WINTER. BY D. G. We have once more commenced upon the threshold of a new year, after having endured the varying vicissitudes of the one that is past. There has been much room left for pleasant and agreeable as well as unseemly reflections, bearing upon the incidental occurrences of human life. Some whom we were wont to recognise, revelling and rejoicing in the merry halls of sporting celebrity, have been for ever removed away from the sphere of their past engagements, and have left a blank behind them in the society they once enlivened, which cannot be filled up in their generation. Others there are, who have not as yet run the entire length of the race that is set before them, but who are fast mellowing into the vale of years, when the "silver cord of life" begins to lose its pristine elasticity, and the panting desire for the participation in sporting enjoyments begins signally to fail. Nevertheless, there still is, ever has been, and ever will continue to exist, a class of kindred spirits, whose instinctive enthusiasm in the enjoyment of the active and athletic pursuits of all and everything connected with "Field Sports," will endure to the end, and so it shall occur, as years are destined to roll on, new characters will succeed those which have preceded them, and leave posterity to particularise their events and achievements only in the surviving chronicles of well-earned fame. Among other distinguished characters of the above class, whose lives have lapsed during the year that has just expired, may be enumerated Mr. Nunn, master of the Essex and Suffolk fox-hounds, Captain Beecher, his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G., Joseph Weld, Esq., the celebrated yachtsman, Mr. Maze, Mr. McGeorge, and his Grace the Duke of Cleveland, K.G. These and others who had, in a sporting career, spun their thread to fame, have been withdrawn from our presence, although not so from our memories. Their names will continue to be familiar with us in the social circles of sporting integrity for years to come, when the horse and his rider, the pacific schooner and its possessor, shall be themselves endusted in the perishable tomb of time. But why should we look back upon sorrowful events, which we cannot remedy? We are the children of the morrow, and have a line of duty as well as of employment set before us, which will occupy our time, as well as our health, in more befitting, because more beneficial, pursuits. The present month presents to the sportsman a wide and expansive field wherein to exercise his jocund engagements. When weather permits he may" don" his scarlet livery, and follow the winding chase o'er hill and dale, saluted by the inspirations of the echoing horn, and the varying intonations of the musical pack; or he may, at corresponding intervals, accompanied by a leash of "long tails," and an attendant thistle-whipper, traverse the sloping downs, and push the speed-clad hare to her utmost finish. Short-lived sport 'tis true; but there is a latent charm in all that belongs to the chase! It appears to prove a spirit inherent in man, to hunt down and capture all animals that are classed under the title of feræ naturæ. Hunting is man's privileged prerogative, and in every scale of society, he may be met with, civilized or barbarous, this captious propensity is mysteriously identified with his nature. January is, however, for the most part rigorously inclined, and of long and continuous duration. Such a season took place within the writer's memory, just fifty years ago. It was in the year 1814. It lasted without interruption for nine weeks. Snow lay for some time upon the ground, in some depth; and in instances where it had drifted, several cases of death occurred among those who were engaged in proceeding by night from one village to another. Water was as scarce in London as snow at midsummer. The ice was with the greatest difficulty thawed, and the water congelated again immediately afterwards. All the rivers and springs were shut up in icy fetters. Cattle were left wholly destitute of the means of slaking their harrowing thirst, for the ponds stood more than a foot thick in ice, and the same froze on the surface, instantly after being broken. Domestic poultry refused to leave their roosteads, and appeared blinded from the effects of the snow, whilst hares and rabbits, in their wild state, were completely starved out. The former would nightly affect clover and hay ricks, in persons' farm-yards, and pick therefrom what quantities they could perilously acquire from such well-watched localities, whilst poachers were everywhere engaged in their illicit occupation, devastating all the game they could conveniently lay their hands upon. The frost still kept on, without intermission, until the 4th day of February, when an extensive fair was held upon the Thames, upon which occasion an ox was roasted whole. Fireworks were let off during the night, and skating parties ascended the river as high as Richmond, in congregated companies. Coals were hardly procurable, and the vessels outside the chops of the river were completely ice-bound. The traffic in the streets of London was conducted in dead silence, for the sound of the respective vehicles could not be distinguished as they moved in different directions through the streets. Horses were footballed