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advantage do they get from it? Surely a random shot or two, even if they can procure a gun without paying for one, will not compensate in their minds for the risk they run. The regular poacher indeed, by constantly following his lawless trade, makes a profit, which he considers to indemnify him against these consequences; but to the poor man, who is not an habitual poacher, they form an insurmountable prohibition against shooting, even without regarding the feelings created towards him in the minds of those from whom he derives the employment that supports him, and upon whose grounds he must be known to trespass, if he be known to shoot.

But, supposing for a moment, though I by no means think it likely, that out of the numerous ranks of society now prevented from shooting, a few more individuals should be induced by the change of the law to commit a trespass; is it just, on account of the offences of a few individuals, to impose restrictions upon whole classes? or is it equitable, because B or perhaps C also, in the exercise of a right, which they have in common with the other letters of the alphabet, outstep propriety, and commit an offence which they might have, and ought to have avoided, and for which they ought to be punished-is it equitable, I say, that the vowels only should for the future be permitted to enjoy that heretofore common right, and that all the consonants should be excluded from the enjoyment? And yet, such is the effect of the present state of the law as to qualifications-a more absurd system than which could scarcely be de

vised.

Its anomalies have been well and humorously exposed by Mr. Peel,

in his place in the House of Commons, and are too generally admitted to be made the subject of discussion. The only question is, how shall they be amended.

If

Give power to all proprietors of land, who have a certain extent of landed property, to pursue game as they please, says one set; but what extent of land is to be required, and for what purpose? If that extent is to be fixed by having regard to the means of support, an acre of land must be a qualification to the man who has ample income from other sources. it is to be such an extent as to afford reasonable presumption that he can sport upon his own grounds without trespassing upon others, who can settle an extent depending so much on the situation of the land, the quantity of game upon it, and the feelings of the owner as to what will content him? If it is to be such an extent as will not lead him to entice game from the preserves of larger landowners, how again is so uncertain a question to be ascertained? But if the smaller proprietor attempt to entice game from the greater, how can he do it, unless by better feeding and more cautiously preserving? and why may not the great proprietor, by the same means, secure his stock? Surely he has the better chance of the two.

Give the privilege then to all proprietors of land, says another set; they have a property in the game on their land, and why should they not kill it? But if they have a right to kill it themselves, exclaims a third set, they must have an equal right to privilege others to kill it on their grounds, if they think proper. Why may not all their sons, many of whom have no land of their own, be permitted to shoot over the grounds of their

father? Why must they wait, till, by his death, they acquire land for the permission? And why may not those fathers occasionally give a day's shooting to their landless friends, when they receive them at their country seats? If it is said, that the moneyed man who wishes to indulge occasionally in the sport, may by purchase qualify himself, it may be asked in answer, why should he be condemned to buy land to the extent of a hundred pounds a year or more, in order to privilege him to indulge in a day's shooting at a friend's house in the country, some two or three times in the course of a year? In justice then, we must go a step farther, and extend the privilege of shooting not only to

the proprietors of land, but to all who have the permission of any proprietor. We must not, as the law now does, make the possession of land the sine qua non of the privilege to kill game.

To such an extension several objections have been started, to which some weight has been attached in the minds of many, who have not given much consideration to the subject. But it is perhaps high time that I should pause for the present. Before this letter goes to the press, you will probably have received the third and last communication with which you will be troubled upon the subject of the Game Laws, by,

Yours, &c.

NO POACHER.

THE OAKLEY HUNT.

SIR,

Should be gratified by seeing the following Song inserted in your Miscellany, which was dedicated by the writer to the Marquis of Tavistock and the Members of the Hunt. The only merit (if any) to which it pretends, is that of being a tolerably accurate description of one out of the many fine runs enjoyed this season with one of the best conducted pack of fox-hounds in the kingdom Should any resemblance to the "Lambton Hounds," inserted in your April Number, p. 385, be discovered in any of the lines, I must state, to rescue it from the imputation of plagiarism, which it might possibly incur, that it was written early in the month of February. A SPORTSMAN.

I am, Sir, yours, &c.

Tune "Heigh-ho! Dobbin !"

