PARTRIDGE . SHOOTING. 151 



an increase of noise that would set the birds on the run ; 

 and it would be as vain to attempt the suppression 

 of the one as the other. In short, I would back the 

 double-mounted gent, against the great squire and his 

 stud. Two on a horse, and the 6i cad " to be helmsman, 

 is an excellent way of giving the shooter the liberty of 

 his hands, the moment a covey springs unexpectedly. 

 Recollect too, in wood, about five feet high, a mounted 

 man can shoot where one on his legs cannot see ; and 

 again, if a hare runs straight away, she may be killed 

 ten yards further, if you are well above her, and catch 

 her head and pole clear of her high rump. All these 

 little et ceteras are what we may call the finish : as to 

 ordinary sporting, in the present day, we may as well 

 tell a man how to eat his dinner. Double-mounted 

 markers are always ready to act in any country. I 

 took the hint from the French cavalry, who had fre- 

 quently riflemen mounted up behind them, for the pur- 

 pose of what, as a foxhunter, I should call " drawing 

 the covers." Mounted markers have a droll appearance ; 

 so let us choose a respectable group of them for a new 

 frontispiece, as our old one is getting rather stale. 

 But, as going out with a banditti of this kind appears 

 like any thing but fair sporting, it is highly necessary 

 that I should explain why it was done. The country 

 which it became necessary to scour, in one's own de- 

 fence, was in an absolute state of siege with contending 

 shooters ; insomuch that, unless you killed the birds 

 down, within the first ten days, you could scarcely make 

 up a basket for a friend. Directly the birds got wild, 

 and began to run, they were cleared off by wholesale, 

 with a new mode of snaring, in places too far from home 

 to be conveniently defended from poachers. Now, 

 however, this country is preserved and in peace ; and 



