"Hunting, my dear fellow; why, I have given it up years ago--all
humbug! What on earth is the use of a man making a guy of himself,
putting on a pink coat, top-boots, and uncomfortable leather breeches,
and for what?--to gallop after a lot of yelping dogs, and to catch a
fox which is of no earthly use to any one when he is brought to hand;
endangering your neck, breaking fences, and destroying land and the
crops. Hunting is an idiotic fashion; half the men only hunt for the
sake of dress, and for mounting the pink. If they must hunt, why not
dress like reasonable beings, in comfortable cords, gaiters, and a
shooting-jacket? Ah! then you would not see half the men out you do
now. I am quite ashamed to think I ever hunted. Just come and look at
my shorthorns, will you?"
In sporting parlance, I was "knocked clean out of time;" this was the
inveterate six-days-a-week man.
"But you shoot?" I asked, seeing it was necessary to say something.
"Oh yes! I shoot, and fish occasionally, when the May-fly is
up--anything but hunting. There, what do you think of that bull?"
Shooting, too, is wonderfully changed. Where are the high stubbles we
so eagerly sought on the first of September?--gone, gone for ever. The
reaping-machine cuts it off now as close as the cloth on a billiard
table.
It has often been said the birds are wilder at present than they were:
admitting this to be the case, the cause probably is the high state of
cultivation, and nothing more. There is not the cover there was
formerly to hold them, and therefore they are more difficult to get at.
Turnips are now sown in drills, and not broadcast, as grain usually
was. If you work down the drills, the birds see you, and are off the
other end: the only way is to take them across. Yet there are thousands
of places where the cover is good and plentiful; and where this is the
case the birds lie as well as ever.
Game is scarcer than it was, except on manors that are highly
preserved: it must be remembered that where there was one shooter
formerly, there are twenty now. It is a difficult matter at present to
rent a shooting, for directly there is anything good in the market it
is snatched up at once.
The general style of shooting of the present day is odious--large bags
are "the go." In some countries it has done away with the noble pointer
and setter altogether; nothing but retrievers are used. The guns,
beaters, and keepers are all in a line: a gun, then a keeper with a
retriever, a beater, another gun, and so on. The word is given, and
away they go, taking a field in a beat. As you fire--possibly there are
two or three guns popping at the same bird--a keeper falls out, and
finds it with his retriever, whilst you are going on. Can this be
called sport? It is nothing more than pot-hunting, wholesale butchery.
Give me my brace of pointers and setters, and let me shoot my game to
points; there is some pleasure in that. What can be a more beautiful
sight to the shooting man than to see a brace of well-bred dogs,
ranging and quartering their ground like clockwork, backing and
standing like rocks, steady before and behind, and dropping to fur and
wing, as if they were shot? Working to hand, and obeying your slightest
word--beautiful, intelligent creatures--there is some pleasure in
shooting over such animals as these.
Then driving is another pot-hunting system, and does no end of harm;
and so those who practise it will find out before many years are over.
More game is wounded and left to pine away and die than many have an
idea of--a more cruel and unsportsmanlike system has never been thought
of, and I much regret it has its votaries. A heavy hot luncheon from a
Norwegian kitchener is now the correct thing--heavy eating and drinking
must form a prominent feature in the day's programme, otherwise it is
not sport.
A few men are still content with their sherry-flask and sandwich, and I
would back these to beat the others into fits in a day's sport. One
does not go out to eat, but to shoot, and a man that has laid in a
heavy luncheon can neither walk well up to his dogs nor shoot straight
after it.
Great improvements have been made in guns. The old flint that took half
an hour to load was a bore; the flint had every now and then to be
chipped and renewed, the pans fresh steeled, the touch-hole pricked,
powder put in the pan, and even then there were constant misfires and
disappointments. The flint in time gave way to the percussion, a great
improvement; but there are many inconveniences with this; unless the
nipples are kept clean, and the gun washed each time after using,
constant misfires are the consequence. Then, in cold weather it is no
end of trouble to get the caps on. With half-frozen fingers it is a
difficult job; but this has been remedied by a cap-holder, which sends
the caps up with a spring as you want them. With both flint and
percussion there were great inconveniences in loading; the spring of
your powder or shot flask might break, and then you had to judge your
charge till they were repaired. All this trouble was put an end to by
the introduction of the breech-loader, which has not half the danger,
is ten times quicker, and much more convenient in every way; the
ammunition more easily carried, and there are very few misfires. The
gun wants no washing, merely a rag passed through, and it is clean. But
I am not going into the subject of guns and all their improvements; I
have merely mentioned these to show the great stride that has been made
in the last fifty years in shot guns.
