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and the occasional fires, by furnishing the means 

 of comparing what is passing within his breast 

 in the two relative situations, will teach him the 

 necessity of winding up the pegs of his interior 

 into a most unmoved indifference under either. 

 It is only upon the occasion of a miss-fire in the 

 field, that a man can be satisfied of his having 

 completely covered his bird at the moment of 

 intended shot: by appealing to which occa- 

 sions, and the then conviction of what was the 

 state of our level at the time, I do apprehend 

 that all of us have had reason to conclude how 

 very much, upon other occasions, we have owed 

 to accident. Be that as it may: I would use 

 this conviction for the purpose of establishing 

 upon my pupil a more corrected and a steadier 

 level. At a moment when I am on the point 

 of introducing him to his game, I must con- 



gun, after a flash in the pan, suddenly brought down to hip, 

 and then ploughing up the ground at some ten yards distance ; 

 not without a chance, I confess, of securing a tail-bird of the 

 covey not yet risen, but with a much greater chance of 

 executing somewhat severe justice upon poor Ponto, for 

 having broke forward without orders, in hopes of a find-dead, 

 In moist weather, in spite of every care, the train through 

 the touchhole will be liable to linger, like the fuse of a 

 rocket. In every case of burnt priming, therefore, let your 

 nerves take the alarm ; keep hold of the flight if you can : 

 you have a chance, though but a bad one. 



