INTRODUCTION. 2 I 



stop a cock in a July brake, or land a four-pounder, with- 

 out a gaff, on a single gut. 



It is a fact undeniable, and there be many yet alive, 

 beside myself, who know it, that, when T. Cypress, jun., 

 was inditing those exquisite bits of natural and sporting 

 humorism, his Fire-island-ana, and other similar morsels 

 of unsurpassed simplicity and art, which and which alone 

 have made his name to be remembered ; it was under the 

 strictest seal of secrecy that he communicated his produc- 

 tions to the favored few, who were allowed to introduce 

 them to the world, — it was in fear and trembling, in some 

 sort, that he saw himself in print; and with a firm con- 

 viction that, if it should be once discovered, that he, a 

 practising counsellor of high standing in New York, was 

 actually guilty of the authorship of genre sketches, on 

 sporting subjects, second, if second only — as I think not 

 second, but superior — to Elia Lamb's best Essays, " Othel- 

 lo's occupation" were done for ever. That to be an author 

 first, and then a lover of field-sports, must be the " deep 

 damnation" of any New York lawyer, though he wore a 

 Blackstone himself, and a Coke upon him. 



At that time no man, however fine a scholar, however 

 brilliant an artist, was held altogether reputable as an 

 associate, or entirely right in his mind, if he were not 

 wholly and solely devoted to business; and the only 

 business, which was esteemed business, in the eyes of the 

 wise men of Gotham, was that of making and hoarding 

 money. 



. In many respects matters have mended since that 

 time. It has been discovered that there are other uses for 



