SHOOTING. A RETROSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE WEAPONS OF THE CHASE; AND OF SOME OF THE SPORTS AND PASTIMES THAT PRECEDED THE USE OF THE GUN. THE pursuit and destruction of wild animals for security, food, clothing, or pastime, have been among the occupations of men in all ages, since the primeval brueré overspread the earth, And wild in woods the noble savage ran! Before the more refined arts are introduced into any country, the chase is a necessity, and the chief business of life. The stronger and more noxious animals are destroyed for individual safety; the weaker for food. It is not until civilisation and her handmaid luxury have seated themselves, that the chase becomes a pastime. Nor does it appear when the sportsman first sprang into existence. There is no corresponding word in any ancient language, since that could not be called a sport which was a necessity. It is probable that in the earliest ages of society, the dog was the sole agent employed by the hunter. Afterwards various weapons, manual, missile, and projectile—as the club, the dart, the arrow, were used by the hunter and fowler. Then would follow springes, traps, nets, and all that class of devices for the capture of beasts and birds feræ naturæ, comprehended in the term toils. As dogs were employed to hunt quadrupeds, so, in process of time, hawks were trained to bring down birds for the service of their master. The arbalest or cross-bow, preceded the matchlock, which, however, could scarcely be called an implement of the chase, but which, in the order of succession, brings us down to the rifle, and original fowling-piece with its long heavy barrel, and flint and steel lock; and lastly, we arrive at the double barrels and detant locks of the modern shooter. In the days of the Saxon and Norman kings, and long previously, the Britons were famous for their skill in archery, both in war and in the chase. The accuracy of aim and power of projecting an arrow from a bow which they possessed, almost surpasses credibility; and that the manly character of the exercise should not degenerate, laws were enacted interdicting the use of bows under a certain strength, and arrows under a certain length. Physical strength-but it is rather sleight than strength which contributes to success in archery-is accounted honourable among all savage nations; it was always deemed an accomplishment by the nations of antiquity. Homer's heroes are as well known by their physical as their moral and intellectual qualities. Addison makes the crafty Syphax, who is unwilling to acknowledge the inferiority of his countrymen to the Romans, exclaim,— Do they with tougher sinews bend the bow; The feats of the bow were often introduced into the songs of the Bards of the ancient Britons, and into the ballads of the Troubadours. Archery is now confined to shooting at the target. Ladies not unfrequently contend for the prize in this elegant amusement. Their bows, however, are not such as were used by the amazons of yore, nor are those of the gentlemen of the archery clubs such as decided the battle of Cressy. Falconry, coeval with, and subsequent to the decline of archery, occupied that rank in British field sports which is now enjoyed by shooting. Falconry is of high antiquity; but at what time hawks were first trained to the sport does not appear. Aristotle informs us, that "there was a district in Thrace, in which boys used to assemble at a certain time of the year, for the sake of birdcatching; and that the spot was much frequented by hawks, which were wont to appear on hearing themselves called, and would drive the little birds into the bushes, where they were caught." Martial has the following epigram on the fate of a hawk: Prædo fuit volucrum, famulus nunc aucupis, idem The hawk was originally fastened to a twig or stake, as a decoy to entice birds under the net or to the limed twigs, which, says Pennant, "is a method still in use in Italy. The Italians call it Uccelare con la civetta; for instead of a hawk, they place a small species of owl on a pole, in the middle of a field, and surround it, at various distances, with lime twigs. The small birds, from their strange propensity to approach rapacious fowls, fly around, perch on the rods, and are taken in great numbers. A hawk would serve the purpose full as well." There is no record of trained hawks previous to the time of Ethelred. Under the Welsh laws of Hoel Dha, (A.D. 940), "the falconer has a privilege the day that the hawk shall kill a bittern, or a heron, or a curlew. Three services shall the king perform for the falconer on such a day; hold his stirrup whilst he dismounts; hold the horse whilst he goes after the birds; and hold his stirrup whilst he mounts again. Three times shall the king that night compliment him at table.” Shakspeare often uses the language of falconry. It is chiefly employed in a scene in the second part of Henry VI., wherein the king, queen, lord protector, and cardinal, are the chief speakers; which goes to prove, that the falconer's terms were, at one time, household words at the English court. Isaac Walton, the father of anglers, has told the praises of hawking in a conversation between an angler, a hunter, and a fowler, wherein each describes his own craft. Thus the fowler mounts his hobby" And first, for the element that I used to trade in is the air-an element of more worth than weight-an element that doubtless exceeds both the earth and the water; for though I sometimes deal in both, yet the air is most properly mine-I and my hawks use that most, and it yields us most recreation; it stops not the high soaring of my noble generous falcon, in it she ascends to such a height, as the dull eyes of beasts and fish are not able to reach to-their bodies are too gross for such elevations: in the air my troops of hawks soar up on high, and when they are lost in the sight of men, then they attend upon and converse with the gods; therefore, I think my eagle is so justly styled Jove's servant in ordinary: and that very falcon, that I am now going to see, deserves no meaner title, for she usually in her flights endangers herself, like the son of Dædalus, to have her wings scorched by the sun's heat, she flies so near it, but her mettle makes her careless of danger; for she then heeds nothing, but makes her nimble pinions cut the fluid air, and so makes her high way over the steepest mountains and deepest rivers, and in her glorious career looks with contempt upon those high steeples and magnificent palaces which we adore and wonder at; from which height I can make her to descend by a word from my mouth, (which she both knows and obeys,) to accept of meat from my hand, to own me for her master, and to go home with me, and be willing the next day to afford me the like recreation." Walton, who seems to have been almost as conver |