlong slaughterman, with his savage gang of un- managed bone-crackers, an undisputed claim to the quocunque modo rem ! NEVER beat before your dog, nor let him lose his time behind you. Neither permit him to be off into the next field ; so as to place a hedge or a hill between himself and the possibility of your seeing what he is about at all times. NEVER hunt a dog when tired down: it will make him a dull sloven in his deportment, and destroy the gallantry of his range. It may further teach him a trick of trifling, and of treating you, every now and then, with an agreeable trot the whole length of a ten or twelve acre piece, in order to attend to one of his false points; which, with jaded spirits, he may be tempted to sink into by way of a rest. Many a good point have I seen at a mouse, towards the close of a hard day's hunt, and that from dogs of fair character too. G 82 NEVER permit a race after a hare: therefore on no account whatever be tempted to begin this race by firing at one. I can not admit this into my system, because, if ever your dog finds his legs in such a race, you will more than undo all the powers of command which you have been working for months to acquire. Fortunately for your arms and his sides, you are not very likely to incur the temptation. It is with a direct view to this circumstance, were there no superior reasons, that for the business of education I should give a pre- ference to the moors ; where the pupil is not exposed to have his yet undisciplined feelings excited into disobedience, as he is in countries where these vermin abound. LAST of all, though not least, as applying more immediately to yourself than to your dog, and by way of corollary to the decalogue, I shall pick a line out of Horace, and put it into his mouth> with the alteration of one syllable only, for your instruction. -- Si vis me cavejre, eavejodum. est Priraum ipsi tibi. To the above tablet of admonitions, which, as of general import, I would engrave on the memory of the tutor, I have only to subjoin a few cautionary observations, more exclusively addressed to yourself*. NEVER suffer your children to ramble out with your dog, under the notion of exercise or airing, in order to pick up vices upon every haunt he comes to. Neither take them along with you to the field. You will call this a prater-necessary piece of austerity. Indeed, Sir, it is not, until something like discipline is established ; unless you can keep them totally at distance, or close behind you in silence, and in a state which would be to them a heavy punishment, you have no notion how much their mere presence, by distracting attention, will impede instruction f. Remember too you have * The negative examples of tutorage, so forcibly held out by the author, and the cautions against evil communications and the early habits of vice, being conceived, mutatis mutandis, of much general application, the whole of this concluding passage has been retained, without alteration on the part of the Editor. t It is a curious fact, that in the fanciful education which, with a view of public exhibition, is given to the horse, one of the secrets of his trick-teacher is to prevent the most minute disturbance of his fancy, or seduction of his attention, other use for your whip, than to flog them in when the bird falls. NEVER send him out with our friend WULLY *, under the idea of having more game killed to him than you may have time or skill to do, nor for the purpose of bringing more of it home. I have great respect for his docility and atten- tion ; but he would never understand these cautions, delivered to him at second-hand. My at the time. After having been made up in a secluded stable, as he is brought into the circle of the school to receive his lesson, infinite care must be taken that every thing be in a state of quietude. It is of no consequence how many people are seated around, provided they do but keep their seats : but if one of them only cross the circle, it is all over for that lesson ; you can do nothing with the horse ; and you must lead him back again into the stable for hours, perhaps for the whole day. Now, although in point of intellect, with submission to the gentlemen of the whip be it spoken, the dog is an animal incalculably superior, yet let me inform the breaker, who expects from his pupil a strict adherence to duties, whilst his eye is continually solicited, and his atten- tion disturbed, by the wantonings and wanderings of some unbroken disorderly companion, whether upon four legs or upon two, that he expects more than, at his age, he has any fight to claim from him. * A young fellow of that country, who sometimes accom- panied the author upon the moors in the necessary quality of guide : an office which his own eager propensities rendered him as willing as he was able to undertake. ED. 85 business is a generous range in open neici * WULLY'S propensities will invincibly lead him to bury himself, and the faculties of your pupil, in a low, despicable, poaching scramble amidst the broken windings of your peat-bogs : and "Bluid! BluidT (for we have heard from him the infu- riating call) with a dashing spring for the fall- ing game, are much too deeply established upon him by habit, not to do you irreparable mischief. NEVER let your brother have him out alone; which he will be begging for, the moment you have established any degree of character: nor permit him to hunt, or talk to him, if along with you; nor even to bear arms in your presence, unless you take a triple bond of him before you start, that he will not, by a lawless attempt to excite a scamper after some broken-legged ver- min of a hare or other, undo you for ever. A fortiori, he is to be positively refused to other importunity, or to the chance of joining any vile ruinous associations. Alas, Sir ! as I throw my eye over the first and last of these cautions, I begin to shake my head, and to consider how much your easy 86 acquiescence will render of no avail all these my labours. But if you can not in the most determined manner resist every temptation to the two last, never dream of putting this system of mine in practice : you will only fatigue your- self in vain. At the formidable appearance it makes on paper be not staggered : believe me, it is not so difficult as you may, on the first perusal, sup- pose. It is true that, except under the head of quartering to find (in which, however, although we are not to look for absolute perfection with- out long labour, I do earnestly recommend your persevering practice), I can not on any one point dispense with a strict observance of its disci- pline: but if you will adhere to it implicitly, and if your pupil be tolerably bred, and if he has already been taught no monstrous vice (ah, Sir ! I again shake my head, for he has been made cattle-driver in chief among the curs yonder, down at *** *****), I say, Sir, I will then pledge my reputation that a few, a very few r lessons, will create a proficiency that will astonish you. But again, you must not dream of following me through its parts alone : in the attempt to give consistence to the whole, I have not so lightly interwoven their relations : you 87 must take them all or none. It is a system of that nature, which does not admit of communion with error or w r ith vice: and remember I am not answerable, if you spoil a good dog by any compromise with either. On the subject of hunting in company, and a mutual distribution of regulated beat, together with all the handsome figure-work of backing to point, I say nothing ; because it does not apply to you. One good dog is more than it falls to the lot of most men to know how to manage, and full as much as, with your better engagements, you are ever likely to create ; and again, remember I bar all associations, even for an hour, such as you are likely to meet with. Believe me, Sir, a whole season of private dis- cipline is quite little enough to make your pupil fit to appear with credit to you, or even with all due advantage to himself, in good company: to which, as the means as well as the end of perfecting education, we are in this, as well as in other cases, finally to look ; and I may there- fore possibly resume this part of the subject hereafter. But our immediate business is to make him find his own faculties first : and with a thorough command established over him, under the head of Down charge, as above, he will find no difficulty in making a transfer of this idea into that of perfect backing in com- pany ; nor will you have cause to blush for his introduction, if it should so happen, into the very best. SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS. ON BLINKING. Defect in Blood, a suspected Cause. Different Notions con- cerning High Breed. Mode of Discipline, with a View to inspire Confidence, and create Courage. Contrast of the Materials necessary for working up into Greatness. A valuable Hint for the Cultivation of Intellect. Cases in which the Treatment proposed is applicable, or otherwise. An effectual Cure. IN the account you give me of the materials you are like to have to go to work upon in your pupil, I can not say I much admire his shiness of the gun. I hope he does not set off for home : if he does, you may as well tuck him up as soon as you arrive there, and save the expense of a breakfast in the morning, which he never will be worth to you. But if he only keep aloof for awhile, or come creeping in to heel, I would not have you totally disheartened : courage is a quality to be acquired more thau 90 people are aware of: an explosion of a gun is an awful thing for a puppy ; he does not know himself as yet, and he may not be the only one who has shrunk from a first fire, and yet turned out a brave fellow before the end of a campaign. The symptom is an awkward one, I will allow; and I would that you had bolder stuff to deal with, because, wherever I perceive any of these early tendencies to the rear, I always fear something constitutionally wrong in the temper; having for its remote cause some touch of bastardy at bottom, which makes but a bad sort of a foundation to build upon ; requiring on the part of the tutor a considerable degree of care, lest a little mistake of discipline should lead to that most disgraceful and most incurable of all defects, the Blink. In order, however, to obviate the numberless imperfections connected with this kind of temper, and to inspire bold- ness, I know no means so likely as never to go out without a whip. This will appear para- doxical, but I know no other. I recollect an expression of one of the best and truest sports- men I have ever known : " If a dog," said he, " will not stand the whip, I can do nothing with him." Assuredly, if he can not be brought to endure something under the shadow of disci- pline, he is utterly out of the sphere of my 91 system : and I would acquire credit by gene- rously giving him away, to increase the valuable kennels of your gentlemen, " whose breed never wants breaking in ; take it all of themselves ; but you must never use a whip ; O no, Sir ! they are too high bred to bear it." When I have been obliged to hear this, I own I have smiled at the different notions of the sublima- tion of breed. As soon should I think of making a general officer out of some snivelling booby, who, for every rap on the knuckles to awaken attention, will creep away to blubber and suck his thumbs in a corner. No delicacy of nose can compensate the manifold mortifi- cations a man must undergo, in waiting and watching the whimsies of some trifling, shiver- ing, whimpering, indecisive, half-witted animal of this class. I would not squander my patience on such materials. But I am wandering, and must return to you. Our immediate business then, under the supposition that you may partly need it, is to create, or to increase, an endurance of discipline. Now it is impossible this can otherwise be done than by cultivating a fami- liarity with it ; and it is thus that the half-licked things of the nursery get hardened into men. The presence of the whip therefore is indispen- sable; but its use requires judgment : on every occasion of any very marked error, it should be 92 shown ; i. e. the pupil is to be brought in, with cheerful call, to DOWN ! (of course the whole tone of the voice must be adjusted by a different pitch-pipe from what would be used for a less tender subject) ; and during the solemnity of an admonition, in which the encouragement of Good dog! &c. rather than the language of threat, is interwoven, must be hardened by its gentlest repeated fall over him, until he lies, with a clear perception of your forbearance, in fearless submission under it; and then to be dismissed on beat again with more than usual caresses, and accumulated encouragement. The repetition of this friendly treatment, upon the next occasion of error, will by degrees diminish, and at length extinguish all alarm at the idea of approaching you under the sense of fault; the total extinction of which alarm, it is almost superfluous to add, is the first point which it is absolutely necessary on the part of every tutor to secure, in order to get on with any pupil. The additional conviction of your forbearance, during the repetition of these submissions on his part, will soon bring him to support a little of the sting of the whip ; by which, in its lighter modifications as applied to his sides, he is eventually to be guided, in common with some less troublesome fellow of hardier fibre, who makes stronger calls on your arm, but less 93 upon your judgment, to manage him. It may not be improper to note, that this sting should be given, in a state of guarded security at Down, by a few first strokes from the whip, which are to be gradually softened off, until it falls, as before, with un wounding and most admitted gentleness; recalling to him, as he lies, the sense of your forbearance, and instructing him to look to you with the fulness of unabused confi- dence ; of which confidence he will presently make a transfer to himself, in the sum of an invigorated action and emboldened conduct. Of necessity, there is a great deal of trouble and of time lost, in thus working up a tender temper into a due consistency of conduct ; and it seldom repays the toil bestowed in the attempt. I have already premised that, in the idea of establishing a kennel, I would have nothing to do with such a subject : but a man can not always pick and choose his materials; and, as in your case, he may be compelled, by means such as I have therefore endeavoured to indicate, to make the most of such as he can get. It is astonishing how much an undreading familiarity with discipline will increase, nay create, action. A dog of truly hardened cou- rage (I make use of this expression, because 94 the business of hardening and working up to temper, is in some measure producible in a figu- rative sense here, as by its literal application to the operation of art upon a piece of ductile metal), after a fault or blunder, which he may have been hurried into at some distance, whe- ther