I told bim what you said about colour; but it wouldn't do : it was getting late, and I shot the dog accidentally, of course. She has just got over it; but Smith will not get over it just at present, I fear.

Uncle S.-I'm not surprised at Smith being a little out of temper, I confess. Was any one else shooting in your neighbourhood ?

Neph.-Oh! yes. Dudley Cleverly : he's a literary character, and shoots for his health : he looked miserable: we dined together two or three times. There was our old friend, too_Von Knickerbochen—who was determined to see some English shooting. “I go for the chase on the Highlands," said he, “because it is to me agreeable the fresh air to feel, the mountain to climb, as in mine home in the little Schweitz.” And, true enough, there he was, with a rifle in a sling, a full suit of green clothing, and a bob-tailed pointer, wbich walked by his side ; a boy in buttons carried a red umbrella, a campstool, and a mackintosh for the Baron, at an humble distance behind. Caradoc, who was with him, never shot a bird the whole week for laughing. There was Jemmy Shaw, and his new wife, with a cottage a mile off: he came there for quiet; and he says that since the 12th of August neither he nor his wife has been able to drive or walk without meeting all the men and dogs of his London acquaintance. When he marries again it will not be in August ; nor will his honeymoon be passed in a quiet cottage in the Highlands of Scotland : he forgot all about that, when his wife proposed it.

Uncle S.-And what did you do after the shooting was over? Talk about your dogs, or your guns? extol yourselves, and depreciate your friends. Give me one specimen of an after-dinner conversation in the Highlands on the 12th of August.

Neph. We had an easy and effectual method of stopping all figurative language by a reference to the --- Regiment. I confess that sportsmen as well as officers, (I mean certain officers, of course), are so far alike as to be both occasionally regardless of truth; with this striking difference--that, whereas sportsmen always remember too much, and are apt to recollect the 15 brace which their friends put down at 12, the heroes of Weedon and Windsor remember nothing at all, and have even agreed to forget themselves. As regards the general merits of the whole business, we came to an unanimous deci. sion that the regiment was a little world, composed as usual of knaves and foole, and that the knaves had the best of it; that if the Court acquitted Lieut. Cider upon the first count, "of having spoken falsely in saying that Colonel Attic called him a fool, &c.;' that, inasmuch as Colonel Attic had upon oath denied having done so, the Colonel was guilty of perjury—at least the Court Martial declares 80—but as he is a Colonel, and not a subaltern, of course there would be no penalty attached to perjury in his case. We also decided that when Lieutenants denied upon oath what tbey had put upon paper, if it was done in their zeal to support their commanding officer, it was to be visited only with a reprimand; but that if a man was fool enough to allow himself to be bullied, and at last in a fit of desperation made use of a candlestick to defend himself, he was to be dismissed the service. The Times, sir, the Times came to us about four days after its publication, what with post-offices and misdirections; and we always made the most of it.

Uncle 8.-Then you saw the remarks of that sporting ecclesiastic, the Bishop of Bond-street, On the Gun and the Use of it: and very excellent, though somewhat long-winded, they were. He omitted, however, one source of mischief not generally knownit is this : When you have fired your gun, if birds are lying round you, you are apt to load in a hurry. Powder, when it has exploded, leaves a deposit at the bottom of the barrel, which contains occasionally a spark, and in reloading, should this be the case, your powder-flask, your hat, eyebrows, fingers, and (not impossibly) your head will be found in an adjacent turnip field. To remedy this, turn the muzzle of your gun down for one second before you reload—it will make all safe ; and you may also calculate upon never having a miss-fire, which is caused frequently by this very deposit ascending the nipple of your gun. As to telling people how to carry their guns, and not to load one barrel with the other cocked, and to place your gun upon half-cock by letting it pass the half-cock and then re-setting it, to a sportsman you tell nothing ; because he has always known these things since his father or the keeper trusted him with a gun. The best way for a man to carry his gun, and to load it, is to do as he has been accustomed to do : new-fangled ways only bother the sportsman, and prolong the process of loading. As to carrying your gun always half-cocked, because it never is safe on full-cock, “ ne sus Minervam.” Who could kill double-shots, jumping up as they frequently do, in the middle of most unlikely places; where would be the bags we make now-a-days, if we carried our guns like our grandfathers, and took a pinch of snuff after the birds rose, as those lying old scoundrels, or their chroniclers, informed us? The great beauty of shooting is quickness. What a charming sight to see birds in October or November, at forty yards rise, knocked over right and left by our fast men! whilst that splendid shot of a day gone by, has just got his gun to his shoulder, with no more chance of getting a second bird, than Colonel Garrett has of being made Commander-in-Chief. You must carry your gun cocked, if you mean to kill wild game. As to loading one barrel with the other at full cock, as there is no object in it, and a great deal of danger, it ought not to be done : I only know of one instance of such a thing--though, by the accidents, there must be hundreds—and then the man was so ashamed of his forgetfulness that he told a splendid lie: splendide mendax. “Johnson, your other barrel is at full cock; I don't know whether you know it or not.” Johnson hesitated, turned blue, and replied, “ Ah! ah! yes, exactly, I always load so.” “Do you ?" said a long Parson who was shooting with him—a great ornament to the cloth " then I'll wish you good morning, and leave you to finish your day alone.”

