House of Commons is wont to call it), we found the following charges: "THE HON. PERCY HAMILTON AND FRIEND, "JOSIAS SIMMS, ESQ., AND FRIEND, To two hunters, at £2 2s. each (N.B.-Our 8 8 0 ... 4 4 0 By a perusal of the above "small account," our readers will readily understand the whole of "Sly Sam's" proceedings. Aware as he was that our three hunters were not sound enough to be ridden by us to the place of meeting, he easily persuaded us to hire a hack, and avail ourselves of what then appeared to be a disinterested offer the use of his dog-cart; but when we discovered that both the hack and the American trotter had previously been let out as hunters, and that we were to take them to Epping free of expense to their owner, and, moreover, that we were to be called upon to pay half the expenses of our three hunters, &c., for the night, when our new acquaintance, Simms, could prove that he passed these celebrated animals on the road between Whitechapel and Snaresbrook, we denounced the whole affair as a dead robbery, and expressed to Jem Sarrell our determination to resist so gross an imposition. The ostler pleaded most eloquently for his master, and having administered a pretty strong dose of soft sawder" to each of us, was so far successful that we agreed to pay six guineas for the three hunters, and two guineas for the hack and dog-cart. A present of ten shillings to the ostler was most thankfully acknowledged; and dinner being announced, we sat down to our meal, delighted at having taxed the dealer's bill, and reduced more than one-third of it. Mr. Josias Simms now took the chair, Mr. Skinner acting as vice; and a more agreeable repast I never remember to have attended. The worthy president informed us that upon mounting Fitz-James, he had anticipated a most perfect gallop, but, unfortunately, before he bad gone many yards the gallant grey, as the lawyer said, "seemed determined to cut his own fore leg off," and succeeded so far in his attempt, that in going best pace along a road, the brute made such a gash below the knee, that he fell upon his head, causing his rider to throw a summerset in the air, and to land him in a black and foetid ditch. Upon re-mounting, Mr. Simms thought it more prudent to try a trot than a gallop; but here again he was baffled, for whether in his slow or fast paces, the speedy cutter was guilty (as his rider professionally remarked) of "cutting and maiming. Scarcely had he gone a quarter of a mile, than Fitz-James inflicted a severe wound on his fetlock, came down upon his knees, broke them both, and nearly exterminated his rider. Skinner had been more fortunate than his brother lawyer, the American trotter being exactly the sort of horse suited to the road; and as his rider was somewhat nervous, he had confined himself throughout the whole day to pounding along the highway. It was curious to trace the horse-dealer's artful dodges. A week previous to our first interview with Mr. Smithet, as we have already had occasion to remark, Simms had engaged the two horses that had conveyed us to Epping; the difficulty upon our arrival was to send them back to the Bald-faced Stag, where the two legal Nimrods were waiting in time to join the hunt. Our readers may remember that we remained in the dog-cart for some little time, enjoying our Havannahs; during which period Jem Sarrell was upon the tenter-hooks of anxiety, fearing that his other customers would get impatient, and proceed in their phaeton to the place where we had assembled. No sooner then had we vacated the dog-cart, than the transformation commenced. A saddle and bridle were taken out of it; Sangaree was unharnessed, and shortly appeared as a hunter. We cannot pause to dilate upon our dinner; suffice it to say, the song and jest went round; toasts were proposed, and responded to; "The Legal Profession," " Westminster School," "The Hounds," "The Essex Lass" were all given with due honours; a considerable quantity of strong port was "drunk upon the premises." The landlord's bottle and the bill were now called for; and as a specimen of the charges of those days may not be uninteresting to our readers, we lay before them the following important document :-- "BALD-FACED STAG. FIVE GENTLEMEN, No. 4. Our new acquaintances strongly urged us to allow them to settle the above account, but we as resolutely refused; and after a considerable argument upon the subject, it ended by our equally dividing the amount. Mr. Simms's phaeton was then announced, and lighting our cigars (Bachi and Bachy plenus, as Fred Harewood remarked), we entered the sporting vehicle. "Let them go;" said the lawyer to the horsekeeper, "I've got them :" and away went two half-starved, high-bred looking animals, at the rate of fourteen miles an hour: to describe our journey to London would require the pen of one who had