66

round the tender heart of the dear old creature, to permit us to absent ourselves from her society until the Wednesday, when we promised to dine with her, in the hopes of filling our insides as well as our purses with this estimable lady's bounty. Easter Tuesday arrived, and just as my "chum" and myself were adorning ourselves in our best, Dick informed me that two gentlemen were waiting to see me in the reception room. As a Westminster boy has always an eye to a "tip," which he always associates with a visit, I lost no time in descending, and, upon opening the door, who should I cast my eyes upon but my old travelling acquaintance, Billy Sanders. 'Well, I'm as good as my word," said the lawyer; "I promised to call. Allow me to introduce my friend Frank Alderson, Barrister-at-law, Middle Temple, Oxford circuit, Member of the Metropolitan Amateur Society, and President of the Histrionic Club, held at the Shakspeare's Head." Mr. Alderson gave me a most theatrical bow, exclaiming, in a dramatic tone, "A thousand times good morrow." Sanders then proceeded to say that he and his friend had procured two double orders for Covent Garden theatre, for that evening, and that they would have the greatest pleasure if I and any young companion would join them. "Let us to the Piazza, all to dinner," continued the stage-struck hero, still quoting from the Sweet Swan of Avon ;""we will be merry as crickets, lad.” I thanked Sanders for his courtesy, pointed out that my cousin Kirkonnel and myself were about to proceed to the Tothill Fields fair, and that we should be delighted to accompany him and his friend to the play. It was then arranged that our Amphitrions should proceed to the Piazza Coffee-house, to order dinner at five o'clock precisely, and that they should meet us at the fair in two hours' time. 66 Though loth to bid farewell, we take our leaves," said Alderson, in a most heroic strain; and taking his companion's arm, they wished me "Good morning," leaving me highly delighted with the prospect of accompanying them to my first play. Kirkonnel was equally gratified at hearing of the dinner and the evening's amusement; and, as we were not to be called upon to pay the expenses of a trip to the Red House, we at once decided upon a breakfast at Richardson's hotel, Covent Garden, where we proceeded immediately, and surprised the waiter not a little at our voracious appetites. The charge was half-a-crown, for tea, coffee, eggs, cold meat, toast, rolls, and bread; and certainly we had our money's worth, for never did two hungry schoolboys devour more food than we did upon that occasion. Just as we turned out of the Piazzas into King-street, we nearly stumbled over a group of three young men. "Meet me to-morrow, i'the Temple-hall, at two o'clock i'the afternoon," said one, whom we immediately recognized as Frank Alderson, to a stranger who now took leave of him; then, turning to us, he exclaimed, "Once more to-day well met." Sanders also congratulated himself on this unexpected rencontre, in terms less theatrical, though not less sincere. I then presented Kirkonnel to the two limbs of the law, and we proceeded on our way towards the then far celebrated fair at Tothill Fields. As we turned into the Strand, Frank Alderson recollected that he had promised to call at Ackermann's, to look at a print, just then published, of his idol, John Philip Kemble. We therefore bent our course towards that repository of arts; and, whilst gazing in at the window, we had an opportunity of witnessing the practical pleasantries of the hoaxing lawyer. Just as his

companion was spouting forth, "Look here, upon this picture and on this, we were all startled by the noise of some detonating balls, and the wonderful evolutions of an elderly gentleman who, lost in admiration of some sporting sketches, had involuntarily placed his foot upon one of these exploders; and, as he moved from one spot to another, he still continued to make a most formidable report of himself, a regular train having been laid for him. The imperturbability of Billy Sanders' countenance, and the tragic manner in which the amateur hero of the sock and buskin delivered the following line from his favourite author,

"For 'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard,"

produced such an effect upon Kirkonnel's and my risible faculties, that we burst out into a loud laugh. This was taken up by a butcher's boy, and two or three seedy-looking gentlemen who had assembled round the window, who immediately shouted and hooted at the involuntary cause of this "flare-up," and fairly drove him from his battery.

66

66

What say you to a boat, a wherry, or a funny?" enquired Sanders ; we can get one at Somerset House stairs, and that will deposit us at the Horse Ferry road" (for Waterloo and Vauxhall bridges were then only in prospective existence). "Let us avoid the shallow bauble boat, and take the strong ribb'd bark, that bounds between the two moist elements, like Perseus' horse," responded Alderson. We therefore proceeded quietly to the stairs, where a host of "jolly young watermen' then the rulers of the river, as Britannia was, and ever will be, of the waves--were ready to embark us, and engaging a good sized two-oared wherry, we sped quickly, with wind and tide, towards Millbank.

