'I wrote

Whig, a rival almost of Wilkes, a man who, according to a somewhat doubtful story, dared to speak face to face with a king. His only son, on coming of age, succeeded to a million of money and over £100,000 a year. His education had been desultory and irregular; but under tutors at Geneva a literary taste already manifested itself. In his seventeenth year he wrote Memoirs of Extraordinary Painters (published in 1780), a burlesque guidebook to the pictures at Fonthill, which by means of wholly fictitious biographies deftly satirised both Dutch and English artists under feigned names. His letters on his travels, 1780-82, in the Netherlands and Italy were printed in 1783, then suppressed, and reprinted in 1835, with omissions and additions, as Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal; the restored text becoming available only in 1891. In 1782 he wrote Vathek. it,' he told Cyrus Redding, 'at one sitting, and in French. It cost me three days and two nights of hard labour. I never took my clothes off the whole time.' As a matter of fact, he was working at it for most of a twelvemonth. In 1783 he married a daughter of the Earl of Aboyne; and they lived in Switzerland until her death at Vevay in 1786, after bearing a second daughter, who married the Duke of Hamilton. Late in that same year appeared in London an English version of The History of the Caliph Vathek, an Arabian tale from an unpublished manuscript, with notes critical and explanatory. Both translation and notes were made, with Beckford's co-operation, by the Rev. Samuel Henley, D.D., rector of Rendlesham in Suffolk, and first Principal of Haileybury; but the publication was quite unauthorised, anticipating as it did two editions of the French original (Paris and Lausanne, 1787). Yet Henley's version it is that still holds the field, if altered somewhat in the third edition (1816). Beckford's travel-pictures, though unequal and often disappointing, can yet be read with keen interest and pleasure. The point of view is sometimes startling; thus a modern art-lover is surprised to find that one of the things that chiefly attracted this great cognoscente to Holland was the prospect of revelling in Polemburgs! And Beckford does in so many words rank Cornelis van Poelenburgh (1586-1667) among the greatest painters of the Low Countries, and far above Rubens. On the other hand, his raptures amid the sublime scenery of Alpine mountains and forests were compared with the finest things in Gray's letters.

Beckford was returned to Parliament for Wells and Hindon, but his love of magnificence and his voluptuary tastes were ill-suited to English society. In 1794 he set off for Portugal with a retinue of thirty servants, and was absent about two years. He was said to have built a palace at Cintra-that 'glorious Eden of the south;' and Byron referred to it in the first canto of Childe Harold:

There thou, too, Vathek ! England's wealthiest son, Once formed thy paradise.

Byron had been misinformed: Beckford built

no 'paradise' at Cintra. But he left a literary memorial of his residence in Portugal in his Recollections of an Excursion to the Monasteries of Alcobaça and Batalha (1835). In 1796 he returned to England, and took up his residence permanently on his Wiltshire estate. Two burlesque novels by him belong to this periodModern Novel-writing, or the Elegant Enthusiast (1796), and Azemia (1797); but they are tedious extravaganzas. At Fonthill Beckford lived in a style of Oriental luxury and seclusion. He built a wall of nine miles round his property to shut out visitors; but in 1800 his gates were thrown open to receive Lord Nelson and Sir William and Lady Hamilton, in honour of whom he gave a series of splendid fêtes.

WILLIAM BECKFORD.

From an Engraving after Reynolds.

Next year he sold the furniture and pictures of Fonthill, pulled down the old house with its great hall, and for years employed himself in rearing the magnificent but unsubstantial Gothic structure known as Fonthill Abbey, with a tower 278 feet high, which fell in ruins in 1825. In 1822 he sold the place for £330,000, retaining only family pictures and books, and went to live at Bath. There he erected another costly building, Lansdowne House, which had a tower a hundred feet high, crowned with a model of the temple of Lysicrates at Athens, made of cast-iron! and there he died. Beckford was one of the most magnificent of bibliophiles, some of his purchases being perfectly imperial. He bought Gibbon's library at Lausanne and handed it over to his physician. His own splendid collection, which passed to his descendants the Dukes of Hamilton, was sold in 1882 for £43,000.

