HISTORICAL 65 



Mr. Aimwell's final dictum that 



sport is very uncertain, and even the best marks- 

 men have oftentimes their miscarriages ; you may 

 go out several times and not get many shoots, 

 and unless a man is very alert, and strong enough 

 to undergo a deal of fatigue, he can attain the art 

 of shooting flying but very slowly. 



Still the sportsmen of other days 

 managed to get quite as much fun out 

 of their shooting though their weapons 

 were uncertain and game scarce and hard 

 to find as any one who takes part in the 

 less arduous but infinitely more produc- 

 tive shooting of to-day. We have only 

 to read their diaries, to find a naive, 

 whole-hearted enthusiasm about shooting 

 in general, and their own deeds in par- 

 ticular, which seems somewhat lacking 

 among their descendants. 



The third Earl of Malmesbury, who 

 began to shoot in 1798, closed the long 

 record of his shooting career by entering 

 in his diary that in 40 seasons he had 

 fired 54,987 shots, killing 38,475 head of 

 game (of which rather more than the 

 fourth part were partridges), walking 