in consequence of the snow, and could with the greatest difficulty progress on their journeys, whilst all the canals were standing idle, and those who obtained employment from horticultural labour and occupation were, for weeks, wholly thrown out of work, and exhibited an appearance of the most woful distress. During this Siberian interval the cold had arrived at such intenseness that the mercury in the thermometer had descended into the tubal ball, so that there was no means left of determining the gradation of frigidity which the weather had arrived at. On the 7th of February a thaw suddenly set in, when a complete elementary change took place. Cocks were heard to resume their clarion heraldry, which denoted a relaxation of the severity of the season. The snow now rapidly dissolved, and in the course of a few hours the streets were running with small currents of water. As the ice continued to melt, the water-channels became glutted with the aqueous fluid, and the rivers, in many instances, overflowed their banks, whilst the low lands were, in some parts of the country, inundated, which proved truly destructive to the sheep-folds, among which, considerable damage and much serious losses were sustained. Had this course of weather continued a little longer, the farmers must have suffered considerably, as it would have greatly impeded them in the commencement of their wheat sowings, whilst the expenses attendant upon the stalling their live stocks, upon their several establishments, must have been of the most serious character. This winter was succeeded by an equally hot and sultry summer, attended with fever and much sickness, more particularly so in that portion and tract of country which abutted on the fenny district of the kingdom. Game perished to a very extensive degree throughout the above trying and inclement season. The loss of pheasants, although the preserves were wellattended to, was sensibly felt, and the partridges and hares were sadly persecuted; indeed, few were left to breed in the following spring. As to woodcocks, many were picked up dead, the birds having perished through long-continued drought, and such as were spared through the severity of the climate were reduced to so emaciated a state and condition that they were not fit to be handled. In all matters relating to the above event, so unfavourable a season for game, in the general sense of the word, had not been experienced until the year 1862, when the long-continued chilling rains throughout the early spring and summer of that year blighted the entire prospects of the manor holder and the sportsman. Scarcely one covey out of every ten survived the season, whilst the early broods of partridge chicks were almost wholly destroyed. The pheasant poults also suffered considerably, and hares exposed to unfavourable aspects, perished whilst in leveret gestation. It was a truly unseasonable duration for the sportsman to endure, as well as to anticipate; but by a prudential course of conduct pursued on his part, protracting the opening of the date of partridge-shooting for a fortnight later than the fixed time usually recognised, the respite produced a wholesome and beneficial effect on the birds. Since the above-named occurrence there has been no lack of game experienced throughout the kingdom. The moors during the opening of the grouse season in August last year were found to be amply well-stocked both with red and black game, and as the season advanced, partridges, pheasants, and hares were found to be relatively plentiful. It is true that the guns brought into play since last August have been more numerous than was the case in 1862; nevertheless, the same have been amply repaid by the bags already made up, and as Christmas is now past, and the first day of February is rapidly approaching, it is not feasible to suppose that the patrons of the trigger will make any extraordinary or uncalled for havoc among the remnants it would be discrect on their part to leave as little disturbed as decency will permit for the breeding purposes of the present year. The season for pairing is now at hand, and should the weather prove favourable for the occasion, the duties of incubation on the part of the parent birds will be seasonably accelerated. This may be admitted as a plea for the exercise of the sportsman's leniency. But while the fowling-piece may be timely shelved for a season, the rod may be yet used by the angler during the present month with comparative success. Pike will eagerly take a hook baited with a gudgeon or small roach. Pike are just at this time in high condition, and extremely voracious, and will be in more open and exposed aspects than during the summer months, when locks, meres, and rivers are furnished with superfluous weeds and other umbrageous alembics in which they are in the habit of taking refuge in order to conceal themselves, when intent upon suddenly seizing upon their piscous quarry. One pike in January is worth six in February, and let me assure the reader that when this fish is furnished with a luxurious pudding stuffed into his interior, and his person well basted with good butter, and baked to a rich brown complexion, there will be found other fish in the river worse than he: a jack of six pounds weight is preferable to one of a larger size; but de gustibus non est