HISTORICAL 69 



down at a rapid pace, without dogs, and treading 

 the stubbles till I was ready to drop, but deter- 

 mined to die game. I fought to the last, but 

 through over-anxiety and fatigue, I missed two 

 fair shots ; but, at last, just at the farewell of 

 daylight a covey rose from the feed. I ' up gun ' 

 and down came a bird as dead as a hammer, a 

 long shot; so gave three cheers (the butcher's 

 halloo for 20 brace) and came home in triumph 

 with 40 partridges on a pole. 



Thus far the Colonel, no bad type of 

 the old English country gentleman, albeit 

 a man of the world and no mean musician 

 to boot. If these samples have interested 

 any, we can recommend the whole diary, 

 preserved for us by the hands of Sir 

 Ralph Payne Gallwey. A good book 

 for the 'young idea/ wherein a later 

 generation may take a lesson in pluck and 

 endurance, for the Colonel would never 

 own himself beat, handicapped though he 

 was by somewhat indifferent general 

 health and an unserviceable leg, for his 

 thigh was shattered by a ball at Talavera, 

 when serving with his regiment, the 14th 

 Light Dragoons. 



As guns and powder improved in 



