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In presenting the FIELD BOOK to the Sporting World, some explanation
respecting the motives that led to its publication, are deemed
necessary.
An enthusiastic admirer of rural sports from boyhood, the Compiler
sought with avidity after any book connected with his favourite
recreations, from which either amusement or information might be
obtained. The older authors, with the exception of a few pages of quaint
and curious anecdote, were generally formed of barbarous theories, whose
absurdities had long since caused them to be disregarded. The more
modern, whether confined to a particular subject, or professing to be
repertories of British Sports, were too frequently overloaded with
hackneyed and unimportant matter, and merely reprints of treatises for
years before the public, and differing from their predecessors in
nothing but the name.
But had there been nothing objectionable in the execution of sporting
works, as they appeared during the last century, the total change in
everything connected with the British field, would render them now of
little value, but to point a contrast between the past and present
systems. Without reverting to the times when jockeys rode in tie-wigs,
and men would not venture to a trout-stream unless furnished with a
velvet cap; when country gentlemen deserted their ladye-loves ere
cock-crow, to see the sun rise above a fox-cover; when no pond-fish
could resist a bait prepared with a dead-man’s finger; and a
sucking-mastiff, stuffed with snails and judiciously roasted, was a
sovereign remedy for a shoulder-slip;—without reverting to these times,
what changes have not occurred within our own recollections? The mystic
arcana of old professors have vanished before practical and scientific
improvement, and the Sporting World has undergone a total revolution,
and produced a new order of men and things.
While, however, expressing these convictions, the Compiler would not
undervalue many of the useful and intelligent writers and collectors who
have preceded him. With allowances for their times, and the false
theories then received, which modern science has exploded, where will
more information be found than in the “Rural Sports,” “Thoughts on
Hunting,” “Essay on Sporting,” and other contemporaneous works? It is of
the copyists of these writers that the Compiler would complain, who,
adopting everything, good and bad, from these originals, without a
single addition of their own, have dosed the public ad nauseam,
re-vending the same wares again and again, without even the redeeming
grace of acknowledging the sources of their spoliations.
To produce a short and lucid compendium of all matters connected with
the field, and which might be considered interesting to the sportsman,
has been the object of the present compilation. All that appeared
valuable in the old school, as far as was compatible with the progress
of modern science, has been retained; while in established improvements,
the more recent systems have only been attended to. Where, however,
ancient and modern principles were opposed, and the point at issue was
doubtful or consequential, authorities in support of the conflicting
theories are quoted, and the reader can use a discretionary power in his
adoption.
To convey simple information and avoid scientific display, has been the
Compiler’s wish; and the plainest of the received authorities have
accordingly been preferred. Hence, White of Exeter, and Bewick, have
been principally followed in the veterinary and ornithological
departments; while the more erudite pages of Blaine and Percivall,
Cuvier, Montagu, and Rennie, have contributed much that was valuable. In
canine descriptions and diseases, Brown and Blaine have been selected.
On piscatory subjects Daniel forms the text-book, while Davy and modern
_artistes_ of the angle have not been overlooked. In sporting
antiquities the Compiler has consulted Strutt; in falconry he has chosen
Sebright. Upon the breeding and management of game, Moubray has been his
Mentor. From Jesse and White of Selborne much that was curious in
natural history and animal economy has been extracted. In the mechanical
department he has received assistance from several leading gun-makers;
and upon numerous subjects of general interest to the sportsman, in
Colonel Hawker he acknowledges a _Magnus Apollo_. Finally, many
anonymous works and writers, either not essentially sporting or of minor
name, have been extensively quoted in the pages of the FIELD BOOK.
Having stated the principal sources from whence the compilation has been
made, it may be observed that as it was an object to embrace British
sports generally, considerable difficulty arose in compressing a
necessary portion of information upon these varied pursuits, within the
small compass of a single octavo. A second volume, or one of larger
size, was objectionable; and although the smallest sized type consistent
with comfort to the reader has been employed, it is feared that many a
sin of omission will be laid at the Compiler’s door. From the difficulty
attendant on alphabetic arrangement, some articles also were omitted in
their proper place, and must be sought for in the Appendix. All the
compiler can say in apology is, that when the Field Book is found
summary or imperfect, the necessity of compression must be recollected,
and a reference to a competent authority will enable the reader to find
all that he requires. The Compiler would here remark, that the books and
authors mentioned above, will be found of infinite service in their
respective departments; and many of them are indispensably necessary to
him who would possess a well-appointed stable and a healthy kennel.
One subject introduced into the pages of the Field Book, might to some
appear anomalous. Yacht-sailing has been slightly noticed; and had the
limits of the work permitted, it should have held the prominent place to
which it is so well entitled. While hill or forest bounds the sporting
adventurers of other lands, the “deep, deep sea” is made subservient to
the pastimes of Great Britain; and the flag, which in war bore “the
battle and the breeze,” in peace sweeps over the blue wave which owns
its power, and would almost prove that the elements themselves cannot
bound the sportive enterprise of the true-born Briton.
_London, April 8, 1833._
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