246 SEPTEMBER. 



the hare, start forth in their wild beauty; 

 where the tall, dry grass and the autumnal tree 

 fill the soul with their richness — to the clear 

 and tinkling stream that stretches on alter- 

 nately through the bowery brake, the obscurity 

 of the wood, and the riant sunshine of open 

 fields. Is it merely the possession of his game 

 that delights him here ? The enthusiasm with 

 which he dwells on a sketch of Landseer's, which 

 merely pictures the same thing to his eye, is 

 a sufficient refutation of such a notion. His 

 every-day actions and words are denials of it. 

 He couches down for a momentary rest on the 

 hill-side, where the country opens before him 

 in pictorial loveliness. He flies from the pelt- 

 ing shower to the hut or tree, and recounts at 

 eve by his own fire-side, with his dogs basking 

 on the hearth before him, his whole day's round 

 of adventure, with every outward expression 

 of enthusiasm, with such happy and picturesque 

 phrases, as often make the places he speaks of 

 rise up before you, and with an inward glow of 

 happiness that exclaims to itself " This is life I" 

 I know that such are his feelings, and" there- 

 fore, notwithstanding that his pursuit cannot be 

 totally exempt from the charge of cruelty, it is 

 impossible not to sympathize with him. Yet, 

 to my thinking, shooting is, of all field-sports, 

 the least cruel ; the brutal mind will exhibit its 