perceived by you or not, will come in immediately to receive, from under your hand, this certificate of his forgiveness; or, as it were, this fresh issue of his commission ; and then spring with redoubled vigour after having received it. I have seen more than one dog who, on coming in thus after some faultless blunder, would not stir a foot without a com- plete dressing: mere encouragement would not do. I shall perhaps hazard some imputation on my veracity in adding, that one I have seen, and at the period of his highest range and cou- rage, who, if on such occasion you had let the whip fall too lightly, under the clear conviction of no fault, w r ould gambol off for a short dis- tance, and then come back for more. I have smiled, not without vexation, at the necessity of being obliged to take the trouble of something like a smart flogging; after which he would shrug up his shoulders, as though to shake from his sides what he now deemed a proper sense of whipcord, and instantly take his range off with all his usual gallantry. It is from materials 95 like this, that a man must look for future great- ness. It will be obvious, that this perfection of dutiful obedience has been created by an early judicious notice of every error. A generous young dog, where he has been well managed, if his legs have carried him on the other side of a hill into some involuntary spring of game, never in the first instance abstracts upon the idea of being seen by you or not; he concludes, by your previous management of him, that you are conscious of the blunder; and his sweep in is often misinterpreted for what it will after- wards become, a matter of sagacity. Now it is your business to take especial care that he do not abstract thus too soon, and before that sagacity is ripened by experience into a convic- tion that he can make nothing of the birds without you; otherwise, you will soon have him to look for, some half-mile off perhaps, drawing up to a point, where he thinks himself very clever in having marked them down, and whence his unlicensed approach will again drive them. Cherish therefore every tendency to sweep in from unseen error, and keep alive, as long as you can, this notion of your conscious- ness. If, unknown to him, you have had a glimpse at the birds as they got off, or if you 96 have any suspicion, from his manner, of what may have passed on the other side of the hill, never advance to meet him, nor let him stop, as probably from some apprehensions of correc- tion he may do, on his return ; but call him in cheerfully, and Down! to the challenge of " TAKE HEED then," and to the show, but not the smart, of discipline ; from which, with all pleasantness of manner, and the encouragement of Good dog, &c. but keeping him within short compass before you, you make your way toge- ther up to the spot, in order to be satisfied what he has been about*. The chance of a shot at some tail-bird of a brood or covey, which, from due meditation on this lesson, he will by-and- by take a pleasure in leading you to, makes a bit of intelligence of this kind from your dog, thus established, worth something. In expatiating thus upon the indurating effects of discipline, you will perceive that I am tread- ing upon the very verge of creating that blink which it was our intention to guard against. But thus it is in all the intricate cases of morality ; and to draw the line of discrimina- * If his manner exhibit proof of strong and recent haunt, but without a bird left, you may here introduce with pro- priety the short lesson of "GONE! GONE!" taking him off immediately back upon his former beat. 97 tion must be finally left to the discretion of the tutor. It will be evident, that the means here recom- mended for the cure of this defect, will apply only to that species of it which has its founda- tion in a tenderness of temper; originating not unfrequently in a general delicacy of fibre, and with which a high excellence of nose is some- times connected ; for, and on account of which valuable quality, a man will compound for some obliquities of manner, and feel himself inclined to make some sacrifices of patience and atten- tion, in the fair attempt of attaching the pupil, through the medium of that very excellence, with an increase of ardour to his object. But where the blink arises, as I am of opinion is not unfrequently the case, from an actual defi- ciency of the nose, which the dog, however well dispositioned and willing to oblige, feels upon repeated trials that he can have no confidence in, and by consequence, with a mixture of foolery and fearfulness of doing harm, as soon as he perceives himself in the midst of game, or gets his few wits puzzled by a haunt, comes creeping, perhaps whimpering, in to heel, to this species of the blink the above treatment is certainly not meant to apply. The whip is out of the question : coaxing will only make H 98 the whiffling fool worse : and in this case, how- ever unwillingly, we shall, I fear, be compelled to class him along with the blinker of a very different nature, the brute of perverse and selfish character, yet snivelling disposition. A strange mixture ! you will say ; but I rather think not an uncommon one, even in animals of a superior order, who are by no means deficient in faculties, but of whom you can get no hold ; with whose petted temper, somewhat injured perhaps by unskilful early treatment, you are compelled to be for ever on the watch ; whom the mistake of a word will fix at your heel for the remainder of the day, or set him uselessly dodging about in the rear, and leering at every attempt to get him again upon any thing like a liberal hunt ; with whom, if at any time exciting hope, you are continually on the very verge of disappoint- ment; and who is calculated, in short, for no one purpose but that of making eternal experi- ments on your patience. For a dog of this description I have less hesitation in prescribing the only proper mode of treatment, and which I would recommend as the only effectual cure for both. I will give it in the precise words of a medical friend of mine in the country; himself a sportsman, and his dogs, as well as himself, of no small eminence in the county where he resides. My intimacy with him sufficiently 99 warranted an application on my part for his advice, in the case of a young animal of a favourite breed, who had lost much of the use of his nose, and of his faculties also, as is too commonly the case under a high attack of that cruel disorder, so destructive of the sportsman's hopes, the distemper. The opinion of this gen- tleman, from its duplicate claim on the score of his experience in the nature of the case, and his general professional skill, was with me authoritative, and it ran as follows: R. Pulv. nitro-sulph. compos. 3jss. Plumb, conglom. p. p. Jj. Pulveri separatiin superimponatur plumbum in sclopeto communi capiti applicand. Dein juxta foramen ad inium tubse eliciatur scintillula m.s. et fiat explosio. , . ' CONFIRMATION OF POINT, To? AND J ; In all well-regulated attempts to reduce morality to practice, it is the part of sound philosophy to lay down certain general prin- ciples, which, from their forcible manner of challenging notice, and the clearness with which they offer themselves to reflection, shall have the most direct and powerful influence on con- duct. Such will be found, in the case now before us, a leading precept, which it will behove the teacher to bear in mind, viz. to speak to the finding dog. It is thus that the 156 pupil will most directly be brought to compre- hend the object, on account of which he per- ceives himself called upon, in the most coercive language, to respect "the find." I must here once more have recourse to the familiar dialect of the field ; by means of which, in the way of exemplification, I shall more effectually than by any formal arrangement, however studiously given, of less interesting precepts, convey my notions about working up a dog to a complete knowledge of his duty upon this great point ; which ignorance fatigues itself in the ineffectual struggle to put at the beginning, but which it hath been my endeavour to place in its more proper situation, at the conclusion of a perfect education. * * * * * * * * * * INSTRUCTIONS FOR ATTAINING THE ART OF SHOOTING FLYING MORE IMMEDIATELY ADDRESSED Co goung port0men; BUT DESIGNED At-SO TO SUPPLY THE BEST MEANS OF CORRECTING THE ERRORS OF AN OLDER ONE. DISCE, DOCENDUS ADHUC .' HOR. BY THE AUTHOR OF KUNOP^EDIA. DEDICATION. TO ALL THE LEARNED AND UNLEARNED, IN THE PROFESSION OF ARMS; TO THE HONOURABLE KNIGHTS COMPANIONS; TO THE S.S.S/s; THE P.A/s; THE B/s*; AND TO ALL OTHER MINOR ASPIRERS AT DISTINCTION, OP AND BELONGING TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS ORDER OF THE TRIGGER; THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR. * Vide Note uear ike conclusion. INSTRUCTIONS FOR ATTAINING THE ART OF SHOOTING FLYING. IN THE FORM OF A LETTER TO A FRIEND. SIR, LOOKING with confidence to an unreproved indulgence in the privilege of presenting myself to you with the same familiarity of manner which, upon a former occasion, I adopted, as the means of more effectually perhaps, as well as of more agreeably, communicating instruc- tion ; and feeling myself thereby relieved from the dull arrangement of prefatory matter, which, if I had been at all disposed to enter upon my subject in the way of a regular treatise, might have been deemed necessary, I have the less reluctance in once more sitting down to the further task which I had proposed to myself, after having put it in your power to do justice to your dog, to take your own hands a little under my tuition ; of which my recollection, M 162 and a letter now before me, convince me that they do stand in very serious need. And to do my best towards a conversion of the disappoint- ments arising from your present undirected randoms, into the conscious triumph of decisive shots ; and from the storehouse of materials which I have occasionally been collecting on this subject, to draw forth and to arrange such further useful information, as may give you a greater command of arms, as well as a more decided knowledge of their effect ; enabling you thereby to take the field with greater con- fidence; and, without fear of rejection, to fulfil your present laudable intention of enrolling yourself as a KNIGHT Companion of the honour- able Order of THE TRIGGER. If, in the character I have assumed as pro- fessor, I had considered myself as delivering a course of lectures to mere novices, who for the first time were about to have a fowling-piece put into their hands, in that case, a good deal of this preliminary instruction might have been expedient, for the purpose of bringing their fingers acquainted with their weapon, and of giving them an adequate knowledge of their right hand from their left. But with you, and a thousand others in the same predicament, who only want to be put in the way of its more 163 corrected use, all this introductory matter would only be considered as a superfluous trespass on your patience. With all the humbler uses of the gun, your hands have from early life been familiar : you have already conquered all fear ; of that, however, we shall be better satisfied anon: and you have only to get rid of a few bad habits, and to establish in their place a more scientific handling of your arms, in order to enable you to rise superior to those blunders which, to your imagination, present so for- midable a bar to your attaining the honours of our profession. Courage, my dear Sir ! and I will answer for your success. You have been more than sufficiently lavish in your praises of the means I afforded you, of creating to your- self so interesting and so valuable a companion as, I learn with somewhat of conscious triumph, our pupil of last season has become ; for you may imagine, I feel myself not a little flattered by this additional proof of the merits of my system; although I am well satisfied that, on the present occasion, it has owed much, as every system always must, to the hands which it has been committed to. Now, Sir, I will venture to pledge whatever of reputation I may have acquired with you on this head, that with an equal attention to the precepts which I am preparing to deliver to you upon the present M 2 104 subject, I shall not be less successful with yourself; and that, with the first of next season, you shall be qualified to meet his point without the fear of disgracing yourself in his eyes, or of so continually feeling shame for having your defects brought in competition with his excel- lences. I will not for a moment have it sup- posed, that I am not able to do as much with you in the first instance, as I have been enabled to do at second hand with your dog. The rules here laid down for the superior command of arms, and for their more effective direction under every emergency, have not been given with less deliberate consideration, than the precepts by which the dog has been conducted through his duties. And, a priori, I should certainly promise myself more success with any gentleman upon the present subject, than upon the other, where the faculties of the pupil make so material a part of the consideration ; whereas here every thing depends solely on the determined pains which a man shall be disposed to take with himself; and he can only be dis- appointed by a failure in his own application. But it is time to enter upon our subject; which may conveniently enough be opened by the immediate purport of your letter. You say, that " you find your gun somewhat too long in 165 the stock for you." It is the common complaint of all beginners. " Too long," or " too short," are only different modes by which they express the indecision of their own imperfect know- ledge; and the former is the more general objection against the but, until they have learned how, properly, to dispose of it. Of the gun of which you speak, I have a perfect recollection ; for I am to presume, that it is the same which you received as a memorial from our mutual friend *****; to whose somewhat premature departure from us, more especially when thus discussing a subject with which he would occa- sionally be so much delighted, we owe a moment's serious pause: and I well know that it was mounted for him under my immediate direction, and that the stock, both in its bend and length, were under my own eye fitted to his shoulder. Now, Sir, viewing your very different form, I can not suppose that it is really too long for you ; and I do strongly suspect that the impe- diment you complain of, is partly, if not entirely, owing to your not knowing how to bring up a gun to your shoulder. Be not offended ! Before you have followed me through many pages, you will probably begin to be convinced that it is a thing you have yet to learn. Give me leave to ask you one question: Do not you now, when your dog is at point, or on strong 166 hunt, get up to, or follow him, "with a short, undecided, shuffling step, and your knees infirmly bended under you, crouching and creeping, just as if you were going to rob a hen-roost; your nose, and the muzzle of your gun too, as far forward as you can well poke them ; and your barrel already more than half on level, with a view (as you at present suppose) of being so much more ready to shoulder?" This, to be sure, may be all well enough when crawling towards a flight of wild fowl, in a fen, or skulking up within reach of a flock of wood- pigeons, at an early breakfast in a pea-field ; but it will never give you the commanding level at a bird on wing : and if, in the midst of one of these half-crippled approaches, yon happen to be surprised by the spring of game, and should be seized with the ambition of bringing your gun to bear upon it, you will find your limbs tottering in your wandering attempts with the muzzle to effect it, and your charge will be sent off at mere random. Sir, I will challenge you to your face, whether it was not, with your arms and your body stiffened into embarrass- ment, by some such mistaken carriage of your- self, that you made your advance upon the black cock, which your luck, far beyond your deserts, has, I perceive, lately been offering you the chance of bringing home in triumph. 