Comes MR. GOLLOPE, and MR. GOBLESTONE, and JENKYNS, to dine with me off
a Haunch of Venison, and MR. MC. NAB calling, I did make him stay Dinner
too, and the Venison very fat and good; and MR. GOLLOPE did commend my
Carving, whereof I was proud. Between them a Debate over our Dinner, as
to whether the Red Deer or the Fallow Deer were the better Venison, and
both MR. GOLLOPE and MR. GOBLESTONE do say the Fallow, but MR. MC. NAB
will have it that the Red is by far the better, and do tell them they
know nothing about the Matter, and never tasted Red Deer but such as had
been mewed up in Richmond Park, which are mighty different from them
that do browse in the Highlands on the Heather. He do say that Highland
Deer-Stalking do excel every other Sport, from Tiger-Hunting to
Fox-Hunting, which I mean to repeat to MR. CORDUROYS to make him mad.
Then he to describe the Manner of Stalking the Deer, and his Account
thereof mighty taking, but, with his broad Scottish Accent and Phrases,
droll; and good Lack, to hear him talk of Braes, and Burns, and Cairns,
and Corries, rattling the R in every Word! He says that the Deer are the
cunningest and the watchfullest, and can see, and hear, and smell at the
greatest Distance of any Creature almost living, and do keep Spies to
look out, and their Ears and Eyes always open and their Noses to the
Wind, and do think and reason in their Minds like human Beings; which,
methinks, is peculiar to the Scotch Deer. He says that the Sport is to
fetch a Compass on them by Stratagem, so as to approach or drive them
nigh enough to shoot them with a Rifle, and it do often take some Hours
and several Miles, mostly crawling on the Hands and Knees, to get one
Shot. He says that the Stalker and Hill-Keepers that wait on him must,
to gain their Chance, dodge, stooping behind Crags, wriggle and creep
over Flats and up Brooks like Snakes or Eels, clamber up and run down
Precipices, and stride over Bogs, wherein they do sometimes sink plump
up to the Middle; which should be rather Sport to the Stag than the
Huntsman. But after all, the Deer shot dead, or wounded, and at Bay with
the Hounds at his Throat, but despatched at last, and paunched, which he
do call "gralloched," is such a Triumph that it do repay the Sportsman
for all his Pains. He do say that what with the Grandeur of the
Mountains, and the Freshness of the Air, the Spirits are raised beyond
what we could imagine, and the Appetite also increased wonderfully;
whereat MR. GOLLOPE did prick up his Ears. To conclude, he did declare
that no one could know what Deer-Stalking was that had not tried it; but
methinks I can, remembering how I used in my Youth to creep in Ditches
and behind Hedges to shoot Larks.
[Illustration: _A PROSPECT OF AN ELECTION._