xxxviii PREFACE. 



the public, he had begun the business of 

 enlarging and of arranging the Kuno- 

 psedia ; but the chief part of the materials 

 was already in the possession of his friend, 

 in a state imperfect enough, but amply 

 sufficient for him to go to work with the 

 pupil : and being not a little anxious for 

 the success of his system, well knowing, 

 as he did, that " good shooting is a very 

 necessary ingredient in the making of 

 good dogs/' and aware of some material 

 deficiencies on the part of his friend in 

 this respect, he volunteered this attempt 

 to give a greater accuracy to the hands 

 in which its credit was so immediately at 

 stake. 



Having thus taken up the fowling-piece, 

 with a view of giving instructions for its 

 use, the subject led him directly to a dis- 

 cussion of its power and its construction : 

 and here it was that he got diverted out 

 of his original course. He had a peculiar 

 fondness for whatever came within the 

 compass of an ingenious use of figures, as 



