ing from London, your dogs and guns are left with your keeper; and all you have to provide yourself with is a change of dress and linen, and a hamper of provisions for lunch. If you adopt, too, the prevalent fashion, and turn dealer in game, you may bring back with you the produce of your day's bag, and find a ready sale for it at the great London mart. A well-stocked manor, rented at moderate terms, without the expense of keeping up a house or farm, would bring in a very fair return to the tenant, independent of the gratification of amusing himself and his friends during the winter months.

No sooner does the merry month of May set in than there is another sort of shooting most successful to the "man about town." I allude to pigeon shooting and although, except for the excitement of gambling, it is a tame amusement compared with that of the field, still it furnishes good practice to the novice, and enables the more experienced "gunner to keep his hand in. Sparrow-shooting, too, which is ever to be had from the trap near London, is also excellent practice; and, to make it more difficult, a set of six traps should be procured, two of which should contain a pigeon and a sparrow each. As it is uncertain which trap will be pulled, it gives a man the knack of keeping his eyes about him, and making him a quick shot. A day, then, at the Red House, Battersea, the Old Hats, on the Uxbridge Road, or at some other of the suburban pigeon battues, will furnish an excellent diversion for the lover of the trigger, who makes the metropolis his head-quarters. But as this amusement is of an old date, we must digress, to lay before our readers some of our antiquarian researches upon the subject. According to Homer, we find that pigeon or dove-shooting was one of the sports of the ancients, for we find the following lines in the twenty-third book of the Iliad, describing the funeral games instituted by Achilles, upon the death of his friend Patroclus, and which consisted of the chariot race, the fight of the Costus, the wrestling, the foot race, the single combat, the throwing the discus, the shooting with arrows, and the darting the javelin.

"Those who in skilful archery contend

He next invites, the twanging bow to bend :
The mast which late a first-rate galley bore,

The hero fixes in the sandy shore :

To the tall top a milk-white dove they tie-
The trembling mark at which their arrows fly."

The poet then proceeds to describe how "skilful Tencer" cuts, with his arrow, the cord that tied the bird to the main-mast, and how " experienced Merion "

"Directs the shaft above,

And following with his eye the soaring dove,
Implores the gods to speed it through the skies,
With vows of firstling lambs, and grateful sacrifice.
The dove, in airy circles as she wheels,

Amid the clouds the piercing arrow feels.

Quite thro' and thro' the point its passage found,
And at his feet fell, bloody, to the ground."

Return we to the modern sport. The first day of the meeting of the Red House Club generally takes place at the Inclosure, Battersea, early in May; but pigeon-shooting, like many other sports, is rather on

the wane. We can well remember the time, some fifteen years ago, when Lords Litchfield, Ranelagh, and Bury, the Honourable George Anson, Captains Ross and Bentinck, with Messrs. Biddulph, Osbaldeston, Gillmore, Shoobridge, McDonogh, Anderson, Phillipson, &c., were the principal performers. Gold cups and sweepstakes of 300 sovereigns were then contended for. Without wishing to be invidious, we cannot help selecting a few feats that came under our own observation. In 1829, Captain Ross won the Annual Gold Cup, killing sixty-five birds out of eighty, at four days' shooting; twenty birds each day, at twentyfive yards, with five traps. Mr. Osbaldeston killed fifty-eight; Captain Bentinck, fifty-six; Mr. Anderson, forty-six ; and Lord Ranelagh, forty

one.

In the same year Captain Ross won two handicap matches, a sweepstakes of fifty double shots, twenty-five each day, twenty yards, five traps, by killing fifty-seven birds; two matches and a sweepstakes of 300 sovereigns.

Lord Macdonald's shooting is too well known to require any faint eulogium of ours, as is the " Squire's ;" and Lord Litchfield and his brother, the Hon. George Anson, are among the first of "gunners, whether after wild game or "blue rocks" at Battersea. The same remark may be made with equal justice to the above-mentioned "Lords and Commons," many of whom are still flourishing, and equally successful in the field as in the times we write of.

Some extraordinary instances of pigeon-shooting are to be found in sporting records. It is stated that a Mr. Elliot, of Rudgwick, in the county of Sussex, undertook to kill fifty-five pigeons in fifty shots; and notwithstanding the high state of the wind, he killed forty-five. He never missed a bird; but, owing to the boisterous state of the weather, his shot scattered. He was only allowed one gun, the touch-hole of which was fairly melted. A game-keeper of Sir Harry Mildmay's shot six pigeons out of ten, with a single bullet. He afterwards hit a cricket ball, with common shot, twelve times successively, though bowled by one of the quickest bowlers in the Hambledon Club. But it would fill pages to give all the feats of the trigger; and we must therefore refer our readers to the records of former days. Suffice it to say that at no period has shooting been carried to such perfection as it has been in our own times: we allude to the last twenty years.

