98 KEMINISCENCES OF A SPORTSMAJS". 



on these mountains, where these birds breed. Every- 

 day we had our dinner brought out to us at two o'clock, 

 which consisted of cold Welsh mutton, grouse, salad, 

 and a good allowance of home-brewed ale. This repast, 

 with keen appetites, was thoroughly enjoyed by us, 

 seated on the tops of the hills with the grand and ex- 

 tensive prospect around us. At the end of the week 

 my sporting friend left me ; his physical powers were 

 far inferior to my own, and he declared he was quite 

 done up with the great fatigue of walking over the 

 Welsh moors. I persevered in shooting for another 

 week, with alternate success, having, as I before said, 

 always the resource of some snipe shooting ; but at the 

 expiration of that time, a most determined rain set in, 

 night and day, which I bore patiently for eight and 

 forty hours, in the hope of a favourable change in the 

 weather. But in this I was disappointed, and what in- 

 creased my ennui was, that I could get no books from 

 my landlady but a Bible and " Hervey's * Meditations 

 among the Tombs," which had the effect of making me 

 so melancholy, combined with the weather and the want 

 of a companion, that I felt half inclined to jump into 

 the river Tivey ; so the next morning I ordered my dog 



the number of grouse destroyed, although there can be no doubt they 

 must have destroyed a great number as food for their young ones. If 

 Mr. Briggs had been my gamekeeper, and I found out he was indulging 

 his curiosity at the expense of the lives of such a number of grouse, I 

 should have dismissed him from my service. 



* James Hervey, a clergyman of exemplary piety, was born in 1714, 

 and succeeded his father in the living of Weston TurviUe and Colling- 

 tree, in Northamptonshire. This excellent divine died on Christmas 

 Day 1758, lea%'ing the little he possessed to buy warm clothing for the 

 poor in that severe season. No works are more generally known than his 

 " Meditations " and " Contemplations." 