Vathek was Byron's delight. For correctness of costume, beauty of description, and power of imagination, this most Eastern and sublime tale surpasses all imitations,' said the author of Childe Harold; as an Eastern tale even Rasselas must bow before it.' Voluptuousness and cynicism are strangely combined in the work. The hero is the grandson of Haroun al Raschid, whose dominions stretched from Africa to India; he is fearless, proud, inquisitive, gourmand, fond of theological controversy, cruel, and magnificent. There certainly is much both of weirdness and of grandeur in some of the inventions; the catastrophe has real epic sublimity, and the conception of the vast multitude incessantly pacing the halls from which all hope has fled is Dantesque. Numberless graces of description, piquant allusions, humour and satire, and a wild yet witty spirit of mockery and derision diversify and distinguish a romance which gives Beckford a place of his own among our imaginative writers, even apart from the surprise excited by the work of a youth of twenty-two, who had never been in the countries described so vividly. But the work is conspicuously unequal. Only sometimes is the romancer convincing; often he fails of his intended effect; there are many passages of mere incredible phantasmagoria, and some of sheer dullness.

The Caliph Vathek and his Palaces. Vathek, ninth caliph of the race of the Abbasides, was the son of Motassem, and the grandson of Haroun al Raschid. From an early accession to the throne, and the talents he possessed to adorn it, his subjects were induced to expect that his reign would be long and happy. His figure was pleasing and majestic; but when he was angry, one of his eyes became so terrible that no person could bear to behold it, and the wretch upon whom it was fixed instantly fell backward, and sometimes expired. For fear, however, of depopulating his dominions and making his palace desolate, he but rarely gave way to his anger.

Being much addicted to women and the pleasures of the table, he sought by his affability to procure agreeable companions; and he succeeded the better as his generosity was unbounded and his indulgences unrestrained; nor did he think, with the caliph Omar Ben Abdalaziz, that it was necessary to make a hell of this world to enjoy paradise in the next.

He surpassed in magnificence all his predecessors. The palace of Alkoremmi, which his father, Motassem, had erected on the hill of Pied Horses, and which commanded the whole city of Samarah, was in his idea far too scanty; he added, therefore, five wings, or rather other palaces, which he destined for the particular gratification of each of his senses. In the first of these were tables continually covered with the most exquisite dainties, which were supplied both by night and by day, according to their constant consumption, whilst the most delicious wines and the choicest cordials flowed forth from a hundred fountains that were never exhausted. This palace was called the Eternal, or Unsatiating Banquet. The second was styled the Temple of Melody, or the Nectar of the Soul. It was

inhabited by the most skilful musicians and admired poets of the time, who not only displayed their talents within, but dispersing in bands without, caused every surrounding scene to reverberate their songs, which were continually varied in the most delightful succession.

The palace named the Delight of the Eyes, or the Support of Memory, was one entire enchantment. Rarities collected from every corner of the earth were there found in such profusion as to dazzle and confound, but for the order in which they were arranged. One gallery exhibited the pictures of the celebrated Mani [the founder of the Manichæans, who was famed as a magician and painter], and statues that seemed to be alive. Here a well-managed perspective attracted the sight; there the magic of optics agreeably deceived it; whilst the naturalist, on his part, exhibited in their several classes the various gifts that Heaven had bestowed on our globe. In a word, Vathek omitted nothing in this palace that might gratify the curiosity of those who resorted to it, although he was not able to satisfy his own, for he was of all men the most curious.

The Palace of Perfumes, which was termed likewise the Incentive to Pleasure, consisted of various halls, where the different perfumes which the earth produces were kept perpetually burning in censers of gold. Flambeaux and aromatic lamps were here lighted in open day. But the too powerful effects of this agree able delirium might be alleviated by descending into an immense garden, where an assemblage of every fragrant flower diffused through the air the purest

odours.

The fifth palace, denominated the Retreat of Mirth, or the Dangerous, was frequented by troops of young females, beautiful as the Houris and not less seducing, who never failed to receive with caresses all whom the caliph allowed to approach them and enjoy a few hours of their company. For he was by no means jealous, as his own women were secluded within the palace he inhabited himself.

