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tuations of resolve inseparable from a state of 

 suspense. From the time of the first spring 

 till the bird arrives at killing distance, a man 

 wants employment; and, as in other cases of 

 the same irksome situation, he very often sets 

 on to do mischief. You must certainly not go 

 to sleep; but you must restrain impetuosity. I 

 can not allow quite enough to smoke a pipe in ; 

 but if you are clever, you may almost contrive 

 to catch a pinch of snuff. In short, Sir, calcu- 

 lating time by any means adapted to the rate 

 at which the animal spirits are moving, from the 

 instant a bird rises, its amount will be consider- 

 able : and to gain as much of this upon your- 

 self as you can, in order to separate these 

 motions, and prevent their interrupting each 

 other at this important moment, is one of the 

 leading principles of our art. I do not pretend 

 to say, that I have on all occasions kept the 

 cock of my gun down under this perfection of 

 restraint : but, Sir, I am delivering institutes ; 

 and must not be interrupted by the challenge 

 of some casual deviation, which may arise from 

 existing circumstances. This however I will 

 say, from perfect recollection, that the best 

 shots I have ever made in my life, have been 

 when, from a state of previous control under 

 the thumb at half bent, the cock has been raised 

 only ^s the bird was ascending to mark : and 



