man, too, who is subject to attacks of rheumatism, which have usually been confined to mere aching pains, finds that he is now to have that malady ushered in by great febrile excitement, and racking tortures. For the cure of all inflammatory diseases, depletion must be carried to an extent that will at once do away with all the benefits of a long system of judicious training; and therefore is it that, during this process, extreme care should ever be taken to avoid all those causes which are known to be the excitants to indisposition or disease :-wet clothes -draughts of cold air-suddenly-checked perspiration-drinking cold fluids, while the body is heated, and many other familiar causes of disease, are to be carefully shunned, as exposing a man, when almost in the arms of victory, to shame and defeat. It is almost unnecessary to add, that, while in training, a man should constantly be weighed, in order to see whether he gains or loses flesh under the system pursued; and that the necessary measures may be adopted for bringing him to that weight which he may be bound, by his agreement, not to exceed. When the performance of a match on horseback is the object for which a person goes into training, of course a considerable portion of his exercise should consist of riding; all other means of increasing the bodily powers, and the health of the frame gene. rally, being likewise studiously attended to. The foregoing advice, even if followed with somewhat less strictness than is absolutely necessary to enable a man to perform any extraordinary feats of strength, will, nevertheless, be found materially to benefit the worst constitutions; but he who wishes to subject himself to an invigorating course of life, probably totally different from that he has been in the habit of leading for years, should never trust to his own resolution to avoid what, although agreeable, may be unfitted for him, and to do and partake of only such things as will tend to improve his manly plight; but should, if possible, place himself under the guidance of some Mentor, whose fiat shall be as absolute as that of Sancho Panza's physician, in the isle of Barataria. CHIRON. STUDIES OF CELEBRATED JOCKEYS. Engraved by J. W. Cook, from a painting by the late BENJAMIN MARSHALL. THE history of these characteristic sketches is told in a few words. Notwithstanding the office of a jockey is, to a certain extent, sedentary, Mr. Marshall found it no easy matter to get a sitting from such of the fraternity as he might have occasion to introduce into his equestrian pictures. As the best means, therefore, to obtain one, a friend of his invited a party of the most distinguished Newmarket jockeys to dinner, and when they were thus brought to an anchor, Mr. Marshall transferred them to his canvass "at one fell swoop." We shall presently have another course of them to serve up. SHOOTING:-INCLUDING PREMONITORY CAUTIONS IN THE USE OF GUNS.* "Oh! glorious sport, which can at once impart THERE are some wide-awake sportsmen, who, in taking aim, deem it a useless exertion to close an eye, and who, accordingly, are said to keep both eyes open at the time; the sight at the muzzle end is, to them, useless; they never look at it. But I should rather recommend the young shooter, in aiming, to adopt the usual plan; to close his left eye, and, with the right, condescending to look at the little sight, to endeavour to bring both to bear, according to circumstances, on or before the object he is desirous to hit. The directing gaze of both eyes of the archer "Telum et oculos pariter tetendit," may be proper enough; but a bow and arrow, and a gun, are two very different weapons to handle, and to aim with. The best initiatory lesson, perhaps, that the young shooter can receive, towards the perfect attainment of the art of shooting, as well as being otherwise a beneficial exercise, is, a regular drilling; first with a wooden, and then with a real gun, or fire-lock: this will teach him to handle, carry, load, and fire a gun with facility and safety; or, at all events, will be highly conducive to those ends. Next, having painted a small black spot, or fixed a black wafer, on a white ground, on a wall, door, or iron target, a little above shoulder height, let him stand at about twelve paces distant from it, and rivet his eye on this mark; taking care, in bringing the gun (previously well-fitted) to his shoulder, to lower his head so far-but not constrainedly-that the eye, the breech, and the sight will at once be on a level; when the sight, with or without a little elevation, will generally be found to cover the spot; at which very moment the trigger should be pulled, when the tyro should preserve an imperturbable serenity, bordering upon stoical apathy. A very small charge of powder only will suffice, or powder, at first, may be wholly dispensed with. The practice should be continued till the little man can bring his gun up to the mark with quickness and precision, and can unflinchingly stand fire, like a breathless statue. He may now commence firing small charges of powder and shot at a whitewashed iron target, at twenty-five paces; and from the pattern thus displayed, may learn to correct errors not only in aiming, but in holding the gun; for some, who are both careful to keep the eye, the breech, and the sight in a line, and who do not flinch from the gun, nevertheless, give it a twist, sideways, in pulling the trigger; whilst others, in aiming, turn the but inwards or outwards, instead of holding it fair, or perpendicular. Habits like these, at all times injurious, are particularly so in rifle-shooting. * Abridged from Captain Lacy's forthcoming work-"The Modern Shooter." VOL. VII. 3 G If objection be made to putting the left hand forward, in taking aim, on the score of there being more danger in the event of a barrel bursting, there should be a piece of ebony in front of the trigger-guard, to give steadiness, and the command of a firmer hold to the shoulder; for grasping a stock firmly with both hands is not only essential to good shooting, but offers no impediment to the perfect freedom and easy flexibility of the shooter's movements. Many good sportsmen always hold the gun with the left hand close to the guard, and contend that "all the requisite steadiness in taking aim, and even of motion, in traversing the flight of a bird, can be obtained by thus holding the heaviest piece." This plan may answer with light guns, but with heavy ones how can it?-especially as such are all the better for being rather heavy forward, or top-heavy, as they are otherwise wont to fly up in firing. : There are two monosyllables which all but rifle-shooters ought to bear in mind-namely, PULL QUICK; i. e., at the very instant the aim is perfected, or rather, perhaps, is being perfected; for, as some one has quaintly, yet emphatically remarked, "the finger and the eye should always go hand in hand;" instead of the former (as a quainter still hath it) being "a day's march behind the latter"-of all others, the most fertile source of error in shooting! At the same time, this quick pull of the trigger is never to be effected by means of a jerk of the elbow; but merely by pressure of the finger alone in rifle-shooting, a contracting touch, or slight squeeze of the second joint of the fore finger, is all that is required. Quickness in aiming, however, must not be confounded with quickness of firing; as the ready acquisition of the former, with the requisite correctness, is usually a work of time; the latter is of comparatively easy accomplishment. Let the young shooter be resolutely determined to succeed, and sooner or later he will do so. "Quickness without impetuosity is exactly what is wanting to make an excellent shot :" recollect Judge Bayley's maxim:"You will never gain time by being in a hurry." Closing both eyes, or at the least winking, jerking the head backwards, and dropping the left hand-one, or all of these, at the moment of pulling the trigger, are faults by no means uncommon; to some shooters habitual, and which must ever prove effectual barriers to the acquisition of first-rate excellence in this our "Noble Science." When the young shooter has killed a few sitting and flying shots at other birds, he may repair to the fields in good earnest, with a view to try his hand at game; and he should take along with him, a single attendant, a single stanch old dog, and a single gun; or, if a double, should load and use but one barrel, though, in my opinion, the former is the better plan for a youngster to adopt. The novelty and main difficulty he will now have to encounter, will be, the startling rush, the whirring noise, plaintive screams and confusion, attendant on the sudden and frequently simultaneous springing of the covey; which is The proximate cause of failure here, is in the mind, in which hope and fear are raised to such a pitch, as to unnerve the shooter, who consequently is void of decision, pulls the trigger too soon, too late, or not at all, and not seldom fires, as it were, in reckless despair, and even without an aim. Byron tells us that "Men die as their nerves are ;" it is, perhaps, more certain that they shoot so. |