Notwithstanding the sensuality in which Vathek indulged, he experienced no abatement in the love of his people, who thought that a sovereign immersed in pleasure was not less tolerable to his subjects than one that employed himself in creating them foes. But the unquiet and impetuous disposition of the caliph would not allow him to rest there. He had studied so much for his amusement in the lifetime of his father as to acquire a great deal of knowledge, though not a sufficiency to satisfy himself; for he wished to know everything, even sciences that did not exist. He was fond of engaging in disputes with the learned, but did not allow them to push their opposition with warmth. He stopped with presents the mouths of those whose mouths could be stopped; whilst others, whom his liberality was unable to subdue, he sent to prison to cool their blood; a remedy that often succeeded.

Vathek discovered also a predilection for theological controversy; but it was not with the orthodox that he usually held. By this means he induced the zealots to oppose him, and then persecuted them in return; for he resolved at anyrate to have reason on his side.

The great prophet Mahomet, whose vicars the caliphs are, beheld with indignation from his abode in the seventh heaven the irreligious conduct of such a vicegerent. Let us leave him to himself,' said he to the genii, who are always ready to receive his com

mands; let us see to what lengths his folly and impiety will carry him; if he run into excess, we shall know how to chastise him. Assist him, therefore, to complete the tower, which, in imitation of Nimrod, he hath begun; not, like that great warrior, to escape being drowned, but from the insolent curiosity of penetrating the secrets of Heaven: he will not divine the fate that awaits him.'

The genii obeyed; and, when the workmen had raised their structure a cubit in the daytime, two cubits more were added in the night. The expedition with which the fabric arose was not a little flattering to the vanity of Vathek he fancied that even insensible matter shewed a forwardness to subserve his designs, not considering that the successes of the foolish and wicked form the first rod of their chastisement.

His pride arrived at its height when, having ascended for the first time the fifteen hundred stairs of his tower, he cast his eyes below, and beheld men not larger than pismires, mountains than shells, and cities than beehives. The idea which such an elevation inspired of his own grandeur completely bewildered him; he was almost ready to adore himself, till, lifting his eyes upward, he saw the stars as high above him as they appeared when he stood on the surface of the earth. He consoled himself, however, for this intruding and unwelcome perception of his littleness, with the thought of being great in the eyes of others; and flattered himself that the light of his mind would extend beyond the reach of his sight, and extort from the stars the decrees of his destiny.

The Hall of Eblis.

In this manner they advanced by moonlight till they came within view of the two towering rocks that form a kind of portal to the valley, at the extremity of which rose the vast ruins of Istakar. Aloft, on the mountain, glimmered the fronts of various royal mausoleums, the horror of which was deepened by the shadows of night. They passed through two villages, almost deserted; the only inhabitants remaining being a few feeble old men, who, at the sight of horses and litters, fell upon their knees and cried out: 'O heaven! is it then by these phantoms that we have been for six months tormented? Alas! it was from the terror of these spectres, and the noise beneath the mountains, that our people have fled, and left us at the mercy of the maleficent spirits!' The caliph, to whom these complaints were but unpromising auguries, drove over the bodies of these wretched old men, and at length arrived at the foot of the terrace of black marble. There he descended from his litter, handing down Nouronihar; both, with beating hearts, stared wildly around them, and expected, with an apprehensive shudder, the approach of the Giaour. But nothing as yet announced his appearance.

A deathlike stillness reigned over the mountain and through the air. The moon dilated on a vast platform the shades of the lofty columns which reached from the terrace almost to the clouds. The gloomy watch-towers, whose number could not be counted, were covered by no roof; and their capitals, of an architecture unknown in the records of the earth, served as an asylum for the birds of night, which, alarmed at the approach of such visitants, fled away croaking.

The chief of the eunuchs, trembling with fear, besought Vathek that a fire might be kindled. 'No,' replied he;

'there is no time left to think of such trifles; abide where thou art, and expect my commands.' Having thus spoken, he presented his hand to Nouronihar, and, ascending the steps of a vast staircase, reached the terrace, which was flagged with squares of marble, and resembled a smooth expanse of water, upon whose surface not a blade of grass ever dared to vegetate. On the right rose the watch-towers, ranged before the ruins of an immense palace, whose walls were embossed with various figures. In front stood forth the colossal forms of four creatures, composed of the leopard and the griffin, and though but of stone, inspired emotions of terror. Near these were distinguished, by the splendour of the moon, which streamed full on the place, characters like those on the sabres of the Giaour, and which possessed the same virtue of changing every moment. These, after vacillating for some time, fixed at last in Arabic letters, and prescribed to the caliph the following words: Vathek! thou hast violated the conditions of my parchment, and deservest to be sent back; but in favour to thy companion, and, as the meed for what thou hast done to obtain it, Eblis permitteth that the portal of his palace shall be opened, and the subterranean fire will receive thee into the number of its adorers.'

