430 GAME LAWS. 



or a sick person, and another, who wantonly de- 

 stroyed it in open violation of the law. 



The act for refusing to give names ; 



The periods for killing game, with the mere alteration of de- 

 ferring partridge-shooting till October ; 



And a proper time fixed for killing hares, which has never yet 

 been done ! 



The act for killing pigeons ; 



The duty on dogs, &c. ; may remain as they now stand 5 



Except that these, and what few other laws it may 

 be necessary to extract from the old statutes, should 

 be taken from the chaos in which they are at present 

 immured ; made as clear as, possible ; and compressed 

 into one act in the present reign. But let all the 

 contradictory nonsense about Henry, James, Anne, 

 &c., be thrown into the fire, as being so complex as 

 often to confuse even lawyers themselves, and there- 

 fore calculated only to ensnare the unwary, and be 

 a subject of ridicule to every man of common sense. 



Game laws, or any other laws, admitting them to 

 be the best measures ever adopted, may, for want 

 of being consistently arranged, and justly modified, 

 be completely changed in their features, and laid 

 fairly open, not only to the tap-diverting sarcasms of 

 travesty patriots, but to the just criticism of respect- 

 able people. Yet, however judgmatically the game 

 laws might be arranged, it becomes highly necessary, 

 that these laws, as well as every concern, if rendered 

 of a serious nature, should be supported by such 



