194 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



whose name I did not know. In the letter I 

 proposed that he should write a complete work 

 on Shooting, to be what Hawker's work was 

 forty years ago. He never did it; but this 

 was the beginning of my friendship with this 

 most interesting man." 



u He never did it." Jefferies could never 

 do anything which did not spring from his 

 own brain. He has written admirable pages on 

 kindred subjects he was the very man to write 

 such a book and it would undoubtedly have 

 proved a most popular book. Why, there is 

 not a gentleman's house in the three kingdoms 

 or the colonies which would not desire to have 

 a copy of such a work. But the work was 

 proposed to him by another man, therefore 

 Jefferies could not see his way to put his 

 heart in it. However, he did think of it : 

 he even went so far as to draw up a scheme 

 of the work. He would have chapters on 

 the gun, the gun-room, the art of shooting, 

 etiquette of the field, the dog, the various 

 kinds of game, and so forth. Presently, we 

 hear that the book is actually begun ; that 

 there are difficulties about getting information 