He scarcely had read these words before the mountain against which the terrace was reared trembled, and the watch-towers were ready to topple headlong upon them. The rock yawned, and disclosed within it a staircase of polished marble that seemed to approach the abyss. Upon each stair were planted two large torches, like those Nouronihar had seen in her vision; the camphorated vapour of which ascended and gathered itself into a cloud under the hollow of the vault. . .

The caliph and Nouronihar beheld each other with amazement at finding themselves in a place which, though roofed with a vaulted ceiling, was so spacious and lofty that at first they took it for an immeasurable plain. But their eyes at length growing familiar to the grandeur of the surrounding objects, they extended their view to those at a distance, and discovered rows of columns and arcades, which gradually diminished till they terminated in a point radiant as the sun when he darts his last beams athwart the ocean. The pavement, strewed over with gold-dust and saffron, exhaled so subtle an odour as almost overpowered them. They, however, went on, and observed an infinity of censers, in which ambergris and the wood of aloes were continually burning. . .

In the midst of this immense hall a vast multitude was incessantly passing, who severally kept their right hands on their hearts, without once regarding anything around them. They had all the livid paleness of death. Their eyes, deep sunk in their sockets, resembled those phosphoric meteors that glimmer by night in places of interment. Some stalked slowly on, absorbed in profound reverie; some, shrieking with agony, ran furiously about like tigers wounded with poisoned arrows; whilst others, grinding their teeth in rage, foamed along more frantic than the wildest maniac. They all avoided each other; and though surrounded by a multitude that no one could number, each wandered at random, unheedful of the rest, as if alone on a desert where no foot had trodden.

After some time, Vathek and Nouronihar perceived a gleam brightening through the drapery, and entered a

vast tabernacle hung round with the skins of leopards. An infinity of elders, with streaming beards, and afrits in complete armour, had prostrated themselves before the ascent of a lofty eminence, on the top of which, upon a globe of fire, sat the formidable Eblis. His person was that of a young man, whose noble and regular features seemed to have been tarnished by malignant vapours. In his large eyes appeared both pride and despair; his flowing hair retained some resemblance to that of an angel of light. In his hand, which thunder had blasted, he swayed the iron sceptre that causes the monster Ouranbad, the afrits, and all the powers of the abyss to tremble. At his presence the heart of the caliph sank within him, and he fell prostrate on his face. Nouronihar, however, though greatly dismayed, could not help admiring the person of Eblis, for she expected to have seen some stupendous giant. Eblis, with a voice more mild than might be imagined, but such as penetrated the soul and filled it with the deepest melancholy, said: 'Creatures of clay, I receive you into mine empire; ye are numbered amongst my adorers; enjoy whatever this palace affords: the treasures of the preAdamite sultans; their bickering sabres; and those talismans that compel the dives to open the subterranean expanses of the mountain of Kaf, which communicate with these. There, insatiable as your curiosity may be, shall you find sufficient objects to gratify it. You shall possess the exclusive privilege of entering the fortresses of Aherman, and the halls of Argenk, where are portrayed all creatures endowed with intelligence, and the various animals that inhabited the earth prior to the creation of that contemptible being whom ye denominate the father of mankind.

Vathek and Nouronihar, feeling themselves revived and encouraged by this harangue, eagerly said to the Giaour: Bring us instantly to the place which contains these precious talismans.' 'Come,' answered this wicked dive, with his malignant grin, 'come and possess all that my sovereign hath promised, and more.' He then conducted them into a long aisle adjoining the tabernacle, preceding them with hasty steps, and followed by his disciples with the utmost alacrity. They reached at length a hall of great extent, and covered with a lofty dome, around which appeared fifty portals of bronze, secured with as many fastenings of iron. A funereal gloom prevailed over the whole scene. Here, upon two beds of incorruptible cedar, lay recumbent the fleshless forms of the pre-Adamite kings who had been monarchs of the whole earth. They still possessed enough of life to be conscious of their deplorable condition. Their eyes retained a melancholy motion; they regarded one another with looks of the deepest dejection, each holding his right hand motionless on his heart. At their feet were inscribed the events of their several reigns, their power, their pride, and their crimes; Soliman Raad, Soliman Daki, and Soliman Gian Ben Gian, who, after having chained up the dives in the dark caverns of Kaf, became so presumptuous as to doubt of the Supreme Power. All these maintained great state, though not to be compared with the eminence of Soliman Ben Daoud [Solomon, the son of David].