Steeplechasing and racing I must touch on, and the little I have to say
will not be in its favour.
The hateful passion of betting is slowly but surely ruining the turf;
for there are not the same class of men on it that there were thirty
years ago.
Where do you see fine old sportsmen like the late Sir Gilbert
Heathcote? He raced for the pleasure of racing, and so did many others
who never betted a shilling; but it is all altered now, and not for the
better.
Young men--ay, and old ones too--ruin themselves by betting; Government
and other clerks squander their salaries away, which might maintain
them, and perhaps a mother or a sister who is totally dependent upon
them; the butlers and footmen pawn the family plate _to meet their
engagements_; and the shop-boy is often detected _in flagrante
delicto_, with his hands in the till, purloining a half-crown or two to
enable him to go with Mary Hann to 'Ampton. You are pestered with
letters from tipsters--scoundrels who know just as much of a horse or
racing as they do of the man in the moon. The man from whom you can get
nothing else, is always ready with his advice on the momentous subject
of "what to back" for this race or that, quite ignoring the question of
whether he really does or does not "know anything," to use turf
parlance.
Betting will never be put down entirely, but much might be done. Were I
to commence racing again, I would hit the ring and the betting
fraternity as hard as I could to scare them from backing my horses for
the future. This cannot always be done, but after one or two such
lessons people would be shy of burning their fingers over my stable. I
daresay I should be called an "old curmudgeon," "selfish brute," and
"no sportsman;" but after all said and done, you race to please
yourself, not the public. You have to pay the hay and corn bill,
trainer's expenses, and, above all, entry fees, far the heaviest item
in the whole list; and surely, if any money is to be had over a race,
the owner should be allowed "first run" at it.
We see no Alice Hawthorns or Beeswings now-a-days; racing men cannot
afford to let their colts or fillies come to maturity: most are broken
down before they are three years old. Government ought to interfere and
put a veto on two-year-old races; this done, and the One and Two
Thousand, the Derby, Oaks, and Leger made for four-year-olds, then we
might hope to see our racehorses and hunters coming back to their
former stout form. But this we shall never see. John Bull, with his
proverbial stubbornness, will stick to his old line.
I was one and twenty years riding and racing in France, and was highly
amused when the French first began sending over horses to us; we
generously allowed them seven pounds--half a stone. How I laughed and
chuckled in my sleeve when I heard this! After a little time Mr Bull
found this would not do, so he came to even weights; but he received
such a lesson with Fille de l'Air and Gladiateur, that it made the old
gentleman stare considerably, and pull rather a long face.
Racing men, I will tell you what you probably already know, but will
not admit--the French could better give us seven pounds than we them:
their three-year-olds are nearly as forward as our four-year-olds.
The climate of France is warmer than ours, horses do better and furnish
quicker there, and the time is not far distant when they will beat us
as easily as we used to beat them. It is no use disguising it; it is a
fact, and a fact, too, that is being accomplished; for no one will deny
that the French already take a pretty good share of our best stakes.
They have a climate better suited for horses, they buy our best sires
and mares, have English trainers and riders, therefore what is to
prevent them from beating us? They have done it already, and will
continue doing so.
We have found out that when we take horses over there we are generally
beaten, and this alone ought to convince us that the French horses are
more forward than ours. Racing now-a-days is nothing more than a very
precarious speculation, and the practice of some on the turf to gain
their own ends is anything but (not to use a stronger word) creditable.
Within the last few years, gentleman after gentleman has left the turf
disgusted and disheartened; and well they might be, for if a man is not
very careful, there is no finer school than a racecourse to pick up
swindling, dishonesty, and blackguardism.
