2 SHOOTING. 



which a long ramble procm-es, wiU give energy to health, and make 

 every new step_ seem too short. The privation of every object that 

 can recall the idea of dependence, accompanied by domestic com- 

 fort, wholesome exercises, and useful occupations, wiU add vigour 

 to thought, and inebriate the heart with the most dehcious sensa- 

 tions." 



We hold the sport of shooting to be susceptible of imparting the 

 most Lively gratification to all well-constituted minds, and to be a 

 most necessary relaxation from and counterpoise to the wasteful 

 pressui-e of incessant toil and watchful thought. The social and 

 individual advantages of English field-sports are beyond calcula- 

 tion. Men dwell upon a remembrance of them with a reverence 

 bordering on idolatry. The pastimes of our forefathers have ever 

 been of a manly and vigorous kind. The whole tram of amuse- 

 ments in olden times was calculated to render the youthful gene- 

 ration active, sprightly, nimble, generous, and courageous, and to 

 rear them up to useM and honourable manhood. With what 

 enthusiasm and right good-feeling do we ponder over the pages of 

 some of the old writers, who tell us that "in the holidays, in 

 the summer and autumn, the gents are exercised in leaping, dancing, 

 shooting, wrestling, and casting the stone, and practising at the tar- 

 get ; and the maidens trip with their timbrels, and dance as long as 

 they can see." 



A love of field-sports generally, and of shooting in particular, 

 takes us from the noise, and filth, and moral degradation incident 

 to large towns. It places us in the midst of the cultivation of the 

 soil — ^the real foundation of aU national wealth and happiness. 

 Every thing comiected with the wanderings of the sportsman is 

 calculated to foster the best and noblest feehngs of the soul, and 

 to impart to the mind the most lofty and sublime ideas of universal 

 nature. To men of genius and contemplative habits, the roaming 

 among the mountam wilds, and the green fields, gives rise to the 

 most refined intelleci-ual enjoyments. Such persons may_ be said 

 to live in a world of their own, and are the recipients of joys" and 

 sorrows, with which the world at large doth not intermeddle. 

 How pure, refined, and exquisite are the dehghts which fill the 

 mind Irom gazing on the mountain pass, the wood, the rocks, and 

 waterfalls ! 



Every art of amusement has its own set of rules to be known 

 and observed. Even in the acquisition of pleasure, we are so con- 

 stituted that we must pass through the gradation of regular in- 

 struction. Mind must oe thrown into everything, before perma- 

 nent delight can be realized and enjoyed. The art of shooting has, 

 therefore, its maxims and code of rules to be learned and fixed into 

 the judgment and understanding. No man can be a shooting 

 sportsman Avithout obtaining a knowledge of these, either by per- 

 sonal experience, or regular tuition, or more properly and most 

 generally, from both. In accordance with this view of the subject 

 to be treated of, we shall attempt to elucidate its various depart- 



