THE SPORTSMAN'S POOR NEIGHBOURS 327 



therefore I bade my poor friend sit still till I came back ; indeed 

 I was glad to get away, to become a man, as they say, once 

 more. Getting home as fast as I could, I obtained some nice 

 bread and meat, and filled a soda-water bottle with beer, and 

 went back to the gravel-pit. I sat down by the poor fellow, 

 and spread out the viands, in hope of seeing him fare rejoicingly; 

 he tried to eat to oblige me, but at last fairly said he had no 

 appetite, and would sooner keep the food by him as well as 

 the beer, out of which he swallowed but a spoonful or two. 

 Not liking to let him sleep out another night, my desire to serve 

 him got above my usual shilling, and on giving him half-a-crown, 

 and some more food, he rose and hobbled off in thankfulness on 

 his road to Lymington. I believe he was an object of charity ; 

 I think he said he came from Preston, or some of the manufac- 

 turing places, and that he had been a "compositor""; and I 

 hope that the little I could do for him was as acceptable to him 

 as it was to me, for, indeed, I was very well pleased. 



Let not people suppose that when a man leads the life of a 

 sportsman, that his time is thrown away on a course of life, un- 

 profitable as well as harsh to himself and the surrounding poor. 

 A sportsman's habits bring him into very wholesome contact 

 with all his neighbours, particularly with the yeoman and 

 labourer, who at times join him in the open-hearted spirit, which 

 a common pursuit and pleasure induces. The young lord of the 

 estate learns by personal practice to view his tenants in the light 

 of companions and friends, as well as mere machines to pay him 

 the rent, through which he procures his pleasures. Contact and 

 conversation with them in scenes of amusement give him an 

 insight into their characters, and show him that there may be 

 a very good soul contained in a smock-frock, and that it is not 

 always the best heart and readiest hand that beats under laced 

 vests or abides in a kid glove. The pleasures he pursues, though 

 guarded and asserted ever so strictly, should be shared in by his 

 tenants, and made to remunerate the labouring population as 

 much as possible, and they should be taught to discover that in 

 game-preserving, they invariably were the gainers, by an abstin- 



