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however, the fair proportions of the cautious gentleman in the plate before us, we shall leave his serving up to other hands. Such, indeed, as must be far more able to do him justice or injustice, as a discriminating public may be inclined to take it. An old acquaintance, the Ancien Officier de Dragons, in his reminiscences of LE MORVAN, thus introduces an elegent extract from the French capital-be pleased to bear in mind it is a Frenchman's account of a French sportsman :

"My accomplished friend, a charming dancer, a beau parleur, a firstrate singer, who made sad havoc among the fresh and fair gazelles of every ball-room, this tremendous chasseur-de-salon, I very soon perceived, was by no means so tremendous in the stubbles; a covey fairly startled him, and if a hare rose between his legs he turned quite pale. "My good fellow,' I said to him one day, seeing his extraordinary trepidation, if you are so staggered by a covey of partridges, what in the world will you do when I set you face to face with a wolf or a wild boar?'

"Oh! that is a very different affair. A wolf or a wild boar? Why, I should kill one and eat the other, of course.'

·

"Not so easy,' I should think, for a novice like you.'

"Novice, indeed! me a novice! Oh! you are quite in error. The fact is, these devils of birds and rabbits lie hidden, do you see, under the grass like frogs, one never knows where; so that I never see them till they are all but in my eyes, or cutting capers like Taglioni's under my feet, and your dogs putting out their tongues and staring at me.' Why, of course they do; the intelligent brutes are ready to expire at your awkwardness.'

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Much obliged to you for the compliment. Again, you say, they turn their tails to the right by way of telling me that I am to go to the left; and to the left, when I am to walk to the right. Who, I ask you, is to understand such telegraphs as these? I have not yet learned how to converse with dogs' tails-intelligence, indeed! I believe it is all humbug; for, when my whole soul is absorbed in watching the tips of these very tails, a crowd of partridges jump up just in front of me, making as much noise as if they were drummers beating the retreat. If I am hurried and stupefied'......

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"And if,' I added, you are much disposed to throw down your gun as to fire it.'

"Well! supposing I am; what is the wonder? 'Tis no fault of mine-I am not used to partridge-shooting! I am not a wild man of the woods, like you! I did not cut my teeth gnawing a cartridge, as you did!'

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Come, come! don't be affronted.'

"Affronted? No; but you have no consideration. You're a Robin Hood-an exterminator! If you look at one partridge, you kill four! You sleep with your rifle, turn your game-bag into a nightcap, and shave with a couteau de-chasse !'

"May be so! but let us have the fact.'

66 6 The fact! Then I hate your long-tailed dogs, and your detestable flights of noisy birds! Let me have them one by one, like larks in the plain of St. Denis, and I'll soon clear the province for you.'

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for!'

Upon my word, Adolphe, we should have something to thank you

"I tell you what, Henri; those partridges, after all, are trumpery things to kill. 'Tis mere hurry that prevents my hitting them. Don't imagine I am frightened! If you wish to give me real pleasure, let us go to India and shoot a lion or a tiger-give me a chance with an elephant !'

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Willingly; but allow me to suggest, that if we set out for India we shall not get back in time for dinner.'

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We will keep in Europe, then; but, at least, show me some game worthy of me. A serpent-I will cut him in two at a stroke. A bullI will soon send a brace of balls into him.'

"Well done! just like a Parisian.'

"Parisian! Pray what do you mean by that?'

"A boaster, if you prefer the word,'

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Ha ha! a boaster, indeed!

of a bull?'

Do you mean to say that I'm afraid

"Of course not. However, as there are no bulls here, I will send the head piquer upon the track of a wild boar which was seen near the chateau last night; he will exactly suit you. I consider him as doomed.'

"Thank you, Henri; thank you. The moment I am fairly in front of him, I shall fire at his eyes, and no doubt lodge both balls in them. Poor Belisarius! how he will charge me in his agony! but I shall retire, reload, and then, having drawn my hunting-knife, despatch him without further ceremony.'

"Never fear, you shall have the post of honour; and if you do not turn upon your heel, why, my dear friend, you will rise at least a dozen pegs in my estimation.'

