PREFACE. XXxix 



well as for the superior contrivances of 

 mechanism ; in which last he had acquired 

 no inconsiderable skill : and conceiving 

 that he had acquitted himself to the full 

 extent of his friend's speculation for the 

 establishment of a kennel, by the ample 

 means here supplied of " creating one 

 good dog/' he felt himself as it were on a 

 kind of landing-place, where he might 

 stop awhile to take his breath ; and was in 

 no wise solicitous to put a finishing hand 

 to his dog-discipline, so far as the public 

 were further concerned in it; or to press 

 himself forward on their notice, until his 

 mind had run its course, in its own 

 way, over some favourite topics; upon 

 which the intimate knowledge he had 

 acquired of the construction of the gun, 

 and a miscellaneous collection of obser- 

 vations and experiments concerning its 

 effects, that from one time to another had 

 been accumulating with him, had put it 

 in his power to expatiate. Hence the 

 " Instructions to the Shooter," together 

 with the supplementary chapters growing 



