PREFACE. 



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Of all the sciences which have fallen under human 

 contemplation, less, perhaps, has been written on the 

 subject of Hunting than any other ; not that it is so cir- 

 cumscribed as to admit of little elucidation, but because 

 sportsmen, occupied by the practical business of the 

 chase, have not sufficient leisure, or probably seldom 

 feel the inclination, to bestow that labour which is indis- 

 pensable to such undertakings. The sportsmen of old, 

 who have bequeathed us their notions on hunting, are 

 to be read more as matter of curiosity than as sources 

 from which may be derived any practical utility, since 

 the progress of time has, in a great degree, oblitera- 

 ted the old system of field sports. Amongst the sports- 

 men of what may be called modern days, Somervile 

 has given us his opinion in an elegant poem ; and 

 Beckford, more recently, published his volume of sen- 

 sible Letters ; these, with trifling exception, might be 

 said to constitute all that has been written (at least in 

 modern days) on the subject of hunting ; if we except 

 the late publication of Colonel Cook, which I have not 



