626 ikings of tbe 1Rot>, IRffle, an& (Bun 



over the gunwale, the gaff straightened, and the monster 

 was in the boat, whilst my father and I did a dance 

 of delight on the bank. This fellow weighed forty-six 

 pounds, the largest ever caught at Murthley." 



Millais generally killed his fifty big fish at Murthley 

 every season, and " rain or shine," says his son, " nearly 

 every day when it was possible to fish saw the old 

 sportsman flagging away at his favourite pools. His 

 energy was extraordinary. Even a young man finds 

 it pretty hard work to throw twenty or thirty yards of 

 line on a nineteen-feet rod continuously for six or seven 

 hours together ; but he delighted in doing it, and hardly 

 ever gave up his rod to Miller (the fisherman) to cast 

 in his stead." 



Mr. John Guille Millais' Life of his father contains 

 many capital stories of the great painter's prowess with 

 rod, rifle, and gun, for which I must direct the reader 

 to its charming pages, for it would be unfair to pilfer 

 more from it. One other quotation, however, I hope 

 the author will pardon me for making, and that is the 

 following description of Sir John Millais' last year's 

 sport in the autumn of 1895 : 



"To me too on September ist my father wrote in 

 encouraging terms : c I had excellent sport at Reiss,' 

 he says, ' killing to my own gun seventy brace of 

 driven birds. In four days we (six guns) got upwards 

 of 400 brace. Now I am keen on the fishing, which 

 ought to be good this year, as this last week has 

 been one continuous spate. To-morrow I ought to 

 be into them.' 



One incident of this year is interesting. During the 



