of course, refuse to surrender, the keepers rush in. It is fearful odds against them; the poachers muster above twelve, while the number of the keepers does not exceed eight, and add to this, that nearly half the poachers are armed with guns, the butt ends of which form dreadful weapons. But the keepers are all good men and true, and thrice is he armed, who hath his quarrel just. For awhile the battle rages fiercely; the keepers, who have each a light handkerchief tied round one arm, to distinguish one another in the dark, sticking well together. Each party is alternately driven back, but in the end, right prevails, and the poachers are beaten off the field, leaving three of their men prisoners, and most of the game. But the keepers do not come off unscathed; more than one has a broken head, and one is dangerously wounded by a gun-shot, fired by a poacher as they retreat. The prisoners are carried up to the keeper's house, and in the morning, are taken before a neighbouring justice, and in legal parlance, fully committed for trial, and at the next assizes these ill-fated men are probably for ever banished from a land in which, had they not given way to the poacher's marauding habits, they might have lived happily and quietly, a credit to their calling, and their country's pride. » ་་ Happily such scenes as the foregoing are every year becoming less frequent. Yet even now, a season rarely passes in our woodland districts, without one or more of these conflicts taking place; and even in our recollection, although the finger of time as yet presses lightly on our brow, one keeper, and more than one poacher well known to us, have lost their lives in these midnight encounters. We have neither space nor inclination to enter into an argument as to the general good or evil resulting from the operation of the Game Laws, nor will we discuss the expediency of making game free to all. It is enough for our present purpose, that statutes protecting it do exist, and as long as this is the case, they surely claim the obedience of the subject as much as any other laws that occupy a niche in our penal code. Let no one under a mistaken idea, defend the poacher on the ground that game is by nature the property of all, and that the love of sporting is so deeply implanted in the human breast, that man, in every station and every clime, will run any risk to gratify it. Viewing the crime in its mildest light, we must all acknowledge that the habits of the poacher must inevitably unfit him from following the avocations imposed upon his rank in life, and we all know when a man has lost his caste in society, how difficult it is ever to regain it. Such is the case with the poacher, punishment will surely follow crime, and when once a peasant has crossed the threshold of a goal, he has passed the first milestone on the road to ruin. All, therefore, who consider the poacher's crime as venial and light, would do well to bear in mind the following lines of Scott, which will go further in illustrating our argument than all we could write, were we to fill a page: «Thus as in crowds the foul contagions pass, July 1842. Guilt leagues with guilt, while mutual motives draw; Their foes, their friends, their rendezvous the same, Тоно. (NEW SPORTING Magazine). THE VISION OF CHARLES THE TWELETH. BY H. R. ADDISON. Of all the singular apparitions or visions that have ever been set down, the vision of Charles XII. is, perhaps, one of the most curious, and decidedly the best authenticated relation of the kind on record, depending not upon the testimony of an individual, who, from nervous excitement, or other mental morbidness, might have fancied the whole scene, and afterwards transcribed his waking dream in the glowing terms of a fanciful imagination, but, upon the concurrent authority of one of the most learned and grave characters in Sweden, supported in many of his assertions by the concierge of the palace. The original document is still in existence, and open to the inspection of every traveller who desires to see it. The whole is clearly and concisely written, and signed by the King, his physician (Dr. Baumgardten,) and the state porter. A note is attached in his Majesty's own hand-writing, stating his thorough conviction that so strange a vision must have been vouchsafed to him as a prophetic warning, and also his desire that the said document should be preserved among the State archives, in order to see whether the prediction would ever be accomplished, This note bears date some short time before Charles was killed (as well as I re collect about 1716). The complete fulfilment of the vision came to pass in 1792, above eighty-six years after its appearance. As I unfortunately did not take an exact copy of the MS. when on the spot, I can only relate it as nearly as I can remember, changing however the style of the narrative from the first to the third person. ten. It was a dark and gloomy night. The clock had struck The ill-lighted room cast an additional gloom on the figure of Charles the Twelfth as he sat in front of a huge fire in his favourite saloon in the palace of Stockholm. Immediately in front of him, over the fire-place, was suspended the picture of his Queen, with whom, to tell the truth, he had just been disputing, and now sat in silent discontent,. mentally comparing the charming form which hung before him with the now less beautiful figure of her Majesty, only breaking his sullen silence by occasionally muttering some curse on her altered temper. When the King was in these moods he was always closely attended by his physician, Baumgardten. The re-action in a mind so buoyant as that of Charles, being proportionately dangerous, it was often feared he might commit suicide; so the doctor always remained near to him, seeking for a convenient opportunity to draw his mind back to livelier themes, to arouse him from the dreadful mental prostration to which he was subject. On the evening in question Baumgardten had sat patiently for about an hour, alternately watching his Majesty, and the storm which was raging outside. But neither the view of the sullen monarch, nor the opposite wing of the palace, which formed the grand hall, where the state trials and similar events took place, could afford much amusement to the tired son of Esculapius, who finding his patience begin to wear out, suddenly started up, and began pacing the room up and down, in the same manner that mariners pace the quarterdeck of a vessel at sea, occasionally stopping at the window to look out on the black and gloomy pile of building I have mentioned. Suddenly he started back. «Great heavens, sire! » Silence! growled the King. The doctor took two more turns across the chamber. At length he could contain himself no longer. What is this extraordinary appearance? Please your majesty some strange event is taking place in the hall of justice. Hold your tongue, sir, or I shall command you to quit the room! replied the monarch, who felt much annoyed at these interruptions to his reverie, and which he believed arose from a mere desire to arouse him from his meditations. The doctor paused, but after awhile curiosity got the upper hand of his better judgment, and walking up to the King, he touched him on the shoulder, and pointed to the window. Charles looked up, and as he did so beheld to his great amazement the window of the opposite wing brilliantly illuminated. In an instant all his gloom, his apathy vanished. He rushed to look out. The lights streamed through the small panes, illuminating all the intermediate court-yard. The shadows of persons moving to and fro were clearly discernible. The King looked inquisitively at the doctor. At first he suspected it to be a trick to entrap him from his indulgence in moodiness. He read, however, fear too legibly written in the countenance of the physician to persevere in the notion. The King and his doctor exchanged glances of strange and portentous meaning. Charles, however, first recovered, and affecting to feel no awe, turned to Baumgardten. Who has dared to cause the grand hall to be lighted up? » he exclaimed; and who are they who, without my permission, have entered it? The trembling physician pleaded his utter ignorance. Go instantly and call the state-porter hither! » n Baumgardten obeyed, and returned with the terrified menial, to whom, however, he had not communicated the reason for his being sent for; but who, nevertheless, was sadly alarmed at being summoned before his royal master at this unusual hour. VOL. IV. 36 |