At the period I write of, steam had not made its appearance on the Thames, and that noble river was open to those who, like myself, were addicted to aquatic sports. A row or a sail were open to all; and it was a most brilliant sight to see the numerous pleasure boats, from the wherry to the eight-oared cutter, manned by noble amateurs, and filled with well dressed ladies, or tenanted by the worthy citizen and his family, who gladly escaped from the dust and heat of the city to enjoy the balmy breeze on the Thames. Now mark the difference. It is positively a service of danger to be on the water at all: the numerous steamers dodging in and out, backwards and forwards, tugs, brigs, barques, schooners, cutters, colliers, barges, so entirely take up the whole of the river, that a small boat has no chance against this leviathan craft; and any one wishing to have a pleasure trip in any of the boats that now ply upon the river must not only run the usual risk of the old sayingof there being only one plank between himself and eternity, but has the additional chance of being run into by a Red Rover, capsized by a Waterman, having your knell rung by a Sea Nymph, being upset by a Triton, fouled by a Fairy, swamped by Father Thames and his Sons, immersed in the river by the Ocean, or finding yourself "full fathom five" by the action of an Ariel.

But we are reminded that we have already gone to the extent of our limit in this chapter, and that we must " Stop her!" "Ease her!" Next month we hope, however, again to "Go ahead.”

(To be continued.)

THE RABBIT BEAGLE.

BY VELVETEEN.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,-The breed of this beautiful little animal is so scarcely to be obtained-nay, is in most countries so nearly extinct-that I am anxious to bring the subject before your readers whilst the chance still remains of perpetuating their blood and of profiting by the sport which they produce. To an old man like myself, who can no longer walk up to his pointers who has, from gout and an increasing waistband, foresworn the pomp and circumstance of glorious fox-hunting, and who can neither afford nor relish the battue (that foreign importation, which has called down more vials of wrath upon the heads of country squires, and filled the steward's office and the market-room with more complaints, than all the squabbles upon poor-laws, corn-laws, and game-laws combined)-a day's rabbit shooting, with a clever teain of beagles, is one of the most amusing and exhilarating sports. And although a young grandson of mine, just returned from Cambridge, votes it decidedly slow; and although I fear I overheard something issue from his lips, as he turned on his heel, which sounded like the monosyllable "muff"-to which I can attach no precise or definite meaning, but which, I presume, refers to some University topic of newer date than my own-I determine to vindicate my attachment to my little favourites, and to throw out some practical hints regarding their management.

The county of Sussex, in the Weald of which I reside, is, beyond all others, adapted for the use of beagles. The enclosures are very small, many of them consisting of three and four-acre fields; indeed, a field of ten or twelve is not often met with. The hedgerows, which have been allowed to extend themselves untrimmed and ungrubbed, particularly betwixt grass fields, may almost be promoted to the denomination of "shaws." Owing to the quantity of lime burnt on the farms, nearly every one of which possesses its kiln, many furze fields have been planted, and the rushy pastures contain capital lying, and hold a prodigious scent. I am not now about to enter upon a farming discussion, and will leave to Mr. Pusey and Lord Ducie to level, grub, and drain. Enough for my present purpose that the rougher the country the better for rabbit shooting; and I may add that, as few people buy property in this neighbourhood with the expectation of a Bedfordshire rent, the levelling of our picturesque declivities, the blasting of our grey rocks, the ruthless extirpation of our hedgerow timber, might possibly do away with one grand inducement to residence in the Weald of Sussex-viz., the beauty of its country.

I presume the beagle to have originated in the careful drafting of the full-sized whelps of the larger breed of hounds, and in the breeding from the smallest that could be saved; indeed, with all possible care in the selection of well-bred and diminutive dogs and bitches, the produce are invariably unsizeable, and the pack can only be maintained at its proper