167 Od's flints and hammers! triggers and touch- holes ! what were you about ? How rarely in a man's life does it occur to have such a prize presented to him ! and how have you been blundering it away ! And then I am to be told, " Confound the stock of this gun ! Never was there so fine a shot! Could not have missed it! (No to be sure!) But this ****'d long but (Sir, I bar all swearing, out of the harmless bounds of professional language) just tipped my shoulder, as I brought it up ; and from my finger bearing on the trigger, off went the charge before I got a fair level." Now, Sir, confound your own awkwardness ! say I. By the poking crouch of your whole body, you had already thrown your shoulder some inches forwarder than it had any business to be ; and by the embarrassed position of your arms, you had deprived them of that disentangled freedom of action by which the but would have cleared all, and have been lodged, where it ought to have been, within the point of your shoulder. I beg your pardon, if, in sketching with freedom this portrait of awk- ward unskilful advance, there be not some, and that a material part of it, to which you may sometimes catch yourself in a state of resem- blance, whilst I proceed to give you what I conceive to be a better example for your imita- tion; by a comparison of which with your 108 present less extended action, you may very pos- sibly find out that the stock is not too long, and that it may be worth while to make trial of a method by which the impediments you com- plain of, may for the present be surmounted, and by a little continuance, most probably will entirely vanish ; and, at all events, by the study of which, I do conceive that, in the important object of decisive level, you may become infi- nitely improved. In the mean time, as there are many reasons* why a man should accustom himself to shoot with as long a stock as he can with any ease to himself command, I enter my protest against the curtailing process which you at present talk of, until by your own improved knowledge you shall be better able to determine whether the present errors of the barrel are imputable to the stock of the gun, or to its bearer. We shall commence then with your APPROACH TO GAME, Or ADVANCE TO POINT. In doing which you may get up any how, provided you are perfectly free from all internal flutter, and your dog be in such a state of discipline, that * These reasons, along with other matter upon the subject of Stocking the gun, and of fitting to shoulder, will here- after be given in a separate chapter. * 169 your mode of advance be a matter of indif- ference to him*. If the least of this flatter exist, stop instantly; for it is of no use for you to run floundering up, with your heart beating a tattoo against your side, your eyes rivetted in a wild stare out of your own command, and your mouth wide open, ready to catch one of the birds, if it should happen to fly into it. Make a call upon your manhood for a reposses- sion of yourself; and when that is effected, advance again, until within the chance of spring. By this, I mean as near a distance from where you have reason to suppose the game lies, and which your acquaintance with your dog's nose and manner alone must teach you to form an idea of, as you dare to venture, without being perfectly ready to meet their spring. Pause here for a moment ; in order to breathe, to feel your pulse, or take a pinch of snuff, if you please ; but, at all events, to gain the command of yourself, and to be cool : and instantly * It must here be understood, that I am not now giving rules for the best mode of advance, as an approach to game : this must ever depend upon the state of discipline of your dog, as well as other circumstances; and the modes have been already discussed in the Kunop&dia. On the present occasion, the dog is not at all taken into the account, and I have in view only the management of the person of the- shooter, so as to make his shot effective. 170 handle arms*; giving to your eye, at the time, an eager undecided (yet not wandering) direc- tion forwards, somewhat beyond the immediate sphere of expected spring, in order more effec- tually to seize the object rising beneath your sight, and not to have to search for it, when risen, beyond the expected bounds. And now, Sir, dismissing every former symptom of a design upon the hen-roost, let your further advance be made with firmer and nearly upright port; and, instead of the short, creeping, shuf- fling step, let it be extended as far as you can with ease; yet as slow as the necessary con- nexion with your dog, now in advance upon the foot, will admit, in order that at the instant of spring you may, with the now liberated action of your lower limbs, more immediately and perfectly bring yourself to form, or TAKE FORM f ! " This must be done by a decisive step-out with the left leg, the foot in a line of direction with your thigh, towards the range of the bird; your right foot, at the same time, turned outwards, to very nearly a right angle with the other ; your body nearly upright, but * See the Drill Exercise, for this motion. t For this, as directly connected with MAKE READY! see the Drill Exercise. 171 easy; and altogether considerably sunk upon the bended spring of both knees; assuming thus, by this extension of the legs, and cross direction of the feet, a position of firm, but flexible, support." There, Sir, I leave you standing in this attitude, whilst I proceed to digest a little, and to arrange, my instructions for the more effectual attainment of the art which I am professing to teach you. In order to make myself as thoroughly under- stood as I can, I shall give to these instructions the form of an absolute drill exercise, with duly separated motions; which I shall leave you to combine hereafter, and to work up by practice into a rapid, but explicit, execution. Uncertainty and error have their foundation in ignorance, or in neglect of principles: and it is only by a direct recurrence to these, that we can hope effectually to reclaim the former. Disdain not, even at this time of day, to be taken back through the very hornbook of instruction. I assure you, Sir, for a dozen years or more of my shooting life, I blurted away as great a quantity of powder, with as much noise and as little effect, as any gentle- man upon my scale need to do ; and it was not until I had repeatedly and pertinaciously drilled myself, through some similar practical detail, 172 into a mode of handling my arms with freedom and decision, that I had any pretensions to be called a shot. Of the necessity, indeed, and of the efficacy of this actual drilling through the rudiments, I am so thoroughly persuaded, that any man of common adroitness and due docility (presupposing a touch of the blood of a sports- man in him, enough to fix his attention), who never had a gun in his hand, I would engage to make a better shot of, in the course of a month, than the keenest undisciplined beater up of game, who has been squandering his loads of ammunition for twenty years together. " A very promising lecture, this!" you begin to exclaim; "but I shall be tired to death. Con- sider, my dear sir, I am standing here in form, as you call it, all this while!" True, sir; and, as with your dog, it will do you good to keep you there. It will make you find out the true balance of your position ; that commanding sta- tion upon your lower limbs, from which you may be enabled to use your upper ones to most advantage. However, we will relieve you from your present attitude, to be renewed, and more effectually wrought into easy habit, elsewhere. For the present, therefore, let us turn our faces homewards. " What then," you cry, " is it not in the field that I am to receive your instruc- tions, and to try to improve rny shot?" Mere 173 trial, Sir, without understanding the principles of improvement, is of no consequence. It is only waste of time, and squandering ammuni- tion, until you are better drilled ; and so, come home along with me ! " Why, what a plague am I to go home for?" To be drilled, I tell you : I can do it there as well as in the field ; by your own fire-side, if you please ; even as I now Ah me ! why do my thoughts, recoiling on myself, banish the flatter- ing vision which had borne me hence, and through some pages past had placed me at your elbow, prepared to scale the mountain's brow along with you, and drink the air fresh from the stores of heaven, with every animating circumstance of the pursuit revived before me : the gay and gallant bearing of well-ordered troops, the eager sweep of keen intelligence, the touch of haunt, at length made out to find, the cautious step, the rich variety of start and stop, and all the fine sagacity displayed in foot- ing up, through all his teazing efforts to elude the search, some sly old rascal, who for years has reigned the patriarch of the hills, on the move for an escape : then, the stretch of expec- tation, the alternate play of hopes and doubts, until, at length, as he steals up in distance, confiding to his invincible power of wing, a rapid, but skilful shot arrests him on the 174 extremes! verge of possibility. Instead of which, what a drawback upon a man's happi- ness are the dull realities of life ! here have I to contemplate myself, " cabined, cribbed, con- fined," and compelled to make the best of a wishful look, occasionally thrown around among the now lifeless trophies* that I have hung up around me; the splendid records, indeed, of many a former triumph, but which unfortunately begin to have somewhat too much of the fuimus Troes! connected with them. Let me take a turn across the room to disperse the cloud that is about to rise : alas ! again these stiffening limbs of mine move heavily beneath me, and do but ill accord with the office that I am about to require of them. Are they now fit to spring through the easy, but decided, motions of the fugelman? And in what manner too shall I convey these motions to your mind's eye, in order to make a transfer of them to yourself? I am well aware, that by the aid of words alone, to convey a clear idea of any mechanical action, or of the methods of personal motion in the human body, is one of the most difficult efforts of language. A man has little notion, until he shall try to put himself down on paper, * A small collection of English game, got up in a very superior style, the joint tenants of a room usually inhabited by the author. 175 what very inadequate ideas he has; or is able to convey, concerning himself; and still less how far the imperfect outline is liable to distortion from the misconceptions of the person to whom it may be submitted. I much fear, therefore, that I may not be so rightly understood as I could wish. But under the total negation, for the present, of every better means of commu- nication between us, I have only to solicit an attention on your part, equivalent to the pre- cision with which it shall be my endeavour to render myself explicitly intelligible ; and your own practice must grope out the truth, amid the obvious defects of an exemplified instruction. 176 THE DRILL EXERCISE. CARRY ARMS.-VThis is hardly within the list of my actual words of command, because it has no absolute connexion with your shot. But as it is by no means unrelated to an easy transition into the next, and as I hold it meet and fitting, that a sportsman should be distin- guished by the superior carriage of his gun, as readily as you discern a workman by the hand- ling of his tool, I shall bestow upon it a brief comment. The most general mode is to carry your piece, with the barrel upwards, sloping over your left arm, the lock being clasped by that hand, with the fingers extended around the cock; upon which, as the arm falls easy at your side, the weight of the gun is principally borne. In this situation, the cross motion to meet the grasp of the right hand, at the call of handle arms, is ready enough ; but, for various reasons, that will appear as we proceed, I do 177 not think this the best position. Therefore " turn the barrel down upon your left arm ; the flat part of the stock, opposite the lock, clasped with your left hand ; the thumb resting on guard, over the trigger; fingers extended around the upper part of the gripe of the stock, now turned below ; upon which, and not upon the cock, as in the other case, the weight is chiefly borne : in the proper clasp, the point of the third finger will come round, and rest upon the head of the tumbler pin" (the screw by which the cock is fastened to the lock). With your piece thus supported, the lock is better covered from occasional rain or clamp, and the transfer into a grasp by the right hand more immediate ; whilst the left more easily shifts into its place, when called on for the shot, and like that of a practised performer on the finger-board of a violin, stops in time. It is true, that fatigue will sometimes lower the tone of your carriage into a horizontal trail at your side, in balance upon your fingers ; or the more unprepared water-fowler's sloping lounge over the shoulder. I have only to say, let this never be done by the right hand, lest you should acquire a habit of holding your gun thus, when it may be of somewhat more impor- tance than in mere travel on a turnpike road. N 173 In your situation, at least, it is not easy to say when some sulky, selfish, solitary scoundrel of an old cock may not spring upon you ; and off he goes, chuckling defiance in your face ; whilst you may just as well employ your left hand in scratching your head, as in a scrambling attempt to recover arms, so as to get any adequate level at him. Toujours alerte! is the watchword with the sportsman, as much as with the soldier ; and when the excess of fatigue will not admit of that, why, you had better go home and get your dinner. I must now observe, that it is not solely for the purpose of a somewhat readier shift into a grasp by the right hand, that I am thus direct- ing the inverted bearing of the barrel over the left arm. It is of no small consideration with me, that by this means, in case of accidental discharge, the security for its being harmless is so materially increased. When the gun is borne in the common way, with the barrel upwards, more particularly if the muzzle be permitted to droop into the slovenly and vulgar cross-line, every thing to the left is most awfully threatened by it; and if your piece happen to be upon cock, or if any accidental impediment should occur to the perfect catch of the lock within (from an obstruction of this kind I have been 179 within a few inches of having a whole charge through me), the first stumble may put a com- panion in the most imminent danger of life. It is in vain to say, that with proper care no acci- dents can happen : every man who has been much in the field, knows that even in the coolest hands they will happen; and there is no man who will be ingenuous, but must con- fess, that he has occasionally found the cock of his gun unwittingly left standing in a position, where it wanted only a casual touch of the trigger for a chance of doing the most fatal mischief. It is for this reason that I would, therefore, strenuously recommend the adoption, and the habitual establishment, of a so much safer, and let me add, easier and more elegant carriage. 