LIFE OF MYTTON. i6i 



either pistol or rifle in his hand. It has, however, 

 been represented to me that he was a most superior 

 marksman with a rifle, so superior indeed as to be 

 able to hit the edge of a razor at the distance of thirty 

 yards, and occasionally to split his ball ! " Credat 

 JudcEtis"- — I do not add '' noii ego;" yet I never 

 chanced to hear of such a wonderful performance. 

 But I will transcribe the rest of the story, and leave 

 my readers to make the best of it. 



"He would," writes my informant, " cross the yard 

 at Halston, and shoot from one of the iron gates on 

 the drive, or carriage road, to the coal-house wall, a 

 distance of fifty-five yards, and put his ball through 

 the peg-hole of a trimmer (used for pike-fishing). 

 The trimmer-cork, in this instance, was placed on the 

 tame fox's cub, or kennel, with the flat side towards 

 Mytton's aim ; and it invariably fell to the ground on 

 each time of being fired at, the ball actually going 

 through the aperture where the peg of the trimmer is 

 put in, and not above an inch and a half diameter, 

 covered with a piece of white paper, pasted thereon, 

 to ascertain the fact ! This he has done over and 

 over again, to the amazement of all who have wit- 

 nessed it, and with his rifle io his sJiotdder, and not 

 on a rest, as might be imagined by some. Talk of 



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