12 THE SHOOTER'S GUIDE. 



vigilance of the neighbouring lord of the manor 

 could not prevent from destroying game, is made 

 gamekeeper ; it is a dernier resort ; a notorious 

 poacher, a robber of hen-roosts, a nightly depre- 

 dator in fact, a vagabond whom every decent per- 

 son shuns, is generally found to possess the requisite 

 qualities for a gamekeeper ! But the mischief does 

 riot end here : a fellow of this description, backed by 

 an overbearing and tyrannical lord, becomes the pest 

 of the neighbourhood ; he enters the cottages of the 

 poor, without any warrant (well knowing that the 

 dread of his master's power, and the length of his 

 purse, are sufficient to deter them from attempting 

 to punish him for such outrageous violence), and 

 seizes their guns, though the bare keeping of such 

 an instrument by any person is just and legal; and 

 commits vexatious depredations in every possible 

 form. Nor does he refrain from molesting those 

 whose circumstances in life are sufficient to enable 

 them to pay for a game certificate, and who occa- 

 sionally take the diversion of shooting. It is true, 

 he dare not break into their houses and steal their 

 fowling-piece, or perhaps personally assault them ; 

 but should they look over the hedge which surrounds 

 his master's manor, they are sued for trespass, or tried 

 for qualification ; and the angry lord on this occasion 

 pursues the system of spending 3001 to put the de- 

 fendant to the expense of 30/. It often happens, 

 therefore, that a man will pay 5/. on the score of 

 qualification^ sooner than be involved in a law-suit^ 



