BOPPART. 251 



deer, hares, and partridges that had fallen beneath his 

 unerring aim. He even hinted to some distant and wonder- 

 ful adventures with stags and wild boars, but it was not 

 until he had arrived at his sixth or seventh chopine of 

 Geisenheinnerthat he ventured upon these dangerous grounds, 

 and even then with a sort of nervous uncertainty, that 

 evinced he had either forgotten or was not well acquainted 

 with the subject, It was by his introduction that I became 

 acquainted with Herr Gogel- the worthy proprietor of a fine 

 old hostelrie not many miles distant broad in the shoulder, 

 broader in the beam, radiant of countenance, every dimple in 

 his broad face beaming and glowing with the sun-set tints of 

 the choicest vintages from his cellars. It was a fine sight to 

 see him standing in the ancient court-yard of his own inn, 

 surrounded by oaken beams, wine tuns, and narrow windows, 

 like the illustration of " Der lied von der Glocke" I was 

 introduced to him as an " echtergl Englander" a good sort of 

 Englishman, and soon procured permission from him to fish 

 in a small stream that ran through some meadows behind 

 his house, and contained both trout and grayling, on condi- 

 tion of my either sending the produce of my sport to the 

 hotel, or paying for the same by weight, at the rate of a half 

 gulden per pound, about three times more than they were 

 worth ! This was, however, generally satisfactorily arranged 

 by my sending the contents of my creel to the hotel, where I 

 not only dined or supped, but washed down many a forellen 

 gebraten with divers flasks of my hosts Eauenthaler, and in 

 his excellent society. Indeed, such intimate friends had we 

 become, that he invited me to a great shooting party that was 

 about to be organized by himself and several of his friends, 

 over the surrounding country, in fact the opening of the 

 chasse for that year; in other words, our 1st of September. 



Some time before daylight I was aroused by what I 

 imagined was a discharge of grape-shot against my window, 



