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apt to break away from me among the coveys, 

 before he has permitted me to do my duty to 

 him. The fitful fever of getting on too fast is 

 a disease which all young sportsmen are very 

 liable to be infected with ; and I wish it were in 

 my power to convince them how very much it 

 impedes their progress. Festina lente, my good 

 fellows, be the motto of every individual among 

 you, who is eager to arrive at early excellence : 

 in the sincere endeavour to enable him to do 

 which, I must request an immediate dismission 

 of the game-bag, together with its counter- 

 balance of shot-belt, and other accoutrements ; 

 with which a pardonable vanity, and a too 

 extravagant estimate of his own powers, may 

 have induced him prematurely to equip himself 

 for the field. It will be quite soon enough for 

 him to assume the full dress of our order, when 

 he shall have learned to face his game : a phrase 

 of somewhat more awful import than he is at 

 present, perhaps, quite aware of; and for the 

 accomplishing of which, I have yet to make 

 no inconsiderable call upon his patience and 

 resolution. I know no one case, indeed, within 

 the whole scheme of moral practice, where the 

 plus facit qui se ipsum vincit of antiquity so 

 well applies, as in the business immediately 

 before us. 