If stag-hunting is reckoned a sport fit for Kings,
"Tis a pity they ever should follow such things;
may do well for Cockneys, or other shy cocks,

It

But give me "The Oakley" and hunting the fox!

Chorus-Tally ho! gone away! gone away, tally ho!
Tally ho! tally ho! gone away!

"Tis the noblest of all noble science below,

And, thank Heaven! there are many good packs that can go;

But "The Oakley," I swear, is the best of them all;
If you doubt me-I beg to appeal to Tom Ball*.

Tally ho! &c.

Let all who would judge of a pack by their sport,
To Chichley,-to Melchbourne,-or Bletsoe resort;
If you ride a superior sort of a horse,

You may see something brilliant from famed Shelton Gorse.

Tally ho! &c.

They have found-he delays not a moment-he's gone,
"Hark, holloa! get to him, lads-hark to the horn!"
See, quicker than lightning, comes Georget on his grey,
"Yoicks, forward"-hey! wind him, boys-forward, away!
Tally ho! &c.

Ye may ride now who will, for through Stanwick they push,
Just as if they were tied, or belonged to his brush:
Here the critic is planted; cries Tom, "Are you done?
"Come along-now's the time for a fine slanting runt."
Tally ho! &c.

See, the Marquis is gallantly charging the stile,
You may guess what a burst it will be by his smile;
And Whitbread is riding right desperate hard,
Tho' he well knows the country all round to a yard.

Tally ho! &c.

Like a flight of wild birds o'er the open they went,
Heads up and sterns down, for breast-high was the scent;
And for forty-two minutes they held it along
Without check-so I cannot here finish my song.

Tally ho! &c.

For they ran through the best part of Huntingdonshire,
Not a wood or appearance of covert was near,

Till he gained a known haunt-which I fain would suppose is
A place which you all must have heard of-Hunt's Closes.

Tally ho! &c.

There on a fit spot for a good fox to die,
Such a fox as all hounds but such hounds would defy,
To his staunch persecutors he gave up his breath,
And, though vanquished, he still looked a hero in death.

Tally ho! &c.

Oh! would I could celebrate each man by name,
Whose performance that day is entitled to fame;
Many went well the whole of it-nevertheless,
Not a few were obliged to pull up in distress.

Tally ho! &c.

They all rode like devils, yet no one, they say,
Not even Fred Hogg beat the Marquis that day;
So severe was the pace, that Lord Gardner, they tell me,
Was all the way neck and neck racing with Delmè.
Tally ho! &c.

First whipper-in-perfect in his profession, and a great wag in his way.
The huntsman.

See Sporting Magazine for June 1827, towards the end of the first article.

Parson Crofts pushed along, of course anxious to know
Every turn which his pupil intended to go;
And 'Squire Peter Payne very justly may brag
Of the fight he kept up on his tight little nag.

Tally ho! &c.
There was cramming, and bruising, and falling-in short,
All the fun that is usual on days of this sort;
But to be too particular would not be fair-
For if all were not up-they all tried to be there.

Tally ho! &c.

Let us hope that old Bedfordshire never may lack
Such a true British sportsman to lead such a pack!
Let us hope that such runs he may oft see again,
And, oh ! may he never draw Shelton in vain!

Tally ho! &c.

Now I'll drink to his health, for I think it is time
That I pulled up, and gave a "whoo-whoop" to my rhyme,
Having chaunted ten minutes by Higgins'sf clocks,-
So here's to the Marquis and hunting the fox!

Tally ho! gone away! gone away, tally ho!
Tally ho! tally ho! gone away.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

THE
HE interest which Sporting ex-
cites throughout the Continent
is continually on the advance. We
perceive a periodical Journal an-
nounced for publication in Paris, pe-
culiarly devoted to Hunting, Racing,
the Science of Breeding, and also pro-
fessing to give an account of the vari-
ous Studs throughout Europe. Such a
Work, if well got up, will naturally

excite considerable interest even in
this country, and we shall not be un
mindful of profiting by information
to be gleaned from such a source.

The Chase.

Fox-hunting may be now said to have completely closed for the season, there being but few masters of hounds ambitious of killing a May fox.Throughout the country the season has proved one of unusual success, and the oldest friends to the sport never remember a better one for scent. Most of the crack clubs have had their wind-up dinners, and every thing augurs well for the next year.

