INTRODUCTION 



pher in his Sporting Jacket, and the present 

 edition is prepared for the delectation of ama- 

 teurs of the sports in our own land no less 

 than for the lovers of literature who will wel- 

 come it for its fresh charm and poetic spirit. 



Since Christopher in his Sporting Jacket is 

 one of thDse pieces of literature whose inter- 

 est inheres largely in the personalities of their 

 authors, it may not here be amiss to sketch 

 briefly the life and characteristics of a man 

 who, whatever may be the fate of his writ- 

 ings, will ever remain one of the most cap- 

 tivatingly eccentric figures in an age not 

 wanting in original geniuses. John Wilson, 

 or "Christopher North," as he chose to call 

 himself in his Black-wood days, was born of 

 well-to-do parents in the manufacturing town 

 of Paisley, in Scotland, in 1785. For his 

 schooling he was early sent to Mearns, a 

 country locality half hill and half dale, the 

 scenes of which formed the setting for those 

 early sporting adventures described in our 



[ix] 