1 refer you back to the directions. Please to observe, "the cock inwards and down; and the side of the stock imbedded against the inside of your left arm, taking an easy position considerably below the chest." Now, Sir, look at the important difference in the elevation of the barrel: even carelessness can hardly bring it into a direction, in which the discharge from it would not be made at an angle of twenty or thirty degrees above an horizontal line ; much above every possible risk to the nearest ranging companion. Under the contingency of a fall, the difference is still N2 180 greater : in the former position, from a trip of the foot, the arm being instinctively thrown for- ward, down goes the muzzle of your gun side- ways, and off may go the contents, raking the whole line to the left : but if carried in the other way, and clasped by the left hand as directed, then, under the same falling projection of arm, the discharge would be at a considerable height in the air, with the additional security of a direction backwards*. I know not whether what I am now addressing to yourself will ever be matured into the fulfilling of your wishes for its communication to the public ; but if it were, I should certainly here be prompted to exclaim Gentle reader! more particularly if thou art fond of the sport, forgive me if I have thus interrupted our attention to duty, through the course of a page or two, by labouring this little point somewhat strenuously. Consider ! it may be the means of saving the life of thy best friend, and prevent the marring, perhaps, of all thy own diversion for the whole of an embittered existence afterwards. Many indeed there are, and these, men who from their long standing in the profession would be much out of humour to be told so ; but to take the field with whom, * I shall further elucidate this, where its uses will become still more obvious, under the head of " Beating cover." 181 is indeed a service of danger ; and few, very few, where you may venture to do it with per- fect security. Voluntarily, I should never go on service with any of the former; but when it has fallen in my way to join such a party, my first view has always been directed to the bear- ing of their arms; and when I found they belonged to the dangerous squad, I made it a rule to get off to the right of the line; most willingly relinquishing all the advantages of easier shots from a station on the left of the beat, when thus rendered a post of danger. I own I am selfish enough to set some value on a right eye; and I do not think it quite so pleasant to undergo a scarification of the shoulder, in order to have a handful of shot picked out of it. But to return to the business of the drill ; in which I perceive I have been somewhat preci- pitate : I have been going on to the motions, before we were quite prepared. In the first place, dislodge your flint, and put a wooden driver in its place: now stick up a wafer, or small piece of paper, on a conspicuous part of the wainscot, as the representative of your bird or mark. Change its position, for the sake of various practice; but begin with the height of an usual flight; or assume at a distance, through 182 the window, a small, but let it be a well-defined, object. Now, Sir, take your station. ATTENTION ! to the word of command. In- stead of going back again with more than one reference, for the sake of clearness, we will recapitulate the order of CARRY ARMS ! " Turn your barrel down upon your left arm ; the flat part of the stock, opposite the lock, clasped within the left hand ; the thumb resting* upon the guard over the trigger; fingers extended around the upper part of the gripe of the stock, now turned below ; upon which, and not upon the cock, as in the other case, the weight of the gun will be chiefly borne: in the proper clasp, the point of the third finger will come round, and rest upon the head of the tumbler- pin f; the side of the stock imbedded against the inside of your left arm, which will take an easy position, considerably below your chest, * In a note annexed to the description of " a secured carriage of arms in cover," the reader will hereafter be informed of the reasons which, without obstructing him by undue anticipation, could not be given here for placing the thumb upon the guard, rather than in the position which, in the more familiar clasp for general carriage, it will find its way to. t The screw, with its head generally engraved, which fasten* the cock to the tumbler of the lock. 183 being partially supported on the hip : body in an easy walking attitude." HANDLE ARMS ! This is the first active posi- tion; and immediately represents your action as advancing on point, or when arrived within chance of spring, or during any traverse of instant expectation. " The grasp of your right hand upon the gripe of the stock ; the fore- finger through the guard, loosely feeling the trigger ; thumb firmly securing half-cock ; left hand shifted to its place, i. e. grasping your piece on the under part of your stock, at that point where the whole gun would be poised in balance, or rather a trifle beyond this point; your piece thus borne in both hands, about as high as the middle of the chest; the cock towards you, with a tendency downwards ; and the line or direction of your barrel at an angle of forty-five degrees above the horizon, with a small inclination over the left shoulder." In this position I now refer you to the corrected step which has been prescribed for your approach to point, and in which you are now advancing, in instant expectation of spring. Let me stop you one moment, to note the infinitely greater security against mischief, in case of a stumble or fall, in which you are now advancing, com- pared with the vulgar forward direction of the 184 muzzle, which has been so much, and you will by this time begin to perceive how justly, reprobated. MAKE READY ! Or rather MARK ! for that is the sportsman's word by which, if in com- pany, and not in immediate view of the spring, he will expect to have his attention roused to the game now on wing, as his object or mark*. I beg here to take you back to that precise attitude in which I left you standing, in order to find the balance of your position : and you will be pleased to recollect, that the disposition of your lower limbs, as given under the order to take form (see p. 171), must, at the same moment, accompany the action which we are about to give to your upper ones. At the instant then of taking form, " Let your eye be darted firm and irremoveable upon its object: throw the but of your gun from you to an easy extent of both * In situations where a laxity of law on the subject of shooting hares is allowable, or where rabbit shooting makes part of the diversion in cover, it is of importance to give immediate notice to a companion of an object on foot, or on wing; to the latter of which, the word "Mark!" must be exclusively confined ; and for the former, instead of the clumsy phrase of "Mark the ground!" which obtains in some places, the neater expression of " Mind !" should be employed, as making a more explicit distinction between fur and feather. 185 arms ; but loosening a little the grasp of your left hand, turn the cock downwards, and let the barrel come down more in slope over your left shoulder. It is during this combined action of throwing the but from you, and turning the cock downwards, that the act of cocking will most readily be performed. The cock to continue secured by the thumb over it, and quitted only as you proceed to the next motion. In the act of cocking, let your fore-finger quit the front of the trigger, and extending itself sloping forward through the guard, only feel the side of it with gentle pressure." Your body, by this action of throwing out the but, combined with the step- out of the left leg in taking form, will be brought with its weight principally upon that limb ; a position assumed as more immediately called for, when the flight is nearly in a line from you, or to the left; which will comprise four out of five of all your shots. Where the flight is to the right, the necessity of a varied position will be explained hereafter. PRESENT ! " Let the barrel, as at this moment, inclined over the left shoulder, be swept in a circle forwards with a smart motion, the fore-finger of the right hand (sloping, as we have before placed it, through the guard, and clear of the front of the trigger) being, as it 186 were, the centre of motion upon which the gun turns, during this sweep ; by which action the but should be raised nearly to its full height, and then bring it back, with somewhat of a thump, into its place within the shoulder*; whilst, at the same time, an increasing grasp with the left hand, which till now has kept its hold rather loosely, combines with that of the right hand upon the gripe of the stock, to keep it firmly there. The direction of the barrel to the mark, or what I would call the line of level, to be taken, in the first instance, a little below that which, as already drawn by your eye to the object, I would distinguish by the line of sight. Again let me remind you, that the latter be firm and irrernoveable ; to which a precise * The heedless handler of a gun, who has never drilled himself into a due performance of this action, or who from ignorance on the subject of proper fitting, has got his stock too short or too straight, is very apt to lodge the lower tip of the but against the point of his shoulder, or against what the anatomists call the deltoid muscle of the arm below. In the hurry for a quick present, a man is liable to this ; and the black and blue complexion of this muscle next morning, will prove that there has been imperfect handling. The proper place for the but is within the shoulder, having a firm central bearing against the collar-bone. It is precisely for the pur- pose of escaping this erroneous lodgment, that at the word "Mark!" the first action directed is "to throw it off to an easy extent of the arms ;" so that, in the circular sweep of the gun, the but may come up clear of all impediment, and be brought back with firmness into its place. 187 adjustment of the line ot level must finally be made, by an easy flexure of the upper part of the body altogether, but without any loosening or twist of the but from its firm hold within the shoulder : and on the instant that you get these two lines in contact, or, in other words, at the moment that you bring the muzzle of your gun, from its first level a little below, to bear direct upon the object," the motion of FIRE ! " To be performed by a contracting touch of the trigger-finger only, and not com- bined, as is frequently done, with a tightening pull against the shoulder." It is a bad habit ; very nearly allied to the winking and blinking of the raw recruit, or the rook-shooter's wiser shove of his piece forward, " in order to hit the harder:" and you should watch yourself nar- rowly, if you have any tendency to it, inasmuch as it will, to a certainty, more or less derange your shot*. And here too you may note one of the first advantages to be derived from a recurrence to the drill : perhaps you may here find out, by a deviation in your line of level, after the fall of the cock, what I would not affront you with by previously supposing, that * A method of putting this matter to the test will hereafter be submitted, where the young shooter is regularly taken through his forms. 188 you are not yet able to stand fire. When you are perfectly so, you will begin to find that, as in the case of superior warfare, every thing will fall before you. You have, as above, now presented to you, a manual of motions ; in the performance of which it will behove you to acquire an adequate degree of expertness, if you would possess that freedom of hand which alone can give you a command of shot. In conducting you through these motions, I have confined myself to the shot in its simplest form, as in cases where the flight of the bird admits a choice of our station at pleasure ; avoiding purposely the interrup- tion of your attention by such deviations as a variation of circumstances, in the course of general service, may render necessary. It will be proper, however, to bring these also before your eye. I shall proceed, therefore, to retrace the subject in the way of a general commentary; with such reference to the rules here prescribed, as may enable you to form a due estimate of their fitness, and assist you in acquiring such further varied disposition of yourself, as may ultimately give to you a prompt, explicit, and effective command of your piece, under all emergencies. 