162 



and a letter now before me, convince me that 

 they do stand in very serious need. And to do 

 my best towards a conversion of the disappoint- 

 ments arising from your present undirected 

 randoms, into the conscious triumph of decisive 

 shots ; and from the storehouse of materials 

 which I have occasionally been collecting on 

 this subject, to draw forth and to arrange such 

 further useful information, as may give you 

 a greater command of arms, as well as a more 

 decided knowledge of their effect ; enabling 

 you thereby to take the field with greater con- 

 fidence; and, without fear of rejection, to fulfil 

 your present laudable intention of enrolling 

 yourself as a KNIGHT Companion of the honour- 

 able Order of THE TRIGGER. 



If, in the character I have assumed as pro- 

 fessor, I had considered myself as delivering a 

 course of lectures to mere novices, who for the 

 first time were about to have a fowling-piece 

 put into their hands, in that case, a good deal 

 of this preliminary instruction might have been 

 expedient, for the purpose of bringing their 

 fingers acquainted with their weapon, and of 

 giving them an adequate knowledge of their 

 right hand from their left. But with you, and 

 a thousand others in the same predicament, 

 who only want to be put in the way of its more 