In a late number of your magazine we read of Sir William Massey Stanley's "doings" in the Highlands, and the returns of "killed" during the last season, from Scotland, beat any that have hitherto been made. The Sikhs in the East, and the grouse in the North, have had awful havoc made among them in the shooting seasons of 1845 and 1846. In addition, we find on record that Lord Elcho killed one hundred brace of grouse in one day, upon his moors in Scotland, and that Sir Richard Sutton, upon his Yorkshire moors, bagged one hundred brace in two days' shooting, from his pony. Of mounted sportsmen there are few, if any, who can compete with the Marquis of Anglesey, who is one of the quickest and the cleanest shots we ever saw; and when we consider the disadvantage his lordship labours under in the loss of his leg, it is quite wonderful to witness his prowess in the field. It signifies little to this gallant warrior, whether the game rises in the front, in the rear, to the right, or the left, the well-poised Manton is, in a second, in its proper

direction, and the chances are twenty to one that the pulling the trigger is the death-warrant to the bird. His lordship, who is the very Crichton of horsemen, both as to hand and seat, has some well-broke ponies, who carry the noble marquis safely over Cannock Chase, or through the woods that skirt his ancestral domain of Beaudesert. Long life to the roof-tree of the Pagets!

While upon the subject of pigeon-shooting, I will lay before my readers an extraordinary pigeon-match that took place in 1830. Upon the 10th of July of that year, two persons arrived in London from Antwerp, with one hundred and ten pigeons, to be thrown off here, for the purpose of ascertaining whether they would find their way back; and if so, in what time they would perform the journey. The birds belonged to the Cansdel Tavern Club, Antwerp; and eighteen prizes were to be competed for in this flight :-the first a gold medal of considerable value, and the others sums of money. Upon the day fixed at Antwerp for their departure, the weather was too hazy; but on the following morning, at a quarter before 9 the sun broke out; and it was at once arranged to proceed with the trial. The pigeons were contained in eight inclosures, constructed of wire and canvas, and capable of admitting a sufficiency of air to the birds; and on the top of each was a trap-door of tin. The baskets were all placed side by side, and after the means of opening the traps were so adjusted as to be opened simultaneously, at a given signal the doors were all lifted up, and out rushed the pigeons at the same time. They rose in a flock, and never hovered in the least, but bent their way straight (bending straight sounds Irish, but I cannot pause in my flight of truth-not fancy-to correct it), in the direction they were most likely to reach home. They were all of a cross breed unknown to the English fanciers, having traces of the carrier, tumbler, and dragon pigeon, but all having one distinguished peculiarity in what is designated the "pearl eye." The men set off on foot shortly after, for Dover, with a proper certificate of the hour of departure. A letter from Brussels, dated July 23rd, says "The pigeons, one hundred and ten in number, despatched in London, with a strong breeze from the west-south-west, have arrived at Antwerp; the first one, gaining the gold medal, in five hours and a half; the second, thirty seconds later. Six arrived five minutes after the winner; and all the prizes, eighteen in number, were gained within eight hours and a quarter from the time the birds left London." Twenty-six birds reached home within twenty hours. Of the rest, who were "no where," we have no account upon record. We have now, at some length, digressed from our immediate subject, which was to introduce pigeon-shooting as an agreeable recreation from London; and certainly, faute de mieux, it is a very good way of passing a morning during the London season.

Tennis, although rather an expensive amusement, may be ranked as one in which the constant sojourner in the metropolis can always (with a full purse) have in perfection. The Tennis Court, near the Haymarket, and the newly-erected one at Lord's Cricket Ground, are, we believe, the only ones now kept up; and they are both admirably superintended, and worthy the patronage of the public.

From tennis we pass to steeple-chasing; and here the metropolitan can easily enjoy this sport (if sport it can be called), from London. Coventry, Northampton, Leamington, and Windsor, being all within

distance by rail; and a man may breakfast and dine in "the village," having plenty of time between his meals to drop or pocket a hundred or two, as the case may be. We are free to confess," as the hereditary legislators say in the House of Lords, that steeple-chasing is not a favourite amusement of ours. More valuable horses are annually sacrificed to this sport (!) than in three times that period in the hunting field. However, as we write for the million, we cannot refrain from giving a notice of it, under protest, that we highly disapprove of a system which encourages gambling, which sacrifices the noble animal, the horse, and which leads to a great deal of foul play and trickery. The late Parisian steeple-chase, although admirably conducted and contested for, made us blush for our countrymen, who, upon the principle of "doing at Rome as the Romans do," desecrated the Sabbath upon this occasion. Had the principal Englishmen represented to the authorities that their religion dictated to them a proper observance of this day, the scandal that has been attached to this breach of it would have been averted.