This king, so renowned for his wisdom, was on the loftiest elevation, and placed immediately under the dome. He appeared to possess more animation than the rest. Though, from time to time, he laboured with profound sighs, and, like his companions, kept his right

hand on his heart, yet his countenance was more composed, and he seemed to be listening to the sullen roar of a cataract, visible in part through one of the grated portals. This was the only sound that intruded on the silence of these doleful mansions. A range of brazen vases surrounded the elevation. 'Remove the covers from these cabalistic depositaries,' said the Giaour to Vathek, and avail thyself of the talismans which will break asunder all these gates of bronze, and not only render thee master of the treasures contained within them, but also of the spirits by which they are guarded.'

The caliph, whom this ominous preliminary had entirely disconcerted, approached the vases with faltering footsteps, and was ready to sink with terror when he heard the groans of Soliman. As he proceeded, a voice from the livid lips of the prophet articulated these words: 'In my lifetime, I filled a magnificent throne, having on my right hand twelve thousand seats of gold, where the patriarchs and the prophets heard my doctrines; on my left, the sages and doctors, upon as many thrones of silver, were present at all my decisions. Whilst I thus administered justice to innumerable multitudes, the birds of the air, hovering over me, served as a canopy against the rays of the sun. My people flourished, and my palace rose to the clouds. I erected a temple to the Most High, which was the wonder of the universe; but I basely suffered myself to be seduced by the love of women, and a curiosity that could not be restrained by sublunary things. I listened to the counsels of Aherman, and the daughter of Pharaoh; and adored fire, and the hosts of heaven. I forsook the holy city, and commanded the genii to rear the stupendous palace of Istakar, and the terrace of the watch-towers, each of which was consecrated to a star. There for a while I enjoyed myself in the zenith of glory and pleasure. Not only men, but supernatural beings, were subject also to my will. I began to think, as these unhappy monarchs around had already thought, that the vengeance of Heaven was asleep, when at once the thunder burst my structures asunder, and precipitated me hither, where, however, I do not remain, like the other inhabitants, totally destitute of hope; for an angel of light hath revealed that, in consideration of the piety of my early youth, my woes shall come to an end when this cataract shall for ever cease to flow. Till then I am in torments, ineffable torments! an unrelenting fire preys on my heart.'. ..

Such was, and such should be, the punishment of unrestrained passions and atrocious deeds! Such shall be the chastisement of that blind curiosity which would transgress those bounds the wisdom of the Creator has prescribed to human knowledge; and such the dreadful disappointment of that restless ambition which, aiming at discoveries reserved for beings of a supernatural order, perceives not, through its infatuated pride, that the condition of man upon earth is to be humble and ignorant.

The 1783 quarto referred to above as having been suppressed was called Dreams, Waking Thoughts and Impressions; reprinted in expurgated form in 1835, the text was not restored to its original state till 1891, in Mr Bettany's edition for the 'Minerva Series.' See the Life of Beckford by Cyrus Redding (2 vols. 1858), based on materials-not all trustworthy-furnished by himself; M. Mallarme's reprint of Vathek (Paris, 1876); Dr Garnett's (London, 1893); W. Gregory, The Beckford Family (1898); and an Essay on Beckford by Mr Charles Whibley in The Pageantry of Life (1900).

Gilbert White.

