THE HUSBANDMAN AND SPORTSMAN. 6 



and require a corresponding variation in his procedure. 

 The piercing note of the wild swan, high in the frosty 

 heavens, and the " booming " of the bittern from the 

 " sedgy shallow," arouse his attention and awaken 

 his destructive energies to action. Husbandman and 

 sportsman are alike in one respect, — they both take 

 a deep and active interest in some of the phenomena 

 of nature ; but by these phenomena you are compara- 

 tively unmoved. They do not furnish you with 

 EMPLOYMENT. You pay a passing tribute to the chaste 

 beaut}' of the snowdrop, or to the matin song of the 

 sky-lark, and pursue your path without that degree 

 of interest being excited, which suggests something 

 to be done, some difficulty to be surmounted, or some 

 information to be acquired. You observe them, but 

 they do not influence your pursuits — 5'ou see them, 

 but you seek not to investigate the mechanism of the 

 one, or the habits of the other. 



I do believe, that if the true cause of your dis- 

 satisfaction were explored, it would be found to 

 spring from what I consider a radical error in the 

 system of education pursued in our universities. You 

 have passed through the usual course with honour — 

 you have on many occasions won " golden opinions 

 from all sorts of people," and yet I do venture to 

 assert that the defects in this verj'^ course of educa- 

 tion, are the primary causes of your present discon- 



B 2 