Your fashionable light-weight jocks of the present day have their
country houses, their valets, their broughams, hunters, and what-not.
The old riding fee of £3 for a losing race and £5 for a winning one is
seldom heard of except at little country meetings. Trainers and jockeys
are at present much bigger men than their masters; and why? because
they allow them to be so; they may owe them a long bill, or be
foolishly good-natured in putting their servants on the same footing as
themselves by undue familiarity--'Hail fellow well met' with them.
Racing will never be what it was again, for the reasons I have
mentioned. Speculation is too rife to allow it a healthy tone. Shortly
but few gentlemen will be left as racing men, and the turf will be
represented by the lower five, and men to whom the meaning of the words
honour, honesty, principle, and conscience, are unknown.
Coursing too, a healthy and fine amusement, even this cannot be enjoyed
without the presence of the betting fraternity, bawling and shouting. A
clean sweep should be made of them.
Pigeon-shooting as well. Although I am not an admirer of this pastime
(sport I will not call it), yet one cannot stroll down to Hurlingham or
the Bush, to look on, but what one must be pestered with odds offered
on the gun or bird. Your shady and doubtful betting men are nuisances.
Who on earth wants to lose a lot of money to moneyless scoundrels? But
there are fools who do so, and they deserve to be fleeced.
Many of our old sports have died out. The Ring is a thing of the past,
and so is the Cock-pit. I am savage enough to say I liked a prize-fight
and a cock-fight. When it was on the square, a prize-fight was a most
exciting scene. Yet both have very wisely been put down, and athletic
sports take their place.
I seldom see the fine old game of bowls played now. Le gras, too, has
gone out.
Polo, which I think nothing of, is the rage amongst gentlemen now. I
see nothing in it whatever; it is a wretched game for the _lookers-on_;
but then it is the fashion.
The fine old game of cricket is totally altered. I shall have the
cricketing world down on me, but I care not. I think the present style
of bowling has entirely ruined the game as a game of science. There are
not many Graces in the present day, nor were there many Wards of the
olden time. Cricketers of the present day look like so many hogs in
armour; and where one man bowls tolerably over-handed, fifty who
attempt it cannot bowl at all--they are never on the spot. Consequently
the balls break anywhere. I would ten times rather stand before the
fastest man in England who is true than I would to a middling fast one
who is not.
I remember, many, many years ago, at the Royal Clarence Cricket
Club--alas! defunct (I have the button still)--which had its ground on
Moulsey Hurst, taking old Ward's wicket the third ball with a
round-hander. It was a bit of practice we were having: I was a lad at
the time, and the old gentleman had stuck half-a-crown on the centre
stump for me to bowl at: he had no doubt played carelessly, wishing to
give me a chance. He looked surprised at seeing his wicket fall. He
coolly put them up again, and on the centre stump was a sovereign.
"There, young fellow," he said, "bowl at _that_." I did bowl at _that_,
till I was almost ready to drop, but _that_ never came into my pocket.
Yes it did, though, but not by taking his wicket. I shall never forget
the fine old gentleman, with his bat nearly black with oil and age.
Cricket still holds, and always will deservedly hold, a high place in
our English sports.
Boats and rowing have made immense strides for the better; the only
thing I am disposed to cavil at with regard to it is the training. I am
inclined to think the severe preparation they have to go through to get
fit, tells on the constitution of young men who are not full grown and
set. But training now is so carefully looked to, that after all there
may not be the danger one imagines. One thing is certain, that it is
much less dangerous to row or run a severe race _well prepared_: it is
inward fat that chokes men, causes apoplexy and what-not. Men in
training, if they are careful and do not catch cold, and are not too
severely taxed, have little to apprehend; and this is why an
experienced trainer is necessary.
Bicycling, too, is a fine healthy amusement, develops the muscles and
keeps a man in wind and health: he may get all over the country and at
one-tenth the former expense of railway travelling. But bicycling, like
all other sports and exercises, has its abuses as well as its uses, and
when one sees men flying along a road (to the manifest danger of the
public) bent double over the handles of their machines, it gives one
pause, as to whether crooked backs, contracted chests, and knee trouble
are not in store for a future generation.
