respectable gamekeeper, who, if the price offered is liberal, will probably be enabled to purchase first-rate animals. In the long run, it will be found the cheapest plan; for low-priced spaniels, setters, pointers, and retrievers, who are up to their respective work, are not to be had. How men who pass muster with the world, as possessing sufficient brains to enable them to go through the ordinary routine of life, can be found so deficient of common sense as to be taken in by the gangs of unprincipled dealers who advertise in the London newspapers their canine treasures, is a matter of astonishment to us; and yet no season passes without these sharpers finding a considerable quantity of flats. The plan adopted is to insert a flaming account in "The Review, the Country Gentleman's Journal," or "Bell's Life," to the following effect то NO SPORTSMEN.-A brace of splendid red setters, dogs, three years old, an admirable match, have been shot over two seasons, are to be sold in consequence of the owner having been ordered to join his regiment in India. The dogs are of the best Irish and English blood, extremely handsome, and now on view. Apply to A. W., Mews, Square. POINTERS FOR SALE. Four brace of thoroughly broke dogs, very hand some, shot to one season. Lowest price £18 per brace. FOR SALE.-Six brace of Sussex Spaniels, excellent noses. The nobleman who bred them may be referred to. Apply, &c. FOR OR SALE.-A Retriever from St. John's, Newfoundland, remarkably handsome, good in every point, and the most perfect water-dog ever seen. Price 10 guineas. An empty stable or coach-house having been engaged, the respectable owner-who has as many aliases attached to his name as there are days in the week-is seldom to be found at his post until the shades of evening have set in, a deputy who has interest in the canine stock doing duty during the day. If any fashionable "fledgling" about town, any deluded "cockney," any unsophisticated country gentleman, any unwary individual, attracted by the advertisement, calls to look at the sporting dogs, he is informed that "Lord A. has nearly decided upon purchasing the setters, Sir B. the pointers, Squire C. the spaniels, and Count Z. (with an unpronounceable name) the retriever; but that if he will be good enough to call later he will be able to see his master, who will furnish him with every information." A second visit generally brings matters to a conclusion. Letters (forged ones, of course) are shown from high-titled patricians, country gentlemen, and keepers, who all speak in raptures of the merits of the respective animals; a warranty is given, with an agreement to take back the dogs at a trifling loss should they not suit. The money is paid, instructions are given to send the new purchase per rail to the shooting quarters, and the victims bore their friends and acquaintances with details of their extraordinary good fortune in picking up a brace or two of wonders. Scarcely has a week elapsed before they have another and a most dismal tale to tell. The pointers, or, as the wags would say, disappointers, "Beppo," "Juan," "Don," and "Rock" turn out to possess bad tempers, legs, and feet, without a particle of * This reminds one of a witticism of a popular writer, who on being told by a friend that he did not like the name of "The Factory Girl," which he had given to a new play, replied, "Then call it the unsatisfactory girl," staunchness, and with noses that would fail even to scent the Thames on a July day, opposite Hungerford Market. The setters, from their heaviness of manner, loss of appetite, want of energy, weakness of the eyes, huskiness of the throat, and discharge from the nose, show unmistakable symptoms of virulent distemper; and poor "Potsheen" and "Ranger" are placed under the care of the nearest canine practitioner, who, after sundry strong doses of gum, gamboge, and white hellebore powder, pronounce the disease incurable. The six brace of Sussex spaniels" Madrigal," "Beauty," "Sappho," "Theban," "Helicon," Iris," "Southdown," "Clio," Dynasty," "Empress," "Ploughboy," and "Reveller"-prove to be perfectly unmanageable, and wilder than hawks, lame and footsore; while the Transatlantic retriever, "Diver," who looks like a cross between a half-bred sheepdog and a "turnspit," has irretrievably lost the character given to him when sold, having a mouth like a vice, and a thorough hydrophobic dread of water. The above is not an exaggerated description. We know a gentleman who last season purchased a pointer for twelve guineas, warranted perfect. The moment he fired his first barrel at a stoat, and long before he had time to test the powers of his new purchase, the brute ran home yelling and howling as if he had been himself shot through the body, "a consummation devoutly to have been wished." Upon returning the dog, which he did by the next day's train, and requesting the money might be returned, he found the truth of Falstaff's saying "I do not like that paying back, 'tis a double labour"-for both money and dog were kept. Determined not to allow so flagrant a case to go unpunished, a summons was taken out at the Marylebone county-court, when the defendant