266 PHEASANTS 



viands and making packets of what will be luke- 

 warm sandwiches for lunch, and none of the dis- 

 comfort of a damp hedgeside for one's banqueting 

 hall. All is thoroughly luxurious, and if you 

 are lucky a certain famous hash of mushrooms 

 and cream may be your fortune at lunch, or some 

 of the fragrant white truffles which an old man 

 and his dogs are retained specially to gather in the 

 beech woods which surround the park. 



Consider this, and remember that it is 

 but a few years since the king of Italy 

 invited a hungry-looking shepherd boy to 

 share his shooting lunch. The boy told 

 his friends that he had met what he took 

 for " un signore," but that he proved only 

 to be " a poor devil like myself," for the 

 royal lunch was after all only black bread 

 and a large raw onion. 



An overdrawn comparison, no doubt ; 

 but that it should be possible is enough to 

 give some point to these notes of criticism. 



Some concern for what we eat is no 

 crime, nor is there any harm in good 

 covert-shooting ; only we want more real 

 sportsmen among us, who while they 

 enjoy a heavy rise of pheasants as much 



