150 Ifcinss of tbe 1Rofc, IRtfle, anfc <3un 



the tedium of a long journey by shooting on the way ! 

 Take the following entry, for example, descriptive of 

 a journey by mail-coach to Exeter in 1811 : " We were 

 a delightfully jolly party, and it not being post-day, the 

 mail stopped whenever we saw game, and during the 

 journey I killed four brace of partridges. When it was 

 too dark to shoot our party mounted the roof and sang 

 choruses (which I joined in and drove) and in which 

 the guard and coachman took a very able part." Happy 

 old days indeed when a sportsman could hop off the 

 coach and bag a brace whenever he saw a covey, without 

 troubling his head as to whether he were trespassing or 

 not ! Though possibly landowners and game-preservers 

 might not altogether have relished the random visits of 

 these peripatetic gunners. 



As illustrative of the non-sporting phases of the 

 Colonel's character, let me quote these two entries oddly 

 sandwiched between two fishing items. 



" March i %th. London. I was till now, an invalid, but 

 being this day a little better, I went (wrapped up) in 

 the evening to Covent Garden Theatre in order to hear 

 my favourite overture of ' Der Freischiitz ' conducted 

 by the immortal composer himself, Carl Maria von 

 Weber. Nothing could be more sublimely beautiful, 

 and the applause that was drawn forth by the appear- 

 ance of this great composer was no less flattering than 

 just. 



igth. Sunday. The best sermon (for explanation of 

 the Scripture, analogy, metaphor, language, logic, and 

 energetic delivery) that I have ever yet heard, was this 

 day preached at St. Mary's, Bryanstone Square, by the 



