Te quoque, Magne CLEATOR*, te memorande precamur- -Induit ecce SHOOTER tuncam made of neat marble drugget, En! stat staunch DINGO haud aliter quam steady guidepost, With gun cock'd and levell'd, et lævo lumine clauso, Vos teneri Yelpers +, vos grandævique parentes, Nunc lugete dui nunc SPORTSMEN planjite palmas Bang bellow'd both barrels-heu! pronus sternitur each dog- THE Compiler here closes his labours. On the various topics which he has undertaken to treat, he has endeavoured to direct the attention to whatever he thought of sufficient importance to repay, or of tendency to amuse it. In selecting this information, he found his work grow upon him, and it has, in consequence, considerably exceeded its intended bulk-Some particulars, which he did not originally design to touch upon, he afterwards found to be so intimately blended with the main purport of the Book, that the total omission of them would have left it defective. In the most common pursuits, as well as in the most complicate science, there is a certain previous knowledge requisite, to enable us to Author of the ingenious "Essay on Shooting." +Young Partridges. prosecute them with facility and success. Without some such knowledge, even the pastimes of the field will rarely compensate the time and trouble expended upon them. This knowledge it has been the Compiler's aim to impart. His instructions has been drawn from writers of the greatest merit. Whenever he has ventured to differ or doubt, he has done so from the teachings of actual experiment; opportunities of intercourse he has enjoyed with the best judges; his own means of intelligence have been considerable; and the implements he has himself recommended, have undergone repeated and successful trials. Of the subject itself, which has engaged his researches, he has only thus much to remark. The diversions of the field have been not seldom regarded as the resources of vigorous idlenes and intellectual vacancy; they have been condemned, as unconnected with that dignified activity of mind which explores the tracks of science, and extends the empire of Reason. But must every amusement be renounced which does not contribute to expand our understanding? It is a cynical and sickly philosophy, which would decry any recreation, which neither pollutes the manners, nor hurts the mind. The pursuits of the Sportsman, lure us from the smoke of cities to the healthful breezes of the forest, and the animating enjoyments of the field; neither is it true that they are so closely allied to stupefaction, as some Censors would persuade us. The man of moral feeling and lively fancy, may, in the midst of such pursuits, indulge them to the utmost." There is no one," says the eloquent ZIMMERMAN, "who may not, by quietly traversing the mountains with his gun, learn to feel how much the great scenes of Nature will influence the heart, when assisted by the powers of imagination. The sight of an agreeable landscape; the various points of view which the spacious plains afford; the freshness of the zephyrs; the beauty of the sky, and the appetite which a long chase procures, will give energy to health, and make every new step seem too short. The privation of every object that can recal the idea of dependance, accompanied by domestic comfort, wholesome exercises, and useful occupations, will add vigour to thought, and inebriate the heart with the most delicious sensations." Where, indeed, hunting, and the pursuit of game, form the sole employment of a people, it tends naturally, and almost inevitably, to give a coarseness and rusticity to the character; but there is no danger of this in modern times. Such recreations, on the contrary, may serve to temper the polished effeminacy of the age, and to prevent its degenerating into a too soft and artificial urbanity. The magistrates in the Greek Republics encouraged a taste for music among the citizens, as contributing, by its harmony, to allay the ferocity inspired by gymnastic and military exercises. In modern Europe, there is more need of caution, lest all the more boisterous and manly diversions should be exploded, and there be nothing left to counteract the emasculating tendency, of our luxurious and fashionable manners. Of the Laws made for the protection of Game we have before spoken. Much has been at various times said, respecting the severity of great landed proprietors towards their humble tenantry; and examples of individual oppression have been adduced, in proof of the complaint alleged. It is too true, that Men invested with power, do not always use it with discretion: we are but too apt to be more attentive to our own pleasure than our neighbour's peace; but still, we believe, that the instances of the extreme exertion of the power involved in the exclusive right to kill Game, have been greatly exaggerated. It is indeed to be regretted, that in any, even a single case, the Game Laws should be perverted from the rational objects which occasioned their introduction: should any such instances arise by an adherence to the Letter, they can never occur without an infringement of their Principle. Those who derive a peculiar advantage by any Legislative ordinance, ought to be careful so to employ it, as not to harass the excepted part of their fellow-subjects. It is the particular duty of such persons to act with an eye to the true spirit and intention of the Laws which regulate the pursuit of Game; and to remember, that, although they reserve to them an exclusive participation of RURAL SPORTS, they confer no right to infringe the privileges, or interrupt the happiness, of even the humblest classes of the State. |