was represented by an attorney. My friend was subjected to a bullying, badgering cross-examination; but the case was so strong, that a verdict for the plaintiff, with costs, was awarded. The result may easily be guessed. The canine "dodger" having changed his residence and adopted a new name, was reported non est inventus by the officer who had to execute the warrant. At the expiration of a year and a day, the defaulter showed himself again in London, the legal document being no longer in force; and by this time has probably victimized no end of old as well as young sportsmen, for the gentleman we have alluded to has for more than half a century been devoted to field sports. Mr. Bishop, of Bond-street, has done the very greatest service to the community at large, especially to those who are devoted to the canine race, in his successful endeavours to put an end to dog-stealing; and if he would take in hand the gang of swindlers who live by plundering the public through such mendacious advertisements as those we have alluded to, his claims to the approbation of his countrymen would be considerably increased. And who is there, we would ask, in "merrie England," that does not love a dog? Volumes might be filled with anecdotes of his faithful devotion to man. Byron has immortalized "Boatswain"; and Sir Walter Scott-whose transcendent genius, matchless insight into character, imagination, and fancy, reign indisputably wherever books are read-thus writes of the integrity of the dog "The Almighty, who gave the dog to be the companion of our pleasures and our toils, hath invested him with a nature noble and incapable of deceit. He forgets neither friend nor foe; remembers, and with accuracy, both benefit and injury. He hath a share of man's intelligence, but no share of man's falsehood. You may bribe a soldier to slay a man with his sword, or a witness to take life by false accusation, but you cannot make a hound tear his benefactor." The late Earl Fitzhardinge seems to have adopted the above view of canine intelligence, as may be gleaned from some lines (we believe from his pen) which are to be found in the garden of Berkeley Castle, over the grave of a favourite animal There is something peculiarly touching in the last tribute to a faithful and long-attached animal, and proves that the late owner of the princely domains of Berkeley had his heart in the right place. Indeed, no one was ever fonder of dumb brutes than his lordship, or who resented more strongly any cruelty shown to them. If in the days of "first turn-out-four horses," when he was travelling, the post-boy happened to strike some unfortunate animal upon the head, Lord Fitzhardinge would order the carriage to be stopped, and then in unmistakable language tell the offender that he would not only be mulcted of his usual liberal gratuity, but that, if it happened again, he should insist upon his never driving him again. We have digressed; return we to the sports of October, when partridge and pheasant shooting can be had to perfection, when cub-hunting has commenced, and when coursing meetings are daily taking place: already seventeen first-rate gatherings of the lovers of the leash have been advertised. Before we conclude our remarks upon pheasant shooting, we must call our readers' attention to a curious fact that has lately come under our observation, and which proves that the present system of the battue in England, and the chasse in France and Germany, can be traced to the days of the ancient Egyptians. In a very interesting work by Sir J. Gardener Wilkinson, F.R.S., &c., entitled "The Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," we have a most interesting account of their agricultural proceedings and their prowess in the chase. In a country whose principal riches consisted in the fruitfulness of its soil, it is natural to suppose that the cultiva tion of the land would be the principal care of the inhabitants, and that as a necessary consequence, where tillage was carried to perfection, wild hunting would degenerate. Notwithstanding this, the Egyptians have proved themselves skilful huntsmen and expert fishermen. According to Plato, the priests, artificers, shepherds, huntsmen, husbandmen, and soldiers formed six bodies of the second caste of the nation, each peculiar occupation being confined to a certain subdivision. But let the talented historigrapher speak for himself:"The ancient Egyptians delighted in the sports of the field; not that we are to suppose that the chase was confined to those who gained their livelihood by it, or that the wealthy classes were averse to an amusement so generally welcomed in all countries. Indeed, some of the battues in the extensive tracts of the wide desert, which stretch to the east and west of the valley of the Nile, remind one of those of the present day; for we find that when the chasseur was a person of consequence, numerous attendants accompanied him, not merely in the capacity of beaters, to rouse and turn the game, or to carry it when killed, but for various purposes connected with his immediate wants or comforts while in the field. Some brought with them a fresh supply of