" (Tbristopbcr Worth " 189 



pursued with ardour the sports that he loved. In 

 shooting he professed, like Colonel Hawker, to be a 

 believer in the old flint-locks, and thus expresses his 

 opinion upon them in the " Recreations " : 



" Let us inspect Brown Bess. Till sixty, we used a 

 single barrel. At seventy we took to a double ; but 

 dang detonators we stick to the flint. ' Flint,' says 

 Colonel Hawker, 'shoots strongest into the bird.' A 

 percussion gun is quicker, but flint is fast enough, and it 

 does, indeed, argue rather a confusion than a rapidity of 

 ideas to find fault with lightning for being too slow. 

 With respect to the flash in the pan, it is but a fair 

 warning to ducks, for example, to dive if they can, and 

 get out of the way of mischief. It is giving birds a 

 chance for their lives, and is it not ungenerous to grudge 

 it ? When our gun goes to our shoulder, that chance is 

 but small ; for with double-barrel Brown Bess, it is but a 

 word and a blow, the blow first, and long before you 

 could say Jack Robinson, the gorcock plays thud on the 

 heather. But we beg leave to set the question at rest 

 for ever by one single clencher. We have killed fifty 

 birds grouse at fifty successive shots one bird only 

 to the shot. And mind you, not mere pouts cheepers 

 for we are no chicken butchers but all thumpers 

 cocks and hens as big as their parents, and the parents 

 themselves likewise ; not one of which fell out of bounds 

 (to borrow a phrase from the somewhat silly though 

 skilful pastime of pigeon-shooting), except one that 

 suddenly soared half way up to the moon, and then 



Into such strange vagaries fell 

 As he would dance, 



