THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



was lie ever seen with a gun in his hand, the reason for which 

 was a ludicrous one. On being asked by a visitor to Mr. Raby, 

 why he did not join the shooting party of that morning, he 

 accounted for it in the following words : — * I was once,' said 

 he, 'inclined to the sport of the gun, but a circumstance that 

 had nearly been attended with consequences which would have 

 rendered me miserable for life, determined me to abandon it. 

 My sight is imperfect ; that is to say, I am, what is called, 

 near-sighted ; and being once in a wood with my gun, I espied 

 what I took to be a fine full-grown black rabbit, under a furze- 

 bush. I fired at, and, thank God, missed it, for it proved to 

 be the head of the most intimate friend of my youth, who had 

 laid himself at full length on the ground, to enable him to get 

 a shot at a hare. The shock to my nerves was so great, that, 

 to this day, the report of a gun brings instantly to my mind 

 the head of my friend under the furze-bush.' 



Although no sportsman, as far as horses and guns were 

 concerned, Mr. Egerton had other ways of amusing himself 

 abroad. He was an excellent fisherman, considering the dis- 

 ciple of the angle, probably, as pursuing an apostolical recrea- 

 tion, which, I believe, Izaak Walton did before him. He was, 

 also, a musician, playing beautifully on the violoncello and the 

 flute. But the swmmum bonum, in the way of indoor amuse- 

 ment, was a rubber at whist, at which he was truly a trii7np. 

 In fact, whoever got the parson for a partner, considered him 

 worth one point in the game, and half a crown would now and 

 then be ventured on the rubber, on the strength of his fine play. 

 But notwithstanding these recreations, in which Mr. Egerton 

 freely indulged himself, at proper times and seasons, no man 

 could have performed his two-fold duties more sedulously than 

 he discharged his. In the preparation of his two pupils for 

 Eton, he succeeded eminently, and in his calling, as curate of 

 the parish, he gave universal satisfaction both in and out of 

 church. 



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