FIREARMS, USE AND ABUSE OF THEM. 125 



on full cock, and the trigger pressed, off she goes, to 

 a certainty. Dangerous as they always must be, 

 the only real prevention or safety is never on any 

 occasion to point a gun, loaded or unloaded, at any- 

 body ; and when shooting to carry the muzzle up, 

 and not in a line with your friends' or the beaters' 

 stomachs. Quick loading, quick shooting, and a great 

 deal of jealousy is the order of the present day ; and 

 I will venture to say that in any large shooting 

 party there will always be found two or three what 

 are called keen shots but for which I will write 

 "jealous" shots who make themselves remarkable 

 and disagreeable by walking out of line, and with 

 both barrels cocked, and their fingers on the triggers, 

 swing their guns to and fro like a gardener with a 

 water syringe watering his young carnations, or some 

 of his beloved tender plants. The practice in one 

 case is good and necessary, but in the other most 

 reprehensible, and in no way necessary or comfort- 

 able to a person's abdominal viscera, should she 

 chance to go out with you. 



To show how an accident may happen where there 

 is no carelessness, I will relate one that might have 

 been very serious. Mr. Guildford Onslow, of Tich- 

 borne fame, who was an old friend of mine, used, as 



