112 



PIGEON -COTS AND 



This destructive diversion, utterly unknown to 

 our ancestors, can only be kept up by a vast supply 

 of old dove-cot pigeons. Now, farmers never part 

 with these birds. They know better than to do 

 that, which would be so ruinous to their real 

 interests. They are wiser than to kill the goose 

 which lays the golden egg. 



What then is to be done? Young Mr. Draper 

 wants to try a new gun : Squire Goodaim is eager 

 to shew his skill in shooting, before an assembled 

 multitude : — his sweetheart sits, no doubt, in the 

 foremost ranks: — and Tunley (Smollett's name for 

 an innkeeper) has his eye on an opening to dispose 

 of his excellent beer by the hogshead. Urgent 

 reasons these for destroying kidnapped pigeons ! 

 Under the pressure of such weighty circumstances, 

 a letter is despatched to some country game- 

 vendor, for a large supply of living pigeons, which 

 birds, he is perfectly aware, cannot be supplied by 

 honest means. The game-vendor immediately 

 summons a poacher from the neighbourhood, 

 where well- stocked dove-cots offer a supply. The 

 parties soon understand each other. A bargain is 

 now made ; — and before daylight the next morning, 

 hampers with living pigeons, arrive at the nearest 

 railway- station, on their route to the appointed 

 shooting match ; from which novel field of carnage 