189 In the first place, it is this decided irremove- able dart of your eye upon the selected object, and the habitual practice of thus bringing your barrel at once up to it, instead of applying your eye to the barrel as it rises, and having the object to find out afterwards, which is to do every thing for you in shooting flying. It is the grand secret. It makes all the difference between the mere humble hedge-popper, and the liberal professor of a superior art. If your eye falter, and you begin to take a rifle-view along the barrel, be assured the bird will slip from you. You may look for it again ; but the odds will be very considerable against your ever finding it. I have my doubts whether, in very expert shooting, the barrel, except just at the muzzle, is ever seen at all ; at least the eye is not conscious of it. I could readily give some pretty clear proof of this, were it not that we should be somewhat too much diverted from the more instructive pursuit of our subject. It will be enough for me to lay down this as an axiom, with the truth of which you will find yourself more strongly impressed as you improve in practice : Keep your eye firm upon the bird, and your gun will find its way to it of itself. I have recommended the line of level, as made by the first present of your barrel, to be 190 a little below the object. It is obvious that this is with a view of giving you an opportunity of making a trifling alteration, as you bring the muzzle up to mark ; which, either from a little inaccuracy in your own present, or by a devia- tion of your bird from the first line of flight, may become necessary : but this should always be as little as possible ; and you must ever be regulated by your own cool, but instant, judg- ment upon the amount of that deviation, as resulting from the nature of the flight. If your first present be too low, under the notion of seeing so much more of your way before you, you will incur some risk of coming up wide of the mark, from the difficulty of effecting, with your barrel already on level, a due coincidence in the ascending line of sight with the transverse or diagonal direction of the line of flight. An early practitioner is very apt to err in this way. He is apprehensive, and justly too, of taking his level too near the range of the bird, lest it should get beneath his muzzle, and leave him floundering in the fruitless attempt of regaining sight. He has therefore his hedge-popping adjustments to make, in order to effect the coincidence required ; and in doing this, he is very liable to get out. As he advances in skill, he acquires not only a more correct measure of his mark, but a confidence in bringing up his 101 first level more nearly in contact with it; which, in proportion as it diminishes the call for sub- sequent adjustment, will increase the decision and certainty of his shot. I believe it is a pretty generally received opinion, that birds are principally missed in consequence of being shot under. I am aware that, in the greater number of shots, the bird is still on the ascent during the progress of the charge towards it ; and I know also how much, at any material distance, the lead will begin to feel the influence of gravitation ; which are both sound reasons for keeping up our level: but I am not prepared to admit the position in its unqualified extent. I put entirely out of the question the irregular band of the slap-at-'ems ; your " sons of thunder," who never permit the contents of their barrel to wait the chance of rising up to level, but shut their eyes, and fire away in hopes. Much as I am bound to admire the genuine, though somewhat unmanageable, ardour of these gentlemen, I can not admit them into the present calculation. My views are confined directly to that part of our corps for whom, as having entered the ranks with serious thoughts of improvement, I feel myself immediately interested, and with whom I rather think that the majority of errors will be found 192 above the mark. I will grant that the shooter may have a previous consciousness of this depressed level, arising from apprehensions aforesaid ; and that he may, when visible after the shot, often perceive the bird escaping above the then apparent range of his barrel. But let me awaken his attention. Is not that barrel considerably sunk from what was its direction at the instant of fire ? I am asking this ques- tion, for the purpose of detecting what I believe to be, in yet unregulated hands, a very general source of error; for I do strongly suspect, that a kind of random elevation for the moment, as a substitute for the cool adjustment we have been talking of, takes place with, or rather precedes, the touch of the trigger, and sends off the charge above what should have been its destination. I have only to add, if you ever hope to attain any thing like steady shooting, let every inconsiderate unprincipled dash in the dark, of this nature, be cautiously avoided. Upon the precise point of time for the fire, professors of equal celebrity will differ; some preferring the first instant of perfect level ; others again hanging on the flight of a bird for some time, under the supposed notion of a cooler shot. In the cross-shot, or when the diagonal approaches nearly the horizontal line, 103 the flight must be followed by a corresponding sweep of your barrel. In the straight-forward flight, or nearly so, of course you may take your choice of either. But where there is any material slope into the diagonal line, you will find a dependence on the first the soundest practice ; and it is for this reason that, in the Drill Exercise, I have more immediately had this shot in view. Let us for a moment, in imagination, take ourselves on beat into the field, in order the better to exemplify this instant shot. Mark ! there steals off a young- bird, in as a great a hurry as it can to get away from you, but sweeping in an ascending line up the hill, upon your right. Now, Sir, be not you also in a hurry to get up your gun at it. It is the most difficult of shots ; and it is vain for you to think of pursuing it with a corres- ponding sweep. There is no keeping hold of a diagonal flight like this : to the left it is far from easy, and to the right nearly impracticable. " Bring yourself instantly to form," therefore, by a step-back with your right leg, and your body in poise upon that limb*. Be not afraid of a bird, sprung at your foot, getting out of * We have already (vide Drill Exercise, at " Make ready I") spoken of this varied method of "taking form" for a right- hand flight : it will be more fully explained presently, under the head of the snap-shot. O 194 all reach: let it take its range to killing distance. In the mean time, "draw, with a steady eye, the line of that range ahead ; and as it approaches its allotted point of distance on that imaginary line, meet it there with your barrel, rising gently towards it for awhile, but at the last moment brought decidedly to mark." And if you have done yourself justice upon drill, in the firm command of a present, a touch with the trigger will leave it but little chance for an escape. In cover, at least, you will do nothing without a command of this practice. If you adhere to the slow deliberate level, it should be observed, that it requires a much firmer hand. It is much more difficult to retain imperfect hold of the line of flight, than to come in contact with it at a given point ; and it is for this reason, that the cross-shot, where the bird is otherwise so much exposed, and as it were hung up for some time without the apprehension of getting out of reach, is so fre- quently missed. A man shall call upon his nerves for an instant, whose hands are actually palsied by any attempt at the continuance of their exertion. It is true, that in the deliberate pursuit, your shot is likely to be very decisive ; but you will also recollect, that the least devia- tion by the bird from the line assumed, will 195 utterly unhinge your sight. The twinkle of a snipe, or the true game-dip of an old grouse cock, as though conscious of the meditated shot, will at any time send off a blindly squan- dered charge some yards wide of all chance to touch him. It is highly expedient, however, that a man should have both of these shots at his command, in order that, under the infinite variations of the line of flight, he may be pre- pared to apply some modification of either, as the occasion calls for. For which reason, after having made yourself master of the present, you may practise the horizontal and diagonal sweeps along chalk lines, drawn upon the wall at pleasure. I must require this to be done upon a line actually drawn, in order that you may perceive how far you are capable of retain- ing hold of it, with or without the fall of the cock of your piece. When the diagonal flight turns into the curve, you will here discover the difficulty, or rather impossibility, of retaining it by the deliberate following sweep of your barrel ; which with perfect accuracy can not be done, except in a right line. In this case, therefore, the shot made by contact of the line of sight with that of the flight, at killing dis- tance, is more to be depended on. And, inas- much as the diagonal flights, some portion of which even your apparently direct shots will 196 run into, if geometrically measured with regard to the position of your eye, would partake of that curve, I have given a preference to this measured shot by contact of the lines, rather than that of deliberate pursuit ; in which pre- ference, without thus ascertaining the reasons, I believe that the generality of professors do practically agree with me. In my order for your general attitude of " takng form upon the present," I have given nearly that which conve- nience has established in general practice ; viz. with the poise of the body thrown forward almost entirely upon the left leg. In the course of my observation made on that practice, I have had occasion to perceive, that the position is frequently taken, with the left foot at a consider- able angle inwards, evincing that the limb has never had its action cultivated under the eye of a dancing master. But it has far worse faults than the leaving a man open to such a discovery ; for, throw the poise of your body upon that limb, and you will perceive, with your toe inwards, if the bird take flight to the left, that you are immediately tottering in your attempt to follow it with the present ; and it is for this reason, that the forward direction of the left foot has been insisted on; whilst, for the similar convenience of pursuing a flight to the right hand, the rectangular position of the right foot 197 is indicated; otherwise a similar totter will occur. The latter shot is indeed always the most difficult; and to a man standing, or rather stuck fast, upon untutored legs, generally im- practicable: but if you acquire a habit of making a shot to the left, or ahead, with the body thrown upon the left limb, and a shot to the right, with its poise kept back upon the right limb, you will almost entirely overcome this difficulty. You may recollect that I very early placed, and left you for some time standing, to find out " the balance of your position." It is of importance that a man should find out this balance of himself upon his lower limbs, with an easy command of transition into a support on either; somewhat in the way which has been found expedient in the use of the small sword ; to which attitude, so far as these limbs are concerned only with the exchange of sides in advance, the position I threw you into, in taking form, is not without its resemblance : and I confess I should have no objection, that my pupil in the field should have previously found the use of his limbs under the discipline of a fencing school. It is an observation of the celebrated Mareschal Saxe, " that the legs of a soldier are of infinitely more importance than his arms." I am not competent to decide upon 198 all the justice of this remark, as applied to the evolutions of an army ; but I am convinced that it will, for another reason, apply most forcibly to the business on which I am here treating. I am persuaded that, to a sportsman, his legs are of more use than he is perhaps aware of; and that upon the position which he takes upon them depends very much of the accuracy of his shot. Accustom yourself, therefore, in this position*, to take the sweep of present each way boldly. To the left will bring your body entirely with its poise upon the left limb, with a deeper bend of the knee, until the right limb is nearly at full extent, and you are steadied only by a balancing rest upon the ball of the right toe: then back again, sweeping to the right, the poise of your body retreating till it come wholly upon the right limb ; and the other, in its turn, becomes extended, with a corres- ponding balance to the body supplied by the left toe. Between the two positions is com- prised a full half-circle or more, without a shift of the foot ; which, from the moment of taking form, on no account can I admit. If you attempt it for the sake of a second sight, or * I must request a reference to this position, as explicitly described under the head of "Take form!" p. 170. 199 change of bird in another direction*, it is ten to one that you never get it, to any good purpose at least ; and not much less than an even wager, if your station be on rough ground, that you make a tumble. Let me here be permitted to revert, with a moment's application to yourself. You will by this time have perceived, that by the extended position of your lower limbs in " taking form," and the further advancing of the left side of the body, as you throw the but from you at the word "Mark!" the right shoulder is kept so relatively back, that although your but be some- what of the longest, it must of necessity come to sight, without the possibility of a touch ijpon the shoulder. In fact, it comes up to level, by the turn of the but upon the fore-finger of the right hand as the centre of motion f, some inches ahead ; and is to be brought home with a smart action backwards, and imbedded in its place. I leave you now to compare with this the effects of the hen-roost-robbing attitude, which I have * It is this stumbling shift of the foot, with the eye already fixed upon the mark, which contributes more than the increase of distance, to make the second shot from a double-gun sa ineffective. t I refer to this action as particularly shown under the head of PRESENT ! Drill Exercise, p. 185. 