arrows, a spare bow, or other requisites for remedying accidents; and some carried a stock of provisions for his use. Sometimes a space of ground of considerable extent was enclosed with nets, into which the animals were driven by beaters; and these spots were usually in the vicinity of the water-brooks, to which the antelopes, gazelles, and other game were in the habit of repairing in the morning and evening; and having awaited the time when they went to drink, and ascertained it by their recent tracks on the accustomed path, the hunters disposed the nets, occupied proper positions for observing them unseen, and gradually closed in upon them." In reading the above account, we are reminded of a royal battue, in which we took part, in the neighbourhood of Vienna; and if for bows and arrows we inserted guns and spears, the picture would be a most faithful representation of the pastime enjoyed by the late Emperor and Empress of Austria and a courtly party. A slight description of the Izaak Walton propensities of the Egyptians may not be uninteresting; and it is curious to find that, with the exception of "throwing a fly," the same principle was practised in the days of Menes, Osistasen, Amenoph, Remeses, or other rulers, as is carried on at the present; for angling with ground-bait, spearing, and leaded drag-nets were universally adopted; moreover, the same process of salting and drying fish was pursued. Not contented with the abundance afforded by the Nile, the Eastern grandees constructed within their grounds "spacious sluices or ponds of fish," like the vivaria of the Romans, where they fed and preserved them. With a bident -a spear with two barbed points, which was either thrust at the fish as they passed by, or, when furnished with feathers at the upper extremity like an arrow, was darted to a short distance, a long line fastened to it preventing its being lost-a short rod, and bronze hook, many an Egyptian fisherman of high degree enjoyed a day in his boat made of the papyrus plant, with as much gusto as a cockney sportsman delights in being seated on a chair in a punt moored fore and aft off Richmond Bridge, dipping and pulling up roach and dace, which, when caught, are only fit for the feline race. When we consider that the Egyptians indulged in battues, as has already been referred to, coursing, throwing the lasso, hunting with lions trained to the chase; following with spears or bows and arrows wild oxen, goats, sheep, hyænas, foxes, leopards, wolves, antelopes, and gazelles; attacking with iron javelins the hippopotamus, chasing the ostrich, decoying wild fowl on lakes formed by the waters of the overflowing Nile; trapping and throwing sticks at partridges, quail, and bustards with all the precision and dexterity of our modern" shyers" at Aunt Sally's blackened visage and pipe-decorated mouth, and catching crocodiles; we cannot help looking upon this ancient nation as a sporting one, or feeling a wish to have a week in the Desert and one on the Nile. The amusement of ensnaring crocodiles, according to Herodotus, is thus carried on:"They had many different modes of catching it; that most worthy of notice is as follows: They fasten a piece of pork to a hook, and throw it into the middle of the stream as a bait; then standing near the water's edge, they beat a young pig, and the crocodile, being enticed to the spot by its cries, finds the bait on its way, and swallowing it is caught by the hook. They then pull it ashore; and the first step is to cover its eyes with mud, and, thus being deprived of sight, it is unable to offer any effectual resistance." A TREATISE ON THE ANCIENT AND MODERN WILD-FOWLING, HISTORICAL AND PRACTICAL, BY H. C. FOLKARD, ESQ. INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUNG SPORTSMEN IN ALL THAT RELATES TO GUNS AND SHOOTING: ELEVENTH EDITION.† BY COLONEL P. HAWKER. It is now thirty-five years ago since Colonel Hawker first introduced to the sporting world his "Instructions to Young Sportsmen." That volume, though possessing no claim to literary merit, has, nevertheless, been highly popular among young sportsmen and gunsmiths, and has now reached its eleventh edition. The latter has been published under the supervision of his son, for the Colonel has long since been gathered to the home of his fathers: he will be remembered as an indefatigable sportsman, and the first who introduced to the world the subject of wild-fowl shooting with the stanchion gun. During the whole of this period (thirty-five years) the late Colonel's book has been almost the only reference upon the subject of wild-fowl shooting. A rival volume, however, has just issued from the press, under the title above stated. The subject of wild-fowling being one of such world-wide popularity, it is our purpose to review the two volumes before us, carefully, considerately, and impartially, awarding neither to the one nor the other more or less than its relative merits. It is im possible but that a feeling of jealousy will arise in the eyes of those interested in the welfare of the late Colonel's book, at the sudden appearance * London: Piper, Stephenson, and Spence, Paternoster-row. 1859. 1859. |