standard by a stern noyade of the largest puppies, without regard to fine colour or marking; and this I always insist upon as soon as the litter is dropped. The earliest bred whelps are by far the most valuable; for, if the bitches come to heat soon after Christmas, the puppies will enter well by the next season, and, before its close, will chase as well as old hounds; although, of course, in finding, or with a squatting or foiling rabbit, they are immeasurably inferior. Walking out with the old hounds, and occasionally hearing a gun fired, will prevent their becoming gun shy, and will save a world of trouble. With these meek little animals correction or blows are out of the question; and they will soon naturally follow the example of their elders, in flying to a halloo or avoiding a rate. With the sole exception of a total lack of severity, the closer you can imitate the kennel management of a pack of fox-hounds (to compare small things with great) the better. Well-boiled old oatmeal and sweet flesh are as indispensable for the one as for the other. Skim milk, vegetables, and mild alteratives during the non-hunting season will produce the same effect upon the coats and constitutions of Mr. Toddle's beagles as of Her Majesty's stag-hounds; and, to a man fond of seeing things at their best, the sight of his glossy, mottled team, turning out with bandbox nicety, is as gratifying to Mr. Toddle abovementioned as to Mr. Davis. Choose your puppies of as gay and distinct colours as possible: I had for some years a favourite breed of tan colour, and twice I had a fatal accident; not, as might be supposed, owing to their being taken for a hare, the back of which their colour closely resembled, but owing to their not being seen at all; and in both instances I myself (no very unsteady shot or raw practitioner) was the involuntary executioner. The flecked blue mottle, the black and white, and the badger or lemon-pied, are preferable amongst guns. The genuine rabbit beagle has, in our country, been much supplanted by a stronger dog, high on the leg, and approaching to a small harrier, which those who are fond of such an amusement allow to find a hare, and bring her round to where the gun may finish her. Now, this is not at all according to my taste kicking one's heels in a thirty-acre wood for an hour, or tearing over and disturbing a whole country, by no means comes within my category of sport. My beau ideal of a rabbit beagle is as follows:He shall not be more than twelve inches in height, which will give him a weight of about as many pounds; his eyes should be large, clear, brown, and prominent, like those of a gazelle; his ears long, pendulous, smooth, flat, and round as the petals of a prize pansy or geranium; his nose broad, open, and moist; his neck (hear it not, ye fox-hound and harrier breeders) thick and throaty; his whole frame lengthy, and terminating in a long, high-carried, flourishing, and rushy stern; his legs short, and the straighter the handsomer; but as pace, so far from being desirable, is rather to be checked, if he is a little out at elbows and broad in the chest, I would not reject him on those accounts; his tongue musical, doubled, and free; and his colour, as I have above recommended, gay and variegated. The smooth beagle is the handsomest; but the wiry-haired one is perhaps the toughest and most energetic amongst furzes and brambles twenty feet long, which our Sussex people call in their patois, "lawyers"-owing, I believe, to the difficulty of getting rid of them. Some sportsmen prefer spaniels to beagles; and, as far as drawing and finding are concerned, they are right. One spaniel is worth

T

two beagles for these parts of the business; but they will not hunt a cold scent, or persevere like the latter; and, although I am not quite so fastidious as Mr. Beckford's friend, who rejected a hound which proved to be a bass, because he wanted a counter-tenor, I own I love beagle music. Your keeper (for I must not dignify him in the pages of the Sport ing Magazine by the appellation of huntsman) must be mild, quiet, and, for patience, a second "Grizzle." Yoicksing, whooping, and hallooing distract and overturn every thing. Let them find their game themselves; for half-a-dozen open-throated bumpkins kicking bushes, thumping tussocks, and flogging furzes, will soon make hounds as idle as themselves; and, as they never fail to scream and "Loo!" as soon as a rabbit jumps up, eyes and not noses will soon be the only faculty in use among your pack. Eight or nine hounds will be plenty to work with: more only get in the way, and probably find more than one rabbit at a time; added to which, in shooting in furzes they meet their rabbit and chop him. If your team contain more than this number, divide them. After three or four hours' thick drawing, quick finding, and hard running, a clean pack will not be amiss; and this work they will do with ease four days in the week, barring accidents, the chief of which happen to their eyes, owing to their very close work and low scenting, especially in furze fields.

I have never seen Prince Albert's pack; although, from their description, I was very anxious to procure one of the puppies of the blood royal. So much jealousy, however, exists of profaning the illustrious stream by any admixture with the more plebeian puddle, that I gave it up; and now (fox-and-grapes like) I do not regret my loss. A friend of mine who shoots near the southern coast, more fortunate than myself, obtained three princely whelps; and, anxious to see their work, he threw them into some rye which was much infested by rabbits. The morning was cold and wet, and the rye ditto; but the beagles worked excellently; my friend shot admirably, and sat down to dinner already so full of gratitude to Albert and Manton, that he had scarcely room for mutton and port. The next morning two of the three beagles were dead, and the third sorely crippled. Now, as I cannot afford to keep more cats than kill mice, and wish to be more guided by my own wishes than by the barometer, I intend eschewing such patrician alliances from my kennel. The best-managed beagles, although by no means the handsomest, that I ever saw, were Lord Gage's; and the rabbit-shooting on Firle Hill, twenty years ago, was perfect. Poor old Budgen! I see thee now, standing in the midst of a clump of furzes thy face

"Like the red moon, when rising in the east,

Crossed and divided by strange-coloured clouds."

I hear thy pertinent question, on arriving at a favourite covert"Now, gentlemen, are your shot-bags full?" and the gorse quivering and rustling under your merry-toned team! These hounds knew their work so well that, if a rabbit crossed to a fresh square, they would fling half across the ride and try back immediately: no rating, running, yelling, or flogging was admissible; and the only acccompaniment to their merry cry was a pretty well sustained running fire. And there lay poor old Flash, half worn out (an old privileged favourite deer-hound), at his lord's feet; and, as each successive rabbit rolled, dessusdessous, into the ride, wonld raise himself up like a parallel ruler,