AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
287 
breezes from the south west, attended by a thin veil of 
clouds. The breeze died away by two o’clock, P. M. 
leaving us the -afternoon free alike from sun or wind. 
The ground was measured, targets placed, ropes adjust- 
ed, and all other duties performed, by the various squads 
detailed for those purposes, the roll called, and the regula- 
tions read previous to three o’clock, precisely at which 
time the shooting commenced. 
It is not a little amusing to witness the varied expressions 
of the different individuals, when they take their places on 
the stand; their gentlemanly deportment, to which I have 
before alluded, prevents all further demonstration of their 
feelings than that which is evinced by the compressed or 
quivering lip, or the bent brow; and towards the conclusion 
when se much depends on firmness, the determination to 
subdue the trembling of anxiety, so fatal to success in our 
pleasing but difficult art. 
We would not envy that man’s feelings, though he should 
win the prize, who could be insensible to the reflection, that 
some heart in the neighbouring group, was then beating res- 
ponsive, with pulsations more anxious than his own, that 
those bright eyes would follow, and fain direct, the quiver- 
ing arrow as it flew, and those lips that are for us such kind 
advocates, were then breathing, a gentle prayer for our suc- 
cess; he that could not feel under such circumstances, let 
him be for ever unblest, and let his arrow, like the seventh 
bullet of the wild huntsman, recoil upon himself. 
This is not all fancy, for the excitement of the occasion 
has, nearly in every case, prevented that successful de- 
monstration of skill, so desirable for a prize contest. The 
following is the number and value of the hits of each com- 
petitor, and 
in 
the order 
in 
which they 
are enumerated: 
1st 
/k 
20 hits 
value 
66 
2 
13 
cc 
cc 
41 
3 
5 
6 
cc 
14 
4 
1 
9 
cc 
“ 
23 
5 
3 
12 
cc 
34 
nearest to centre. 
6 
6 
3 
cc 
cc 
11 
7 
9 
C C 
cc 
27 
S 
j; 
2 
CC 
CC 
4 
9 [ 
5 
<c 
cc 
13 
79 
233 
By which it will be se ( en that ^ was entitled to the first 
prize, which was accordingly presented to him by ^ 
The secondary prize, it will also be seen, was won by 
the twice lucky 3 
There were but three hits in the Gold during the after- 
noon, and, as a curious coincidence, let me remark, that 
like the last year |§| held his post nearest to the centre 
until late in the afternoon, when he was displaced, by the 
same fortunate hand that had snatched, in the former year, 
not the cup from his lip, but the buckle from his belt.* 
The time of shooting was two hours precisely, and the 
distance eighty yards. 
It would be great injustice to pass without notice, the 
handsome style of the new members of the Club, in the 
manner of discharging their arrows; it was difficult for those 
that knew them not, to say which were the oldest, or which 
the youngest archers. 
In conclusion, Messrs. Editors, let me, in personal vindi- 
cation, remark, that although I have sent you the most ego- 
tistical communication you have ever published, yet I am 
really the most modest man in the Club, with a single ex- 
ception, and he is the ||. 
Yours, truly. 
* Alluding to the form of the prizes. 
A 
ON BAD PRACTICES AMONG SPORTSMEN. 
Messrs. Editors. 
Being nothing better than & gunner, it will hardly be ex- 
pected that I should be much accustomed to writing moral 
essays; but were that the case, and my capability unques- 
tionable, it might still be doubted whether the columns of 
a work like yours, are the most fit in the world to make an 
exhibition of my talent. I am no great lecturer on morality; 
nor do I wish to be too fastidious in criticising the habits 
and manners of my brother sportsmen, yet I cannot help 
thinking there are some practices among them, which might 
be amended, and a few perhaps entirely omitted, without 
taking from their characters as choice spirits, or diminish- 
ing in any degree the pleasures of their py,rsuits; and, 
therefore, as in general they have but little morality in the 
field, I will, with your permission, give them a smattering 
of it in the closet. 
It has been said, and the saying has been ten thousand 
times quoted that, “No man is a hero to his valet de cham- 
bre;” and as I have no pretensions to the character of a 
hero, nor yet filled the situation of a valet, (though heaven 
alone knows what any of us may come to), I am unable to 
vouch for the truth of this doctrine; but I can certainly see 
no reason why a sportsman should not be a gentleman 
even to his dog. 
Of what use therefore, is it to ‘ damn ’ a dog for every 
fault he commits? To hie him on! to call him back! or to 
bring him to the down charge! in the language of a black- 
guard! And what good purpose can it possibly answer, to 
correct him for an ordinary error, in a speech garnished with 
oaths of such vulgar grossness, as would disgrace the most 
abandoned of the inhabitants of Bridewell? 
I was once acquainted with an old gunner, who, though 