Gilbert White (1720-93), the most charming of all English writers on the natural history of their country, was born at Selborne in Hampshire, and educated with the Wartons at their father's vicarage at Basingstoke, whence he passed to Oriel College, Oxford. After obtaining a fellowship there, he took orders in 1747, and in 1751 became curate of his native parish. Next year he was back in Oxford, as senior proctor at the university, but in 1755 returned to Selborne, where he passed the rest of his uneventful life, enjoying, after the fashion of that comfortable age of pluralism, one or two college curacies as well as the equally sinecure living of Morton Pinkney in Northamptonshire. He was never married, but once fell deep in love with Miss Mulso (better known as the excellent and edifying Mrs Chapone), who declined his hand. The two series of letters to Thomas Pennant, the naturalist and traveller, and the Hon. Daines Barrington, which form his delightful Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne, were begun in 1767, and published in 1789. The minuteness and general accuracy of his observation, and the simple skill and unaffected grace of his style, though not without a touch of eighteenthcentury formality here and there, have given White the same classic rank as Isaac Walton, and it is probable that the Natural History of Selborne has sent as many boys to intelligent bird-nesting as the Compleat Angler has to the rod and hook. In one of the letters White tells that he used to carry a list in his pocket of the birds to be remarked on, and that, as he rode or walked about, he noted each day the continuance or omission of each bird's song.

Old Trees.

In the court of Norton farmhouse, a manor farm to the north-west of the village, on the white malms, stood within these twenty years a broad-leaved elm, or wych hazel, Ulmus folio latissimo scabro of Ray, which, though it had lost a considerable leading bough in the great storm in the year 1703, equal to a moderate tree, yet, when felled, contained eight loads of timber; and, being too bulky for a carriage, was sawn off at seven feet above the butt, where it measured near eight feet in the diameter. This elm I mention to show to what a bulk planted elms may attain; as this tree must certainly have been such from its situation.

In the centre of the village, and near the church, is a square piece of ground surrounded by houses, and vulgarly called 'The Plestor' [i.e. Pleystowe, or playingplace]. In the midst of this spot stood, in old times, a vast oak, with a short squat body, and huge horizontal arms extending almost to the extremity of the area. This venerable tree, surrounded with stone steps, and seats above them, was the delight of old and young, and a place of much resort in summer evenings; where the former sat in grave debate, while the latter frolicked and danced before them. Long might it have stood, had not the amazing tempest in 1703 overturned it at once, to the infinite regret of the inhabitants, and the vicar, who

bestowed several pounds in setting it in its place again: but all his care could not avail; the tree sprouted for a time, then withered and died. This oak I mention to show to what a bulk planted oaks also may arrive: and planted this tree must certainly have been, as will appear from what will be said farther concerning this area when we enter on the antiquities of Selborne.

On the Blackmoor estate there is a small wood called Losel's, of a few acres, that was lately furnished with a set of oaks of a peculiar growth and great value; they were tall and taper like firs, but standing near together had very small heads, only a little brush without any large limbs. About twenty years ago the bridge at the Toy, near Hampton Court, being much decayed, some trees were wanted for the repairs that were fifty feet long, without bough, and would measure twelve inches diameter at the little end. Twenty such trees did a purveyor find in this little wood, with this advantage, that many of them answered the description at sixty feet. These trees were sold for twenty pounds apiece.

In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence about the middle of the stem. On this a pair of ravens had fixed their residence for such a series of years that the oak was distinguished by the title of the Raven Tree. Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry: the difficulty whetted their inclinations, and each was ambitious of surmounting the arduous task. But when they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were awed, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous: so the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, when these birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt,— the wedges were inserted into the opening,-the woods echoed to the heavy blow of the beetle or mall or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the ground.

Vanished Game.

This lonely domain is a very agreeable haunt for many sorts of wild fowls, which not only frequent it in the winter, but breed there in the summer; such as lapwings, snipes, wild-ducks, and, as I have discovered within these few years, teals. Partridges in vast plenty are bred in good seasons on the verge of this forest, into which they love to make excursions; and in particular, in the dry summers of 1740 and 1741, and some years after, they swarmed to such a degree that parties of unreasonable sportsmen killed twenty and sometimes thirty brace in a day.

But there was a nobler species of game in this forest, now extinct, which I have heard old people say abounded much before shooting flying became so common, and that was the heath-cock, black-game, or grouse. When I was a little boy I recollect one coming now and then to my father's table. The last pack remembered was killed about thirty-five years ago; and within these ten years one solitary grey-hen was sprung by some beagles in beating for a hare. The sportsmen cried out, 'A hen pheasant!' but a gentleman present, who had often seen