not, like myself, imbibed a bottle of strong port wine; all I can record is that the dim oily rays that occasionally twinkled from a wayside public-house looked double; that the five-barred turnpike gates appeared ten-barred; that the road sharks or pikes were magnified; and that as we drove up to the chambers of Mr. Josias Simms, in Lincoln's Inn Fields, we were all in a state of fearful oscillationwhether caused by the fumes of the fiery Beeswing port, or the fatigues of the day, we leave our readers to determine. "Halloa! Jos!" shouted a voice that I fancied familiar to my ears; "what sport with the Essex calf and calves?" "Glorious! an hour and twenty minutes, without a check!" Simms had even seen his run double. "But, Billy, you must come up-broiled kidneys, champagne, and a bowl of punch, and three of your Westminster chums!" "I fancied it was you;" responded Sanders, our old friend of hoaxing memory, extending his hand to Fred Harewood, Kirkonnel, and myself. "Come! descend from your vehicle; and let us see if we cannot show you some life in Lincoln's Inn." Obeying the summons, we lost no time in following our host, Mr. Simms, up three pair of stairs to a very snug front room, in the centre of which appeared a round table, with every preparation upon it for supper. The book-cases contained some musty-looking law books, while the cupboards beneath displayed a rich phalanx of bottles, labelled as as "Fine old Rum,' "Shrub," "Hollands,' "Brandy," and "Regent's Punch;"-but we have already exceeded our limits, and must reserve the account of our supper and nocturnal orgies for another chapter. WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR WEST. BY PERCY B. ST. JOHN, ESQ. No. II-A SPORTING EXCURSION TO THE RIO DEL TRINIDAD. A few days after our return from the long hunting scrape, an event of which formed the subject of our last paper, I and several of my naval friends, nothing daunted at the rough rides, cold nights, wettings innumerable, hungry bellies, &c., which so often accompanied us on these journeys, stowed ourselves and guns on board a neat little craft of some six tons- -a kind of juvenile whale-boat, which had an excellent cabin aft, and a hold as comfortable forward-in search of further amusement about the mouth and up the waters of the Trinity. This river, which is navigable for flat-bottomed steam-boats six hundred miles, is, for Texas, a noble stream. It is remarkably deep, with high, steep banks in some places, and is from forty to sixty yards in width. Along its shores and around its embouchure are found deer in vast abundance, coons, squirrels, and in proper season, about Anahuac, and from there to Liberty, vast flocks of ducks, geese, plovers, pelicans, and swans. There were, therefore, ample materials for a week's goodly sport, even had the party been larger than it really was. Judge Bollaert, Lieuts. Snow and Arcambal, Capt. Tod and myself, accompanied by two hands, composed the crew of the little schoonerrigged craft, with plenteous store of ammunition, biscuit and tobacco, whiskey of course, rifles and fowling-pieces, and an Indian canoe of the smallest possible dimensions. As my Yankee friends were afflicted with laziness to a degree beyond the power of description, and desired nothing better than to smoke and chew until we arrived at our destination, the command and care of the Jim Crow devolved upon your very humble servant; which office I was nothing loth to accept, boat sailing being one of my passions, which, the more it is indulged, the more it grows upon me. And, in fact, what can be more delightful than, with a "wet sheet and a flowing sea," not forgetting "a wind that follows fast," to plough the waters of the mighty deep; blue sky above and blue waves below; the breeze fanning your cheek and bracing up your nerves to a pitch of most healthy and beneficial excitement? It is indeed the very acmé of active enjoyment, preferable by far, in my opinion, to that produced by the rapid motion of a fiery steed, though that be passing excellent in its way. It was early dawn when we were summoned from our state rooms on board the good brig Archer, of eighteen guns; and being on deck the first, I could not but gaze with pleasure upon the scene before me the wide spreading bay; the mercantile shipping of France, England, Holland, and the United States; the picturesque wooden town of Galverton; and, more than all, the taut little schooner which some hundred yards distant lay at anchor, her sails snugly stowed and her deck newly painted, awaiting our arrival. In ten minutes we were put on board by the brig's cutter; my companions, in one moment more, were puffing away in the cabin, save and except Tod, who never smoked, while I prepared to make sail. Our craft carried no jib; her sails were merely fore and aft and flying topsails. The