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Turn on my heel! you little know me. And then, what a sensation I shall create in Paris with my boar's skin. I'll have it stuffed; gild his tusks, and silver-mount his hoofs. I shall be quite the hero of the salons.'

HAWKING IN WILTSHIRE.

RY RABY.

The hunting season was scarcely closed, when it was announced that Mr. Pells (who holds the office of falconer under the Duke of St. Albans, the Grand Falconer of England) would give several public days' hawking on the Wiltshire downs. He had taken up his abode at Lavington, near Devizes, than which he could scarcely have chosen a better situation, for flying, training, or keeping his hawks in condition. He had half-a-dozen birds in first-rate order; four of the largest came from Holland, where they had been flown at herons. These were truly noble hawks; and it would have gratified many or most of the spectators on the last day's hawking (the 9th of May) to have seen them flown at a heron that passed over the falconer's head instead of so timid a bird as a pigeon. No man could be more unfortunate in the selection of his days for public hawking than Mr. Pells: almost every day was wet and cold. I was surprised that he did not take advantage of the wild plovers, and other birds that are to be found on the downs. It can scarcely be called

sport to turn out a few poor pigeons, and loose a peregrine falcon at them, which is one of the largest and fiercest of the hawk tribe; neither can there be anything like the excitement in the result, as though the falcon was unhooded and permitted to fly at some uncaught bird; indeed, on the last occasion of meeting, an attempt was made to fly one of the hawks at a plover, but it failed. Some years ago, some excellent hawking was to be seen near Stonehenge, when Colonel Thornhill, accompanied by Sir Hussey Vivyan, Sir Francis Burdett, and others, brought his hawks into that neighbourhood.

The hawks were taken to a field were partridges were known to resort. The falconer then took one of his birds, and unhooded it, and permitted it to fly; the hawk towered over the field, looking on all sides for his prey; he beat the ground over like a pointer; the partridges laid so close, that a person was sent into the field to disturb them, and immediately on a bird rising, the hawk darted at it and pursued it till he caught it. These hawks were so well trained, that they alwaws returned to the falconer's call; and when far away, he attracted them by a lure resembling a partridge stuffed.

Hawking was in ancient days considered the pride of the rich, and was eagerly sought after by the poor. Every degree had its peculiar hawk, from the king downward. We read that Henry the Eighth went out hawking in Hertfordshire, at Hitchin, on foot; and on his attempting to jump over a wide ditch, his jumping pole broke, and the king went head foremost a regular "header"-into the muddy ditch. Ladies are often represented with hawks on their wrists; and a gentleman was formerly known by his hawk, his greyhound, and his horse. The hawks chiefly used were the gyr-falcon (a bird thought worthy of the notice of a king), the falcon, the lanner, the hobby, and the merlin-these are called long-winged hawks. Falconry began about 450 A.D., and was continued as a favourite amusement till the sixteenth century. Very large sums were formerly given for a cast of hawks; and to steal one of these birds, or even to take any eggs from a hawk's nest, although it might be on the person's own property, was punished with imprisonment and a fine.

No better work can be read on the subject of Falconry than Sir John Sebright's. Mr. Belany has also given some useful hints in his book on the same subject.

It is the intention of Mr. Pells to visit Lavington again in September, when it is to be hoped that he will be induced to fly his birds at nobler game than pigeons. On each of his public days, between three and four hundred persons assembled to witness the sport. It is evident, therefore, that there is a wish to see the royal sport of hawking again revived. Few counties afford such an open range for the amusement as Wiltshire; and, if I mistake not, Mr. Pells found it a very hospitable and friendly county. To show in what high esteem the Master of the Hawks was held in Wales, I will add an interesting extract from the Laws of Howel Dha (Howel the Good) relating to this officer, who was fourth in rank at Court.

"The Master of the Hawks was required to sleep near his birds; he had his bed in the king's granary where they were kept, and not in the Palace, lest they should be injured by the smoke. He was restricted to a certain measure of mead and ale, that he might not neglect his duty. In spring he had the skin of a hind, and in autumn that of a stag, for

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