To resume. In referring to the sporting literature of the last century, we find that a steeple-chase took place, probably the first, on the 16th of January, 1792. The account runs as follows:-" A match was run for a thousand guineas, in the county of Leicester, from Melton Mowbray, and across the country to Dolby Woods, being a distance of ten miles, by a horse, the property of Mr. Hardy, got by the Rutland Arabian, and rode by Mr. Loraine Smith's butler, against the best hunter the Honourable Mr. Willoughby could procure, rode by his whipper-in, which was won by the former, by a distance of nearly two miles. At starting, the odds were 3 to 2 in favour of Mr. Hardy, whose horse went over the country in great style. The intrepidity of the riders was astonishing; but the advantage of superior skill and excellent horsemanship was evidently in favour of Mr. Hardy, whose rider showed much knowledge of hunting by his manner of choosing his leaps, many of which were well-performed.'

Steeple-chasing does not seem to have made a great progress, for in 1804 we find the following account in a sporting work :

"CURIOUS HORSE-RACE.-A wager betwixt Captains Prescott and Tucker, of the 5th Light Dragoons, was determined on Friday, the 20th January, by a single horse-race, which we learn is denominated steeple-hunting. The race was run from Chapel Houses, on the West Turnpike, to the Cow-gate, Newcastle; a distance of about three miles in a direct line across the country, which Captain Tucker gained by nearly a quarter of a mile. The mode of running such races is not to deviate more than fifteen yards from the direct line to the object in view, notwithstanding any impediments the riders may meet with, such as hedges, ditches, &c. The leading horse has the choice of road to the extent of the limits, and the other cannot go over the same ground; but, still preserving those limits, must choose another road for himself."

In the following year the newspapers of that day teemed with the following report. It will be seen by the account that the present rules for steeple-chasing did not then exist; for one of the riders gets an awkward fall in going through a hand-gate.

"EXTRAORDINARY STEEPLE-RACE.-On the last Wednesday in November came on for decision a match which had excited much interest in the sporting world, and which, amongst that community, is denominated a steeple race, the parties undertaking to surmount all obstructions, and to pursue in their progress as straight a line as possible. The contest lay between Mr. Bullivant, of Sproxton; Mr. Day, of

Wymonham; and Mr. Frisby, of Waltham; and was for a sweepstakes of 100 guineas staked by each. They started from Womack's Lodge, at half-past 3 o'clock, to run round Woodal-head and back again-a distance exceeding eight miles. They continued nearly together, until they came within a mile and a half of the goal, when Mr. Bullivant, on his well-known horse Sentinel, took the lead, and appearances promised a fine race between him and Mr. Day; but unfortunately, in passing through a hand-gate, Mr. Day's horse's shoulder came in full contact with the gatepost. The rider was thrown with great violence, and, as well as the horse, was much hurt. Nevertheless, Mr. Day remounted in an instant, and continued his course. Mr. Bullivant, however, during the interruption, made such progress as to enable him to win the race easily. The contest for second place was extremely severe between Mr. Day and Mr. Frisby: the last half-mile was run neck and neck, Mr. Day beating his opponent by half-a-neck. The race was performed in 25 minutes, 32 seconds."

Up to 1810, steeple-chasing had made no great progress; for we find the following notice in a sporting work of that year: :-

"The amateurs of break-neck amusements will to-morrow be gratified with a race not very common in the annals of sporting. Two gentlemen, of riding celebrity, are matched to run their horses over four miles of cross-country ground, chosen by judges especially appointed, who, it seems, in marking the devious course, had no regard to whatever obstructions arising either from gate, hedge, or ditch; so that the most undaunted at flying leaps will probably win the race, which is for fifty pounds; one horse carrying 15 st., and the other 13 st. 12 lb. The race will take place at no great distance from Lewes."

We have no authentic record of this steeple-chase, but have no doubt but that it was between two officers of the 10th Hussars, then quartered at Brighton, and who kept the game up pretty well in those days. In the hunting-field, on the turf, on the road, there were few more sporting characters than the "elegant extracts," as they were afterwards called, upon their being removed from the Prince of Wales's own corps.

(To be continued.)

HUNTING IN THE FOREST OF ST. GERMAIN.

The Forest of St. Germain is beautifully situated on the banks of the Seine, about ten miles west of Paris. Every one knows that before the terrific days of the revolution, it was a royal residence. Here the unfortunate James of England terminated his days; untaught by the misfortunes of his ancestors, he repeated their offences, and found, too late, that a nation is more powerful than a monarch. In a neat church, just opposite the Palace, there is an elegant marble tomb, erected at the expense of George IV., containing either the head or heart, or some other portion of the exiled monarch; for in those days, the Lord's anointed retained the sacredness conferred at the coronation by the holy oil; but the march of intellect has dis