wind and tide being in our favour, I ordered up anchor before we spread canvas; and, in a quarter of an hour, we were walking the waters in fine style, the wind five points free, the sails all drawing, the starboard gunwale under water, my two Yankee Jack Tars smoking forward, and I, where I love to be, at the helm. As soon as all else was right and straight, sheets belayed, halyards hoisted to their utmost, and the out-alls pulled to their utmost stretch, I sent up my pennant to the mainmast head, my ensign to the peak, and received the salute of a twenty-four pounder in return. Having illuminated a cigar, I then sat down and prepared to take my duties as steersman easy, though the wind seemed little likely to permit anything so unsailor-like or unprofessional. The breeze freshened up visibly at each moment of time; puffs-always scaly customers-began to be felt; and when passing Pelican island we came into the full, long sweep of the bay, now thirty miles deep, a short and nasty sea breaking over us continually. The wind, too, headed us fast; and I was compelled to alter the beautiful trim of my gallant little vessel, which I hoped (most presumptuously, as it proved) to preserve until our journey's end. This, of course, was no joke to my companions, who the more the wind headed, the less comfortable was the cabin; the schooner lying down at each point of freedom she lost. "Draw aft the mainsheet, aft the foresheet !" cried I; which being done, our tidy, stiff, and clean-bottomed craft, though in only ballast trim, began, in nautical phrase, to "kick up a bobbery," plunging more under into a heavy sea at each moment, lying down with half her deck under water, and making very little headway. The wind all this time was heading us off the desired quarter, until it gradually blew in our teeth. This was vexatious, arguing promise of a long and disagreeable beat to windward; or, worse still, it gave us the alternative of "up stick," and a run for the harbour we had left. This latter move was not to be thought of, all being aware of the ridicule which would await us from our messmates. "I tell you what, friend," cried Judge Bollaert from the cabin, who, lying on his back on the weather side, was very uncomfortably situated, the plunging of Jim Crow having already sent a cigar almost down his throat, "if your craft don't right herself, I shall take the command. The schooner is all on one side, Cap'n; and I am so high up, I conclude not to come down again." While my naval friends were laughing over the facetious judge's sally, the breeze continued to increase in force, and I took in my topsails. By this time we were off Red Fish Bar, the wind giving promise of a heavy gale, or at all events a severe squall, which often, in all parts contiguous to the Mexican Gulf, comes on in this manner without notice. Determined, however, to gain the mouth of Clare Creek before night, I wore ship, and stood for the channel which leads between two of the Red Fish islands, into the upper portion of the bay. On this board, however, it was not to be done; so down went my helm again, round came Jim Crow, and away we flew once more on the larboard tack. The wind now blew with great fury, the bay heaved and swelled and foamed, the surf rolled furiously on the shell islands; and when at length, during a brief and severe, but fair squall, I scudded under the foresail through the channel, the water boiled as if in a whirlpool. Our position was now serious in the extreme; the breeze, as soon as the squall was over, returned to its former quarter; a roaring surf, on the barren shores of islands, was under our lee; to windward, the open bay. In order to save ourselves from going ashore, we were close-hauled under single-reefed main and foresail, drifting terribly to leeward all the while. By standing a quarter of an hour on one tack, and a quarter of an hour on the other, we gained a trifle to windward; when, about two o'clock, it cleared a little, the wind gradually veered round, and then moderated. Shaking out the reefs and setting the flying topsails, I headed for an abandoned house on Clare Creek, which we reached an hour before sunset. I cannot do better, to give an idea of this place, than quote my own words, when recording the events of a former visit, in Bentley's Miscellany for November last: "The spot was sufficiently picturesque, both banks of the river or creek being shaded by lofty trees, with here and there a green opening, overhung by the branches of the cedar, the live oak, the elm, the haematack; while yappan and peccan bushes and hickory trees fill up the intermediate spaces between the larger trunks. Here and there a wild lemon tree, or the lofty climbing vine, met the eye; or, casting it some little distance above, it rested upon a grove of young pine trees, with their |