200 pre-supposed ; where, with little or no extent of the lower limbs, the body is of necessity thrown too forward, and by the prepared poke of your muzzle, the but is brought up creep- ingly, and perhaps timidly, to shoulder ; so that the slightest rub against the inside of the arm, or a little tip of the shoulder-joint, will utterly disturb and puzzle the business of level, if it should not actually, as in the case assumed, occasion a premature fire. I have deemed it proper to separate the two motions of mark and present, in order that the extension of the arms indicated by the first, and the sweep of the but inwards by the latter towards the shoulder, may be distinctly and articulately performed, for the purpose of attaining that perfect com- mand of hand, without which no man will ever shoot well. In the field, however, the latter motion will succeed the former, with scarcely the pause of an instant between them; with none, indeed, beyond the firm feeling by the thumb that you have cocked your piece. You will observe, that I do not permit you to cock until the game is actually on wing. Sir, it is not solely for the sake of security that I forbid it, but because the very action of extending the arms under the word " Mark !" will make you cooler and more determined upon level : it will prevent the marring of your shot, by the flue- 201 tuations of resolve inseparable from a state of suspense. From the time of the first spring till the bird arrives at killing distance, a man wants employment; and, as in other cases of the same irksome situation, he very often sets on to do mischief. You must certainly not go to sleep; but you must restrain impetuosity. I can not allow quite enough to smoke a pipe in ; but if you are clever, you may almost contrive to catch a pinch of snuff. In short, Sir, calcu- lating time by any means adapted to the rate at which the animal spirits are moving, from the instant a bird rises, its amount will be consider- able : and to gain as much of this upon your- self as you can, in order to separate these motions, and prevent their interrupting each other at this important moment, is one of the leading principles of our art. I do not pretend to say, that I have on all occasions kept the cock of my gun down under this perfection of restraint : but, Sir, I am delivering institutes ; and must not be interrupted by the challenge of some casual deviation, which may arise from existing circumstances. This however I will say, from perfect recollection, that the best shots I have ever made in my life, have been when, from a state of previous control under the thumb at half bent, the cock has been raised only ^s the bird was ascending to mark : and 202 appealing once more to the above rate of cal- culating time from the instant of spring, there is more than enough, in the most rapid snap- shot that ever was made, for a well-practised hand to bring up the cock of his piece where he wants it : and if a man is so much fluttered as to risk remaining half-cocked upon the pre- sent, unless he sees that he is cocked before- hand, I can only say, he must utterly conquer this flutter before he will be a shot ; and I will make him do so before I have done with him. I have been led away by this explanatory comment upon the drill, into some part of its application in the field. I must now revert to it, in order to exemplify a variation of practice in the business of coming to an instant present; which may be of great utility for acquiring the power of a decisive snap-shot, and which is of immediate importance in the more confined service of shooting in cover: but previous to which, a perfect command of hand, by a clear separation of the second and third motion, and of cpnjing up decisively to mark, must be attained. The second motion, at* "Make ready! or * See Drill Exercise, p. 184. 203 Mark !" attended as it is by " taking form," is best calculated to give to the arms the neces- sary freedom of action : and as, with the poise of your body thus thrown on your left limb, nine in ten of your shots will in general be taken, I do riot choose to interrupt its perfect attainment by diverting your attention, at the time, to a different mode of coming somewhat more instantly from the " Carry arms !" to the " Present !" But it was not without a view to the manifest superior convenience of instant shift into this action, so necessary to be attained, that I have prescribed the mode of carrying arms to be an inversion of the usual one : and whatever may be otherwise derived from it, the advantages arising from its adoption will be still more conspicuous here. I revert to the drill, at the motion of " Carry arms !" and beg to refer to the recapitulated directions for its per- formance*, in order to explain our new-intended manoeuvre. " In the attitude of an easy walk, your gun imbedded between the inside of your left arm and your side ; your hand considerably below the chest, with a partial support upon the hip." Now, " without altering the grasp of your left hand, bring your gun across towards the right, raising the stock upwards a little, * See Drill Exercise, p. 177. 204 until a line drawn along the lower edge of the but, as it is now borne upward, would be nearly horizontal*: insert the fore-finger of your right hand over the trigger ; your thumb at the same time on guard over the half-cock, and the fingers holding the gripe: the gun, thus clasped by both hands, to be borne close to the body." I can not admit them to be thrown off, and swing- ing about with the awkward scramble of a young skater : the step is rendered less steady by the same means, and I have here an instant call for firmness. I have said, therefore, " close to the body ; the cock still turned downwards, and the knuckle of the thumb on guard over it, resting against you a little below the navel." This represents a secure attitude for march through cover, with a sufficient preparation for an instant spring. I took occasion, under the head of "carrying arms" (p. 179, 180), to call your attention to the greater security which the * In the order for " Carry arms !" p. 177, I have directed the clasp with the left hand to be made with the thumb upon the guard. It was purposely to have room for the commo- dious introduction of the fore-finger of the right hand into its place within the guard, over the trigger, during this secured carriage of arms in cover : for it will be observed, " in the more familiar clasp for general carriage, the left thumb will find its way a little beyond the guard;" in which case the trigger-finger would have been obstructed by the knuckle of the left thumb, and which, with a view to this action, it became necessary to remove. 205 inverted bearing of the barrel upon your left arm, affords against danger from any accidental discharge : and it is in our present situation, as working our way through cover, that I must again more pointedly renew my call on you to observe, with a confirmed habit of this locked hold of the gun with both hands, and their instinctive projection together (for you can not readily disentangle them), in case of a trip or a fall, how perfectly harmless over the shoulder backwards, or high in air, the charge would pass off. Nor can I resist once more point- ing your attention to the disciplined security with which you would, in your present atti- tude, present yourself to a companion prepared to enter a cover along with him, compared with the awful threatenings from the slovenly cross-line carriage of a gun borne in the usual way, with its barrel upwards (see p. 176), and the additional awkwardness with which you shall see the untutored bearer, upon ground like this, during every expectation or chance of spring, with his right hand cramped up on duty, in order to be in readiness for the shot, and struggling to maintain in such position (we are obliged even for the attempt) a slippery hold over the cock, doubtless on full bent, and ready with the first stumble to clear away a charming avenue through the bushes which intercept all 206 direct view of a friend ranging to the left. But to return to our immediate business, an exem- plification of the snap-shot. Mark ! it is the summons of your attention to a cock just up. Which ever way the flight be directed, for the shot now intended, the readiest mode of taking form will be by a step-back with the right leg." When we were before on drill, in the action of " taking form," with a view to general shot by a step-out with the left leg, I conceived that it would be pure trifling to observe, that a step- back with the right was equivalent; and because your choice of the two must very much depend on the ground you have to stand upon. But here, where the quick transition into an instant present can not so well be done otherwise, it becomes necessary to enter into some varied explanation. Generally speaking, therefore, for a rapid shot, recourse must be had to a step- back with the right leg. " In the act of step- ping back, the barrel, thrown from your left arm, must be swung forward, whilst the left hand, quitting its grasp below, is ready to receive the stock the other way at the accus- tomed place, where it has learned to stop in time, a little ahead of the poise. It is during this swing forward of the barrel, which must be done with somewhat of force, and aided at the same time by a little sweep of the whole 207 body inwards upon the left leg, as the centre of motion, that the weight of the whole gun for- ward being felt by the thumb of the right hand on the half-cock, brings it up to cock ; the con- tinuance of the impulse given to the swing of the barrel forwards, contributing to bring down your gun to a position at this instant (and it must only be an instant, so as to be sure you are cocked) resembling in good measure that in which a soldier would present his pike*: the knees sunk on the spring-bend ; body con- siderably inclined forwards, on balance between them, but with its principal rest on the right limb." I bring it back thus rather from the left, because in the undecided flight of a bird in cover, it is a position which admits of more flexibility either way, at the last moment of present, as it may be wanted. I offer this as an attitude in which you are most decidedly prepared to meet, or into which you will instantly be thrown by any sudden notice of spring, or the first glance of unexpected flight. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the flight will be seized with eagerness; and if indistinctly seen through the trees, that its range will be as * In this variation of coming to " the present/' this may be considered as the ideal instant between this and the former motion of " Mark ;" which for reasons alleged I have thought proper to separate. 208 eagerly measured by the eye towards the open- ing glade where you instantly expect a clearer view, as the point for its arrival at which you reserve your shot: at which selected instant the gun, with the but thrown forward (remem- ber that it be habitually forward enough to clear the shoulder*), must be brought up decidedly to the present; when, agreeably to the skill already acquired in the ready adjustment of the line of level with that of sight, in the course of previous exercise on drill, the fire will now be given with more or less effect. In exhibiting the above shot, I have purposely followed a transition into it from the. secured carriage of arms in cover, as being the situation where it will be more immediately called for. But it must be obvious to the practitioner, that this quicker, though more combined, action of coming to the present, is equally applicable to the more formal and more prepared hold of your gun, as given at "Handle arms! in the approach to point" (p. 180). It will of course, therefore, be adopted when the rapid shot is called for ; remembering that the backward, or rather crab-like, step with the right leg, with a sink upon that limb, during which the gun is * See the next note. 209 brought to the pike-attitude and cocked, is always the preparatory action for this shot*. To be perfect in this, it requires a man to be somewhat more of an adept than in the more deliberate level of the other practice ; but under the variety of service which may be called for, a man who has any ambition to rank high in his profession, will assuredly make himself master of both. In the fulness with which I have here endea- voured to treat this part of my subject, so immediately related to the breaking of cover, and which the reader will not fail to perceive that I have, in the disposition of his person, all along had in view, as essential to a complete command of his fowling-piece, I am not certain whether I may not have been led into somewhat of amplification. But the experienced sports- man can not fail to perceive my motive; and will not, I therefore trust, think his time ill * In order to facilitate this motion, and to preclude a touch of the but against the shoulder as the gun rises to sight, take care that in the swing of the gun to bring it down to the pike attitude, the but be kept well down by the right arm, and thrown somewhat from you, so as to have a clear and uncontrolled sweep up again to the present. If you cramp your arm by an elevation of the elbow, so common in the action of unskilful cocking, it will, to certainty almost, make a stumble against your shoulder. P 210 bestowed, in having gone along with me through several past pages ; which, although with some little repetitions, have been studiously employed in reconciling the securest carriage of arms with the most determined rapidity of shot. He will not be offended if I should once more awaken even him with a call for caution, where to expa- tiate on danger would be worse than absurdity. And if any fiery young gentleman, who with easy promptness has hitherto sought an associa- tion with me, but with blood as yet untamed by time, and making mock of fear, should feel himself prepared to spurn the studious guard which I have been endeavouring to impose upon his hands, before I permit him to enter cover, and dash on unrestrained, with slovenly and heedless carriage of his arms, momentarily threatening destruction to his dogs in every direction around him, I can only say that I beg to take my leave of him, and do most devoutly wish him and them all safe out again. I have seen too much service not to revolt at the name of coward ; but it is not every man that I would trust on the other side of a hedge with me: and by my troth, I must know a man well, before I would venture myself into a wood along with him. 211 In the course of the above commentary on the rules here laid down for acquiring a perfect command of arms, and for disposing the person of the shooter to advantage, I have on more than one occasion permitted myself to be led somewhat prematurely forward to an explana- tion of the rules, by exhibiting their direct application to the more intricate part of the business of the field. I say " prematurely," as referable to a considerable portion of readers for whom I feel myself very much interested, but whom I can not consider as yet entirely prepared to follow me thither; and for whose immediate benefit, therefore, it now behoves me to return, for the purpose of assisting them in their regular progress upwards. With an immediate view then to a pupil of this class, I am to presume, that by a due attention to the business of the drill, and to the further disposi- tion of his person in the above commentary, he has become sufficiently perfect at a present to a fixed mark, and in the steady sweep and fire upon a given line in any direction. It is time therefore to lead him forth to an actual practice of these rudiments ; which will best be done in some situation where the swallow presents to him an infinite variety of flights ; in pursuing which, his skill in the sweeps will be improved, a greater degree of flexibility obtained, and hi* p 2 212 eye familiarised with the effect of a bird on wing. His fire for some time to be made with the wooden driver ; then with flint fixed, and a charge of the pan only*; and lastly, with a due load. The moment of a swallow's hover at an insect may occasionally be selected for the practice of the rapid shot; while its steady horizontal sweeps afford the most exemplary means of becoming a master of the deliberate cross-shot. In the practice of the latter, he will acquire a judgment of the proper distance ahead of the bird, at which it may be necessary to direct his aim at the moment of fire, in order to make allowance for the further progress of the bird into the centre of the disk of the shot, during the advance of the latter to meet it. With some it is a practice to level at the eye : if the bird be very near, this may do ; but at any distance it is by no means enough. When your shot has forty or fifty yards to travel, you may venture to take the bird's whole length, or more. Even the state of the air will make a material difference ; and in damp weather, not- withstanding all the care you can take of the * This flash of the pan should be practised upon drill, along a chalk line. A young recruit will perceive, even in this flash, that his nerves will find out a difference between it and the wooden driver ; and it is in the drill that he must learn to conquer this difference, or he needs go no further. 