TIPS 455 



present of money. While we condemn blackmail, 

 secret commissions, or baksheesh in toto, our object is 

 not to advocate the abolition of tipping, but merely to 

 press home the point that it should be kept in modera- 

 tion, and with this all sensible keepers will agree. But 

 if we count these shootings by the tens, we can 

 enumerate the other sort by the twenties ; and so ex- 

 cessive are the expectations of some keepers in these 

 latter cases, that it is only the man of unlimited or very 

 great means who can accept invitations to shoot. The 

 man of moderate means, in fact, has to fall back upon 

 moderate shootings, and the only deduction we can 

 draw from this fact is that a guest has in reality to pay 

 for his sport. We all know the story of the " Sovs. 

 and Half-Sovs." "Put the sovereigns at the wood 

 end, Bill, and the half-sovs. can walk with the beaters 

 and stop back." But nowadays " sovs. and half-sovs." 

 pale before the two guineas and the five-pound notes 

 which are expected by some keepers, not for rendering 

 any particular individual services, but simply because 

 they are ipso facto keepers, and expect to be paid by 

 the guests for the birds which they have had sent over 

 the guns. So marked is the disagreeable attitude of 

 some keepers to men of moderate means, that we are 

 not surprised to hear of the increasing difficulty experi- 

 enced by some sportsmen of getting guns. And it is 

 a curious fact that, in our small experience at least, 

 some of the very best shots are comparatively poor 

 men, and not scions of an irresponsible plutocracy. 