The Roe-buck Hounds of E. M. Pleydell, Esq. of Whatcombe House, Dorsetshire, closed the season with a brilliant day's sport on Saturday the 5th of April. They threw off at Elcombe Wood, and in about ten minutes, a fine buck was viewed going over the opposite hill in gallant style for Escomb, through which he passed, and made for Turnwood; here he remained a few minutes, and then broke over the Downs into the Vale of Blackmoor to Ibberton, where being headed by some labourers he ascended the hill, and skirting Ibberton Park ran to Houghton Wood; passed through that extensive covert, and turned through the inclosures of M. Davis, Esq. to a coppice at some distance near Durwestone. Thence he made for Elcombe, and again attempted the hill; but his strength failing, he turned back into covert, and passing directly through, broke on the other side, and the whole pack (with the exception of one couple of hounds) ran into him in view, in a short furze brake on the Down, after a run of one

* Rector of Shelton, Chaplain to the Oakley Hunt, and tutelar Saint of Shelton Gorse. + Higgins, landlord of the Swan Inn, Bedford.

hour and forty minutes without à single check, and the greater part, particularly in the open country, at speed.

The Turf.

Second October Meeting.-Match, Thursday: Lord Tavistock's b. c. by Tiresias, out of The Governess, agst Gen. Grosvenor's ch. c. by Phantom, out of Moonshine, T. Y. Č. 50, h. ft.

SALES OF RACERS.

Lord Sefton has purchased Lord Wharncliffe's Pastime; Lord Wilton, Mr. Stonehewer's Goshawk; Lord Tavistock, Mr. Ridsdale's Sharpset, since named Lepanto; and Lord Southampton, Mr. Theakston's Grampion.

At the close of the Newmarket Craven Meeting 4000 guineas were offered by a Noble Lord to Mr. Gully for Mameluke, and refused.

Maria, by North Star, dam by Gohanna, entered for the Gold Cup at Liverpool, was burnt to death at Newcastle on the evening of the 11th of April, owing to a spark from a candle having ignited her litter. The poor animal was literally roasted alive.

COURSING.

A Correspondent informs us that

there is in our last Number an error in the pedigree of Milo, the winner of the Cups at the Ashdown and Altcar Coursing Meetings. He is there said to be got by Medlar; whereas Milo and Medlar were both out of one bitchMr. Bellyse's Gaudy-Medlar, as stated, by Leveller, and Milo, by Lord Stradbroke's Garrick.

We understand that the leading Members of the West Country Coursing Clubs, viz. Ashdown Park, Amesbury, and Deptford, purpose dining together at the Thatched House Tavern on the Monday previous to the ensuing Derby. They are desirous of being joined by the Members of the Swaffham, Newmarket, Malton, and Louth Clubs.

STALLION GREYHOUNDS.

Woodman, 4 yrs old, at Castle Hill, near Aberystwith. He is the winner of two pieces of Plate and several Sweepstakes:-got by Topper, son of

Mr. Calvert's Topper, out of a Brati bitch.

Watchman, at the same place:-by Mr. Hassall's Hercules, out of Mr. Burgess's Jig, the dam of Beppo, Bashful, Horatio, &c.

COCKING.

A main of cocks was fought on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of April, at the New Pit, Milbank, between Middlesex (Fleming feeder) and Suffolk (Hardwick feeder), for 10 sovs. a battle and 200 the odd, which was won by the former by four battles on the mainthe numbers being, Fleming 19, Hardwick 15. Suffolk was four a-head on the byes.

A great main of cocks was fought at Wolverhampton, between Shropshire (Phillips feeder) and Worcester (Hine feeder), on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of April, which terminated as follows:

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SIR" The mail bags between Ross and Hereford are carried by a man who had originally two horses to perform the work, that they might take it alternate days-the distance twenty-eight miles per day. On the 19th last September one of the horses died; and the other, ten years old, blind, poor, and in anything but NIMROD's condition, a good 'un to go, though a rum 'un to look at, continued to do it till the 13th of February last, when the old chesnut fell at the Cal

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