21S priming, the progress of the train through the touchhole will be often considerably retarded ; and your allowance for this distance should consequently be increased. When the wind blows hard also, and the flight of your bird happens to be directly against it, the curvature of the line made by your charge, before it reaches a long shot, will be more than you are aware of: a foot or two will not be more than enough, at such time, for this allowance*. In short, it is a thing which varies so much under different circumstances, that no absolute rule can be given for it ; but it must rest with the judgment of the practitioner. For his regula- tion, however, it may be noted, that an ample allowance is on the safer side of error : for your gun may hang fire a little ; and you will recollect that a single shot through the head will bring down your bird, when a dozen at the other end will produce you no more than a tail-feather. Again I perceive that I am getting on too fast. In all regular education, it is by due sub- mission to progressive lessons of improvement that a pupil, such as I have now to consider before me, is to be led on towards perfection. * In a windy day I should recommend the use of heavier shot; their relative power in overcoming this impediment being considerably greater. 214 In justice therefore to him, I must "try back" a little, in order to make good the ground as we go along. We are got into the very midst of game; and I can not as yet admit my young friend to the full honours of the field. I can not trust to his measure of a cock-pheasant's tail, by his yet imperfect knowledge of angles ; nor to the nicer skill of adjusting, at a given distance, the coincidence of two moving lines. I must beg, therefore, as yet, a little while, to -take him back to his rudiments among the swallows. When he shall here have acquired, with unshaken eye, a firm hold of the flight, after the snap of the cock with a driver in, or without a deviation of more than a few inches from the mark, he may then, but not till then, permit himself to mount his flint and load. I would observe, that in order to remove all apprehension of recoil, which at the instant of pull upon the trigger is so liable to disturb, by a kind of instinctive re-action of the shoulder, the level of a young beginner, and which I am afraid continues its influence with the best of us longer than it ought to do (of this, on the first occasion of firing a strange gun, I apprehend that any man will feel himself convinced), the charge should be kept down in quantity to the amount of about three-fourths at most. Where you can take, as here, the 215 distance of your object at pleasure, this will be quite enough ; and when the nerves of the pupil are become thoroughly familiarized and at ease with this, they may be further wound up to stand fire ; which it is of the last impor- tance to have effected without the sympathetic communication of motion to any other part of the system, except the muscles connected with the trigger-finger ; no, not even to the harmless twinkling of an eyelid, under a full field-load. It ought perhaps in a more early part of these pages to have been mentioned, but arrived as we are at the actual shot, I must no longer omit to say, that as I have heretofore taken the mecha- nical disposition of the whole body under my direction, some attention becomes due to the management of the eye itself. Our awkward acquaintance from the plough's tail screws up the features of one side of his face into painful deformity, in order to keep his left eye closely shut, and almost dislocates his neck in bringing down the other to a side-long level at the old crow before him : but the sportsman, the true position of whose head is to be upright and at ease, and who by the methods already taught; and an adapted bend of his stock, is to bring the barrel to his eye, and not to risk a crick in the neck by squeezing down his eye to the 216 barrel*, should by all means acquire the habit of taking aim, like the skilful manager of a telescope, with both eyes open, and with no further alteration of the features of the face than that contraction of the eyebrow which assists intensity of sight. A little practice will render this quite easy: and the left eye will thus become of more immediate use to mark, on the instant, the struck or not-struck of a bird in cover, and to spare the half-blind bungler, after a squint-eyed shot across a hedge, some loss of time in the moping search of nothing. I need not, I am persuaded, be at the expense of argument to convince a pupil, that unless the internal alarm on fire, and the apprehension of recoil be sufficiently subdued to admit of his keeping a tolerable hold of the flight, during the prolongation of a moment at the instant of pull upon the trigger, his shot must become a mere casualty ; and how much it behoves him, therefore, to acquire a command over himself at this important moment. The obvious method of accomplishing this, by an emboldened fami- liarity with the action of his gun, from the snap with a driver up to effective shot, is here indi- cated. Suffice it to add the means by which * See the chapter on Stocking. 217 a man may put his own ability to the test in this respect. The fall of a swallow now and then is no direct proof. I would suggest a method, by which he shall be enabled to make a juster estimate of himself, as well as to culti- vate a steadiness of level to the extreme of perfection; i.e. when loaded, shake out the priming, all but the few grains that usually adhere about the touchhole, or let the priming be so little as to make it more than an even chance against a fire ; and in this state let him renew his levels at the swallows, under the con- tingent uncertainty of shot. The repetition of miss-fire, by showing how far he can or can not keep hold of the flight after the fall of the cock, will inform him how far he is under the dominion of impressions which, if he ever mean to arrive at excellence, must be effectually subdued*: * This test may also be successfully applied to reclaim a man from the vicious hurried habit of withdrawing level before the charge is well out of the barrel. I put this piece of instruction into the form of a note, on purpose to render it of more conspicuous use. It is not merely from the utter defeat of the shot, which the least hang-fire will to a certainty occasion, if a man do not acquire a habit of prolonging level, but from the more serious mischief which may be the consequence of a burnt priming. The probable tearing of your fingers by the guard, from an explosion after the but has quitted your shoulder, is no adequate punishment for this undisciplined handling. I have more than once seen a 218 and the occasional fires, by furnishing the means of comparing what is passing within his breast in the two relative situations, will teach him the necessity of winding up the pegs of his interior into a most unmoved indifference under either. It is only upon the occasion of a miss-fire in the field, that a man can be satisfied of his having completely covered his bird at the moment of intended shot: by appealing to which occa- sions, and the then conviction of what was the state of our level at the time, I do apprehend that all of us have had reason to conclude how very much, upon other occasions, we have owed to accident. Be that as it may: I would use this conviction for the purpose of establishing upon my pupil a more corrected and a steadier level. At a moment when I am on the point of introducing him to his game, I must con- gun, after a flash in the pan, suddenly brought down to hip, and then ploughing up the ground at some ten yards distance ; not without a chance, I confess, of securing a tail-bird of the covey not yet risen, but with a much greater chance of executing somewhat severe justice upon poor Ponto, for having broke forward without orders, in hopes of a find-dead, In moist weather, in spite of every care, the train through the touchhole will be liable to linger, like the fuse of a rocket. In every case of burnt priming, therefore, let your nerves take the alarm ; keep hold of the flight if you can : you have a chance, though but a bad one. 219 sider him as no longer in a condition of being indebted for his triumphs to the contingencies of accident. After having submitted himself to this test, which I would offer as the experimentmn crucis of death-doing level, and having acquired an unaltered hold of the flight, or at least some degree of approximation towards it, under the pull of the trigger, I certainly have nothing more to require from him, so far at least as respects the knowledge and command of his weapon ; and it remains for me only to intro- duce him to the knowledge and command of himself. In the mean time, I must not omit to congratulate him on his admission as a candi- date for the honours of the field : as a prelimi- nary to which, however, and I hope he will not think me hard with him, I expect, under the full permission of selected shots at swallows, a production of one in three, as a certificate of his ability. We are now arrived at a point, when I am afraid I shall have some difficulty with my pupil, in keeping the necessary check-rein upon his impetuosity. Elated as he feels himself, and big with imaginary triumphs, he will be very 220 apt to break away from me among the coveys, before he has permitted me to do my duty to him. The fitful fever of getting on too fast is a disease which all young sportsmen are very liable to be infected with ; and I wish it were in my power to convince them how very much it impedes their progress. Festina lente, my good fellows, be the motto of every individual among you, who is eager to arrive at early excellence : in the sincere endeavour to enable him to do which, I must request an immediate dismission of the game-bag, together with its counter- balance of shot-belt, and other accoutrements ; with which a pardonable vanity, and a too extravagant estimate of his own powers, may have induced him prematurely to equip himself for the field. It will be quite soon enough for him to assume the full dress of our order, when he shall have learned to face his game : a phrase of somewhat more awful import than he is at present, perhaps, quite aware of; and for the accomplishing of which, I have yet to make no inconsiderable call upon his patience and resolution. I know no one case, indeed, within the whole scheme of moral practice, where the plus facit qui se ipsum vincit of antiquity so well applies, as in the business immediately before us. 221 The uninspired reader, who has not been smitten with the sport, and whose bosom hath never thrilled in sympathy with his dog, at the challenge of to ho! may smile at my starting the question, whether to an eager youth just fleshed on game, to retain the power of getting up with any tolerable decency to a point; to keep his mouth shut under the rattle of a rising covey; and to remain, as in duty bound, fixed to the spot, when the first bird falls to his gun, be not a greater trial of nerve, than the awful moment which precedes a first advance to charge under the roar of a battery? But I am perfectly serious in saying, that it is a situation in which a man will sooner lose possession of himself. " Fleas are not lobsters," as the poet saith ; neither are swallows snipes : and in exact proportion as a man shall feel the ferment of a sportsman's blood within his veins, in such pro- portion will he be liable to have himself scared by the whirring of a partridge out of his five wits. Let not my young friend, however, be dismayed by these early stumbles of his ambi- tion; even if, in the first instance, he should have caught himself banging off the contents of his barrel before the birds have measured a dozen times its length in distance from him, and with his eyes in such a quiver as to produce 222 the effect of an optician's toy, by multiplying five brace into fifty; or what is more commonly the case, if totally convulsed by the first spring, and distracted by their fluttering off in every direction, he should find himself petrified out of all power to raise up his gun at them, until the tardy recoil of recollection at length hurries off the charge without a chance of overtaking them, and with no other possible effect than that of rousing him from his hysterical reverie, to shake his ears into the conviction, that much yet remains to be done with himself, before he is fit to appear in the ranks on a field-day, or even before he can march up to his dog alone, without having to blush for his want of manhood. I have already touched upon this subject, where, for the benefit of a defective shooter already familiarized with his object, I have given the outline of a corrected "advance to point" (see p. 168) : but with my junior friends imme- diately in view, it will be necessary for me here to enter somewhat more closely into particulars. I can not have a doubt that these gentlemen, in their eagerness to get on, may have occasionally felt a little uneasy under the restraints which I have thought proper to put upon them : but I 223 am willing to flatter myself, that on the whole, we have hitherto gone pretty well on together : and although, for their sakes, it is my ardent wish, that we should continue to jog on in tolerable harmony to the end of our journey, now at no great distance, I can not help express- ing my apprehensions, that in my proceeding to insist upon a point, although of the last impor- tance to enable them to gain the necessary conquest over themselves, they will be tempted to break all terms with me, and to bolt out of the course when just within sight of the winning- post. It will, I believe, be found no unusual practice with writers on the subject of ethics, upon occasions where they have to broach any favourite doctrine, which to a first view may have something of the paradox about it, and more especially, as in the present instance, where that doctrine runs counter to the pride of man, to beat about the bush for its introduc- tion under the cover of authorities: and as I am most unwilling, even in the attempt to do them the most essential service, to quarrel