BEMINISCENCES OF THE LEWS. ' 251 



the Horse-guards in the Cirencester Woods, 

 only nothing near so fine. Here were as- 

 sembled a motley crew of chasseurs, dogs, 

 and piqueurs. There was one of the sports- 

 men particularly attracted my attention, and 

 who attached himself to me at once. He 

 examined all my accoutrements, and found a 

 singular fault with my gun — viz., that the 

 locks were bad, because the cocks did not go 

 far back enough, and consequently had not 

 sufficient play, or force, to strike the hammers 

 hard enough to give good fire. No reasoning 

 I possessed could make my friend understand 

 that the goodness of a lock depended on the 

 proper balancing of the springs. These were 

 flint- and- steel days, remember. But don't 

 laugh at my friend — whom I shall call Cara- 

 bine ; he was a thorough and enthusiastic 

 sportsman, and such a walker I never saw in 

 my life ! I think his legs could not have been 

 flesh and bone and muscles and sinews ; they 

 surely were catgut and wire. He seemed 

 hardly to touch the ground. He had walked 

 that morning from Rennes ; he walked the 

 forest all day at the heels of the hounds ; and 

 what he did shall be seen at its close. 



The guns lined one of the alleys down-wind, 

 and the forest, or different quarters of it, were 