Neph. You have not yet given me any account of your own prowess in the stubbles; this pumping process has been very ably conducted; but whilst I help myself to another glass of this excellent port, perhaps you will tell me a little about the partridges.

Uncle 8.—The partridges in most places are great in quantity: the breeding season was extremely favourable, and I think the facts of the case have not disappointed general expectation. They are not so good in quality, but smaller than usual; in some cases so small, that the first hatches must have been destroyed. As a good shooting

season, distinct from the mere numbers of birds, I cannot speak of it highly : for one sufficient reason, there has been little or no scent. Where birds are not plentiful, you miss your coveys; where they are plentiful, your dogs run them up. The ground too has been so hard and dry that good-footed dogs have become more than usually sore. For young dogs it has been an unfavourable season : imprecations have been probably plentiful, and the condemnation of young pointers and setters as unjust as it has been common. The best dog to have with you, if you hope for a point, is a steady old one, who travels not too fast ; if you wish to find them and then break them (an excellent way of filling a bag), a wild young one, with a good nose : remember only to take him up as soon as you have marked your birds down.

Neph.—Were you much teased by the crops ? Farmers are an incomprehensible set. One man takes you all over his beans, into his standing barley, and ends by marking a covey in high wheat, to which he invites your especial attention ; whilst another will not allow a bean to be disturbed, and you go skulking about, like a housebreaker on the loose, or a returned convict, without a chance of a shot, except upon the sly.

Uncle S.-Farmers are very like other people: there are some of all sorts, and they want humouring. Very little soft-sawder goes a great way with them. Three or four maxims, as we are to have a day or two together will be of service to you. Never shoot tame pigeons. This is an amusement of which young gentlemen are remarkably fond : & cruel and useless bit of slaughter is committed, and the farmer or his wife is naturally provoked. Not knowing who the aggressor is, he turns the vial of his wrath loose upon all “shooters," as he justly calls them. Never leave a gate open which you find shut. We live here in a grazing country, and you do not know the damage you may do in one or two hours, by an act of carelessness. Fatting beasts, milch cows, cart horses, Derby favourites, prize sheep, and Irish pigs, get mixed in inextricable confusion; turnips are eaten off, seeds are trampled down; a bull in a china shop is nothing to a beast in a field of wheat; and all from that simple act of thoughtlessness. Can you wonder that the farmer is not in love with us “ shooters”? Never forget to leave presents of birds with those at whose expense they are fed. If any man has a right to this attention, it is the farmer; he should be first and foremost on your list, long a-head of the parson of the parish, the doctor, the lawyer, or any of your own family—even the rich maiden aunt. And it is the most acceptable present he can receive--the earlier the better : it adds to the delicacy of the cadeau ; for he thinks more of the feeling than of the birds. I like consideration for farmers, for they certainly are sufferers in many ways in the sports of the field. They look for their quid pro quo, and they ought to have it.

Neph.But how about the crops, Uncle ?