with these young friends of mine, I shall profit by the example of my brother moralists, and take the convenience of sheltering myself under the sanction of authority, upon the present occa- sion. In that part of the Kunopaedia, where 224 an explanation is given of the diagram on quar- tering, I have sought the opportunity of making an acknowledgment, which I conceived to be due to an author, from whom my first hints for a rational management of the dog had been originally derived. Amongst a variety of col- lateral matter, he does not forget to take the young shooter himself under his correction. It is from the two last pages of this little volume that I present the following extract. The reader will not fail to be amused with the manner; and I wish him to believe, that for the matter it is still more deserving his attention, from the valuable truths which lie folded up within it. " That an over-desire to kill is the very means to prevent it, experience laments, but can not, in the common method, correct it. A man readily admits the improbability, but fondly insists on possibility ; and so fires away in hopes. Let the young sportsman, therefore, set forth with every appendage but (what he thinks hard should be left behind) powder and shot : a stiff piece of sole-leather may represent the flint, to spare the face of the hammer. When a bird gets up, he is certain he can not kill it; therefore he can wait to any length, until he gets it at the end of his gun : he must 225 never draw, unless positive of seeing the bird in that very point of situation. Let it go : every fresh spring of a bird will make him more composed ; and as the tremor wears off, he will grow more uniform in his manner of getting to it, until at last he will cover it almost to a certainty, at or very near the same distance. Let him accustom himself also never to take his gun from his arm, until the bird is on wing; and never to vary his eye from the very one he first fixed upon. Three words should mentally be used, with a pause between, before he puts his piece to shoulder : this will keep him, as it were, in awe of himself; and as there is no charm in any particular combination of letters, Hold ! halt ! now ! may serve as well as any. A day thus spent, he may put some powder into the pan, and flash away in that manner the next ; pursuing the former directions, until he can stare with stedfastness, and pull without a wink. The day following, load with powder only; and continue this lesson, more or less, until he is calm, as if the leather were yet in the chaps. Now the grand and last trial, complete loading. If he feels the least flutter or anxiety on his advance to the point, let him draw his shot at once, nay, powder also, before he goes up to his dog ; and repeat this, toties quoties, until he Q has whipped himself into good temper, and disappointed himself into the accomplishment of his wishes." After having thus put forth my hand to assist my younger friends, who are so much in want of a little assistance, and having, as I conceive, fulfilled my duty to them, by putting them in the way of doing ample justice to themselves, it is time, that in drawing towards a conclusion, [ should return to the individual, whom in the midst of matter of more general application, I may have appeared to lose sight of, but for whose immediate benefit my thoughts were originally put in requisition : and as I have yet somewhat of moment to say to him before I finally quit my subject, it is with pleasure that I feel myself at liberty to resume my former familiarity of address, for the purpose of its communication. I must beg of you, my dear Sir, not to be alarmed at my approach. Be not afraid : I am not going to order you back through all this preparatory discipline, which with the gentlemen of whom I have just taken leave, I consider as indispensable. It can do you no harm, however, to give it a reading; and if perad venture there should arise any doubts in your mind, of and concerning the stanchness 227 of your nerves, or any suspicions of their blink- ing under the pull of the trigger, I must require of you an ingenuous submission of yourself to the test above offered, in order to be satisfied how far you are able to stand fire, or otherwise ; and to seek an immediate correction, if neces- sary, by the means there indicated. At any rate, you may be assured, I shall not impose on you the mortification of taking the field in that state of negative equipment, in which the judicious author above quoted sends his pupil forth among the coveys, not much in humour perhaps, but in the high road to improvement. With the spring of the game I certainly can not but suppose you too familiar, to retain any portion of that flutter, which would best be conquered thus. It is for these reasons, that I am not going to put you upon plodding your way upwards again through this business of the lower classes; and for another, almost equally strong, you have not the time to spare : from you my rules must receive all their exem- plification upon actual service. So much the stronger, therefore, is the necessity for my say- ing to you, as I should to a pupil of some pro- ficiency, but who feels a dissatisfaction at the uncertainty and indecision of his shot, that / can not abate you one tittle of the drill: it is 228 there only that this uncertainty can be cor- rected. I look upon your errors as having their immediate, if not their only, foundation in some habitually unskilful management of your piece and of your person ; and it is in the drill alone that you can hope to amend this, and to work out your own reformation. It is not with a bird on wing, that the mind is altogether at leisure for the study of personal adjustments. Let your gun stand by you in the corner, or hang it up within your constant reach ; its flint supplanted by a wooden driver, to save the hammer ; and give yourself a lesson three or four times a day, in the intervals of better occu- pation. It is not the length of the lesson which is the object; three or four minutes at a time will be quite sufficient: it is by the frequent repetition, that an improved method of handling must be wrought into a habit. Here take the alternate sweeps, and practise the diagonal, in every direction; never omitting to " take form," and to feel yourself " in balance," as directed : here let the two methods of coming to the pre- sent be learned, until the advancing and retreat- ing step adapted to each, become instinctive impulse. Lay aside the gun for weeks, and again resume it : you will find it coming better to shoulder. Repeat this until at length it gets 229 completely fitted, and your eye, in perfect combination, seizes its object with instant and decided confidence. Let your now emanci- pated limbs find an amusement in this exercise : and hark ye, too ! do not you trouble your head with my friend Mrs. ******'s very possible incli- nation to scoff at all this, and to point the moving finger of her scorn at this "second edition," as she with most irreverent mockery may be prompted to call it, " of uncle Toby's crutch upon Trim's shoulder." Go on ! If you are in dread of being knocked down with it at your own fire-side, make good your retreat into the garden, and intrench yourself: only go on, and I will venture to prophesy to you, and pro- mise to her, on the faith of whatever claim I at present hold on her opinion (a pledge, as I con- ceive, of no small amount), that you will, both of you, find a wonderful difference during the next season, in the produce of this winter-crop, that is to be, of instruction ; the seeds of which I am now studiously scattering. Having thus put you upon your guard against interruptions, it only remains for me, with a view to the more public destination of these 230 sheets, and to the support of a system which it has been my endeavour to render as complete as possible, to be prepared with some defence against attacks of a less good-natured com- plexion, which my endeavour to enforce atten- tion to this domestic practice of the drill may very possibly give rise to ; and to repel by anticipation the sneer which may be likely enough to come from a class of men, who by a slavery of ten or twenty years, are become suf- ficient adepts in the art ; but who having been brought up under their dogs, have no more conception than their tutors, that a qualification for professional rank can be otherwise obtained ; and who, with a rudeness which they have also brought from the kennel, may be prompted to laugh at all this fire-side foolery, and to ridicule the idea of a man's working himself into a shot by rule. To these gentry I have only to say, that I am not disputing their talents; but I demur to their capacity of making any estimate of mine. Half of them can barely read ; and if the other half, from whom, on the score of education, one should expect somewhat better proof of the faculty of thinking, choose to arrange themselves on the side of self-taught ignorance, and to persist in pleading long pre- scription for the irregular, though frequently 231 successful, practice of the whole corps, in. scorn of all attempt to send any of them back to the drudgery of the drill, for the correction of some habitual awkwardness, the unperceived source of occasional errors, which they are every now and then set a-swearing by, I will freely tell them, that they have my leave to blunder and blaspheme on to the end of the chapter, and that this book of mine was not written for them. They have been suffered to run lewd in their own way, out of all dread of the whip, during too many years, for me to undertake the worse than hopeless task of breaking them in at this time of day : I am not equal to it. If, however, lowering a little the proud pre- tensions of their unexamined practice, under some conscious recoil of their own errors, they should be disposed to approach, and to talk a little civilly with me, I beg to assure them, that they will find me more than ready to allow all they have to say in favour of the real shot, the thing itself. To keep down the flutter of expec- tation, to conquer the alarm on spring, and to be familiar with the differing flights of the dif- ferent species of game, itself a circumstance of no inconsiderable importance, must be the result of a continued actual service only : it can not 232 be inculcated. But every thing which has a tendency to produce a precision of shot, all the nicer dexterities of the art, may equally well, and in one-tenth part of the time, be acquired by a studious appeal to principle at home, in the regular course of education prescribed, as by the chance of its being picked up in the field, and imprinted, a man hardly knows how, upon his practice, during a random course of years of ordinary service. A man will not gallop up to a pack of foxhounds the worse, if he has previously acquired a seat, and the means of managing to advantage the noble animal he bestrides, at a riding-school : and he who will take the trouble of finding out why he has done a thing well hitherto, will to a certainty find the means of doing it better hereafter. A due consideration of this will, I flatter myself, reconcile to me this class of men ; for whom, as brothers in arms, I entertain great good-will, and with whom I have therefore been endeavouring to reason a little. I can not but respect their attainments ; and I am willing to admit them as the P. A/s, or Practical Adepts, and to hold a kind of exotic rank as Licen- tiates, of the profession; who having already taken their degrees, like some licentiates of a 233 much graver order of men, in but a dubious kind of way, I can readily pardon their being somewhat jealous, and consequently a little petulant, on the subject of their pretensions: but I never can allow them, upon the ground of some doubtful exhibition of skill, however occasionally brilliant, to supersede the legiti- mate claim of the more meritorious individuals, who by a scientific cultivation of themselves, shall seek to establish their practice upon the firmer foundation of principle; and for whom I consider the higher distinctions of our order as exclusively reserved. I feel myself more immediately called on to hold this language, as I finally return to my more manageable, but aspiring, friends ; who, with the eager hope of more early attaining these distinctions, may have resolved on putting themselves under my direction ; and to whom I am bound by inclina- tion, as well as duty, to hold forth every encou- ragement. I applaud their zeal ; and beg once more to assure them, that I have been doing my best to direct that zeal most effectually to its object. But they must ever bear in mind, that these honours will not be conferred with- out their going through the regular course of previous study : and much is to be done, from the time when a man commences with writing R 234 B. i.tfc. beginner, or bungler, which you please, at the end of his name, and many are the inter- mediate degrees that he must prove his claim to, before I can permit him to assume the dis- tinguished title of S.S.S.*; which, for the benefit of those who have not had the advantage of a college education, I shall here translate by DEAD SHOT. It is true, that small is the number of those to whom this highest of our academical honours can be truly conceded, I am not saying this, to throw a damp over my pupil's hopes, or to lower the tone of his ambition. If a man would arrive at excellence, he must keep his eye upon perfection. It is therefore I have all along endeavoured to direct that ambition to this envied summit: but in doing this, I have not failed also to point out to him the steps by which he will assuredly make his way to it. * The Knights of the Order of the Garter, at the time of their installation, are invested with what is termed their collar of S/s ; which they continue to wear upon all solemn occasions. I would submit to the learned reader, whether our order may not with more classical justice assert their exclusive claim to this collar, as the emphatic emblem of the titular dignity signified by these initials, Societatis Scloppeticcc Socius: an admitted jellow, with all the honours of the order. 235 Let not then the arduous height appal his reso- lution ; let him keep a firm footing upon these steps, as he ascends, and I will then address him with the most unqualified confidence, " /, puer ! i, pede fausto. Grandia laturus meritorum pr&mia" Which, for the sake of being better understood by every description of readers, may be para- phrased thus : " He will not fail to receive, in the increasing weight of his game-bag, a con- vincing proof of the truth of these precepts, and a reward of his own obedience." FINIS. G. Whittiughain, Printer, Goswell Street, Louduii. *. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Fine schedule: 25 cents on first day overdue 50 cents on fourth day overdue One dollar on seventh day overdue. LD 21-100m-12,'46(A2012si6)4120 YU 20481 JVJ216854 S THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY^