422 ikings of tfoe 1Rot>, IRffle, an& Gun 



for one single moment. See what a boundless field 

 for action is here, and what a sense of power these rifles 

 give you, which are fatal at such an immense distance ! 

 When you are in good training, and feel that you can 

 command the deer, your bodily powers being equal 

 to take every possible chance, the delight of this chase 

 is excessive ; and here ends my eulogy." 



But those " bodily powers " must be exceptional, and 

 Scrope's enumeration of the physical and mental qualities 

 necessary to form an ideal deer-stalker is enough to 

 make any ordinary man quail from attempting a sport 

 so exacting. His muscle must be of marble and his 

 sinews of steel ; he must be able to run like an antelope 

 and breathe like the trade-winds. He must be a 

 stranger to sleep, with a hand steady as a rock, and 

 at times wholly without a pulse. He must be " patient 

 under suspense and disappointment, calm and unruffled 

 in moments of intense interest." And he must be 

 temperate to the verge of asceticism. His potations 

 in particular must be moderate. None of your floods 

 of whisky-toddy whereof Christopher romanced in the 

 " Noctes " ! No ; moderation strict moderation ! But 

 it is when he comes to define moderation that we 

 perceive that the author of " The Art of Deer-stalking " 

 has his tongue in his cheek : 



"The best part of a bottle of champagne may be 

 allowed at dinner : this is not only venial but salutary. 

 A few tumblers of brandy and soda-water are greatly 

 to be commended, for they are cooling. Whisky can- 

 not reasonably be objected to, for it is an absolute 

 necessary, and does not come under the name of 