Uncle S.—The crops are no bar or impediment to me; sailing under friendly colours with most men, I have not found them generally in my way; on the contrary, they preserve birds for me, and defend them from others. My usual mental exclamation is, “Hurrah ! there's a field of barley,” “ Thank goodness, Peastraw's beans are not cut yet ; how

jolly and thin they look to walk through.” About a shilling would pay for the damage done in either of these crops, and I do not find that farmers object to my trying them. When I think they do, as every consideration is due to them, I only go in under circumstances of great provocation-a long walk, and no birds, but a covey of sixteen marked down and well spread in the beans or barley. The farmer's absence at dinner or market should be also considered—“ What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve at.” A shilling or two to the men is also a way to the hearts of the persons most concerned, and most capable of giving valuable information in partridge-shooting. Wheat, I confess, is another matter: without the especial permission of the friendly agriculturist, I eschew wheat ; it does harm, and the look of it is not agreeable. Here, however, a brace of birds goes a great way, particularly if you can kill them in a workmanlike manner; for though not often good shots, most farmers are fond of seeing good shooting. All things considered, I like standing crops and a late season for partridge-shooting.

Neph.- Are you fond of shooting alone ?

Uncle 8.— Yes, if the sport is good. I will tell you the companions I like-one or two good dogs, according to circumstances; fine powder I prefer, and No. 6 shot. Man is a meditative animal, and there is no better opportunity for meditation than when wandering alone in a beautiful country, with the occasional excitement of a handsome point. You are very apt to miss the chance birds which rise under your feet, and nearly knock your hat off'; but there are certain cases and times in which a companion is desirable : about luncheon time, the more so if he smokes a social weed after it; on a very hot, parching day, when you are following some poaching bagman, or lawyer's clerk, or publican, or sinner, or pot-hunter, over miles of country, which 'he has beaten before you, a companion is desirable, for he sympathises with your sorrows, or responds to your execrations, as the case may be. Then, like man and wife, my boy, you go together, cheering and supporting one another on a toilsome journey; and if, towards the end of the day, you come into a land of promise, your pleasure is double in having some one to share it with you. Something like it I had' on the 2nd of September. I am not fond of a battue, as you know ; but I like to see a few birds, and have a few shots"; it enlivens the business, and I should say that, upon the whole, this was a very fair season for partridge-shooting.

ERNEST ATHER LEY ;

OR, SCENES AT HOME AND ABROAD.

BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX.

CHAPTER XXVII.

Extracts from my Journal in Canada continued :-Sports of the world-Quebec

races.

Each country has its national sports : England her hunting, steeplechasing, racing, cricketing, coursing, shooting, yachting, and fishing. Spain has her bull fights-sanguinary, but daring, spectacles bequeathed by the Moors. In Russia-ambitious, tyrannical Russia the arena of sporting exhibitions is the frozen surface of the lakes and rivers, where splendid sledging and graceful skating are seen in perfection. In Germany battue shooting is carried on, to the destruction of thousands. In Africa they hunt the lion; in Bengal, the tiger. In Northern India, particularly at Cabool (according to Sir Alexander Burnos' authority) horse-racing is a favourite amusement ; the course is generally twenty or thirty “kos” (forty or fifty English miles) across the country, sometimes through morasses and rivers. The scene on these occasions is highly animating, as not only the races (generally a field of twenty) set off, but the whole of the sporting assembly, perhaps nearly two hundred, accompany them for the first four or five miles. A judge has been sent on in advance, and the competitors seldom return until the second day. Wherever Englishmen congregate, sport is sure to be carried on with spirit; and there is no part of the habitable globe where our countrymen have remained for any time, that the fine, manly exercises of our native isle have not been introduced. Europe, Asia, Africa, and America have all witnessed them. The country in which I was now located (Canada) had adopted all the English sports enumerated at the commencement of this chapter, and the garrison races were about to take place. A detailed account of the sport would be uninteresting ; not so perhaps an adventure that befel me on the occasion.

On the evening of the first day's races I was returning to Quebec, when a small, thin, shrivelly man, with hollow cheeks, black twinkling eyes, and long lanky hair, mounted on a good bay horse, somewhat out of condition, overtook me, and drawing up, said

“I guess, Mister, you're one of the Britishers that have been racing on the plains ?”

“I am, sir," I replied, not a little surprised at the tone of the new comer.