There are many lakes, large and small, in Scotland, Wales, and Ireland,
that cannot be either fished or shot for want of a boat. It is costly
to get a boat up the mountains, and very often, especially in Ireland,
there are no roads, or horses cannot traverse them. Therefore something
light but safe is necessary. The Rev. E. L. Berthon, of Romsey, Hants,
has invented a boat which is admirably suited for the purpose: it is a
folding canvas boat of two skins, _cannot be overset_, and is quite
buoyant if filled with water. The one I have is a fishing boat; it
carries four, but two can go with comfort; it is only 70 pounds in
weight, 9 feet long, and 4 feet broad. They are made any size, as will
be seen from the extract I give from the _Times_.
"Berthon's Collapsible Barge.--Among other scientific devices with
which the 'Faraday' is supplied, with the view of facilitating the
laying of the Direct United States cable, is a 'collapsible barge,' the
principle of which, the invention of the Reverend E. L. Berthon--a name
already well known in nautical circles in connection with his perpetual
log--was originally applied by Mr Berthon to life-boats, a number of
which, it is stated, are in course of construction. The barge was built
by Mr E. R. Berthon, the son of the inventor, and is to be used in
laying the shore ends of the cable, of which it will carry from 20 to
30 tons with a very light draught of water. The proportions of length
in the barge are very unusual, being nearly 2 to 1, the dimensions
being, length 31 feet, width 16 feet, and depth 4 feet; such, however,
is its collapsibility, that, stowed away on the deck of the
_Faraday_, it only measures 2 feet at its greatest width. The
barge is cellular in construction, and when a small confining rope is
cast off it extends automatically, inhaling into its ten cells about
500 cubic feet of air. During the process of expansion, the jointed
bottom boards, which are 14 feet wide, fall into their places, and,
lever staunchions being placed under the gunwales, the barge is ready
for lowering in a minute or two. When in the water a very substantial
platform is lowered into the barge, composed of beams 7-1/2 inches
thick and 1 inch planks; upon this deck the cable will be coiled, and
paid over a large iron sheave at the stern-post. The barge weighs about
23 cwt., and having great powers of flotation, with light draught, is
expected to be very serviceable in laying the shore ends of the new
cable; the principle, moreover, appears to be one which it might be
found desirable to introduce into the life-boat service."
Mine is the smallest size made, and when collapsed is only 7 inches
wide. To open and launch it takes less than one minute. It also sails
very well, and on lakes, with a small spritsail with brails, it is
exactly the thing. A prettier and more useful little boat I never had.
I have mentioned this boat because I have often been asked about such a
thing. If by any chance the outer skin should be injured--which is not
likely, for the canvas is immensely strong--it makes but little
difference to the boat, and the injury is easily repaired. I can
strongly recommend it to any one wanting such a thing.
But to "our mutton"--sporting of the past and the present day.
Returning to olden times, our fathers and forefathers were not ashamed
to run horses, greyhounds, etc., in their _own_ names; now men do so
more and more under _assumed_ ones. This is unfortunate, and opens the
door for many abuses; and the sooner it is put an end to the better.
I do not believe in the early hours at which our ancestors used to take
to the field. Game is not moving very early; therefore, in partridge
shooting, dogs have not such a chance of finding game as they have an
hour or two later. Nine o'clock is quite early enough for the partridge
or grouse shooter; about four in the afternoon is the most deadly time,
because scent then begins to ascend, and the dogs catch it much
quicker, and birds are then on the feed. The stubble, at this time, is
the place to find partridges.
It is a great mistake to walk too fast, shooting, because much game is
missed in this way; even very fast dogs require sufficient time to make
their ground good; in thick turnips you can hardly walk too slowly.
But I must hold, these notes are growing too long under my "grey goose
quill." (I am old-fashioned enough to prefer a quill pen to a steel
one.) Old fellow-sportsmen, and young ones, adieu. May you have a good
season, and good health and spirits to enjoy it!