266 PRESERVATION OF GAME, 



Some, with a polite bow and shrug of the shoulders, 

 have pretended to be foreigners, who do not understand 

 a syllable of English, arid by this means deterred keepers 

 from asking those questions, which, if once put, the 

 usual penalty of twenty pounds would bind them to 

 answer. 



Others, regardless of either word or credit, most faith- 

 fully assure the keepers, that they have got leave from 

 their master, inquire after his health, pretend to be on 

 the most intimate terms with him and his acquaintance, 

 and (probably, knowing him to be from home) have 

 even had the effrontery to call at his house, in order to 

 give still more plausibility to their word. A keeper 

 should, therefore, always serve the notices on every one, 

 who is not perfectly well known to him. This may be 

 done with a degree of respect and civility, that could 

 offend no gentleman, and would often be the means of 

 outwitting many, who are regardless of all pretensions 

 to that name. 



Some attempt to carry their point by sheer bullying ; 

 threatening to box with, or shoot the keepers, and 

 (under a hope that their masters would not offer them- 

 selves as a target to every puppy who came to poach on 

 them) talk of " satisfaction " " pistols " " fighting in 

 a sawpit " and hold forth vaunting proposals, in which, 

 if they were once taken at their word, they would, in 

 all probability, like most bullies, or soi disant heroes, 

 who prattle too much about " fighting," be the very first 

 to sport the white feather ! They are not all men of 

 war who strut about with colossal brass spurs, and 

 ten shillings' worth of hair, like a magpie's nest, pasted 

 round their jowls. 



Though last not least, among the successful plans of 