disputandum. In all January roach of a large size may be taken, where these fish are plentiful. A small red flag-worm will prove the most tempting bait for them. They do not possess a muddy flavour just now, and eat firm. Grayling will also take an artificial fly this month, although these insects are not visible in our streams. Carp and tench are now in prime condition, and may be procured in still waters by using paste made up of flour for a bait. With regard to eels, these fish must be picked from the muddy shelving banks, where they harbour in the winter months. In all the estuaries adjunct to the sea, they may be taken in large quantities and of a good size. But the silver eel is a native of fresh-water rivers, and eats much sweeter and is much more highly esteemed than the foregoing samples. Trout will not be in season till April; but salmon will be ready on the 1st proximo, when the fence months have terminated. "HERE'S SPORT INDEED!" BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX, SHAKSPEARE. CHAP. LI. A quaint anonymous writer, who flourished some five-and-twenty years ago, gave a very whimsical description of the word" sporting." He traced it, thus, " to infancy, when we commence sporting with a rattle ; in childhood, when we sport bats and balls; in youth, airs and graces; in manhood, sweethearts and wives; in middle age, politics and ambition; and, as life declines, we sport with many a speculation of which we may not be destined to witness the result. The old maid sports with character, the quack with constitution, the lawyer with your pocket, the politician with your right, the hypocrite with your feelings, and the coquette with your heart. Sports of the field are natural, national, healthy, and animating. Sports of fortune consists of making a battledore of one man and a shuttlecock of his neighbour. The beauty sports smiles, the syren tears, and the undergraduate sports oak.' It is not sporting with truth to affirm that we live in a very sporting world, where, play your cards as you may, honours too often are gained by tricks; the sharper shuffles, and the man of probity cuts him; those who deal justly are very properly piqued, when a rogue revokes his promise. The games of commerce and speculation have been highly profitable to these lucky islands, and no hazard of winds and waves or the cannon of the enemy have prevented us knocking the ball of good fortune into our own pockets." There is a great deal of truth conveyed in the above remarks, and the oddity of the style may provoke a laugh at this merry season of the year, and that reminds us that we cannot commence another year better than by wishing health, happiness, and prosperity to the worthy proprietor of the Sporting Review, and to those connected with it. During the past twelvemonth death has deprived us of three conspicuous names in the annals of literature and art: we allude to William Makepiece Thackeray, John Leech, and David Roberts; the former eminent as a man of letters, the latter as two of the most distinguished artists of the day. They were all three members of the old Garrick Club, where they were beloved by all for their kindly and social qualities. How forcibly do the lines of the poet strike us! "Hark to the deep-tone chime of that bell As it breaks on the wakeful ear! 'Tis that of the expiring year. Oh! many an eye that was beaming bright, Was dimmed by sorrow or sealed in night Ere its circle had reached its close, And hearts that were blooming in beauty then Return we to the month and its sports. If the weather is open, hunting and coursing may be enjoyed to perfection: if King Frost holds his glacial court, skating and other games on the ice may be indulged in ; and whether the thermometer is at the temperate or freezing degree, pheasant, hare, rabbit, woodcock, wild goose, and wild duck shooting will furnish excellent amusement to the lover of the trigger. As far as hunting is concerned, a hard frost about Christmas is of great advantage to the horse and his master; for after two months' severe work, a little respite from labour proves highly beneficial. A fall of snow also tends to purify the land, and increase the scent; so a fortnight of hard weather is "a consummation devoutly to be wished" for. The greyhound, too, deserves consideration, and will not run the worse for a brief holiday. The coursing meetings during the last month have been numerous, and there can be no doubt that this amusement is on the increase. Independently of public matches, coursing is a great boon to those who do not happen to live in good hunting countries; and a gallop over the Southdown hills in Sussex is a most invigorating recreation. A few remarks upon greyhounds and their timid prey may not here be out of place. Many if not most greyhounds are fleeter than the hare; yet we have often seen a hare run straight away from a couple of greyhounds. It may be said that a single greyhound would seldom kill a hare, but we must take into consideration the advantage which the timid animal derives from the turn. Generally speaking, a good greyhound will reach a hare if she run straight; he pursues her eagerly, and at the moment he is about to strike at her, she turns short, and the dog, unable to stop himself, is thrown from ten to twenty yards from her; those jerking turns soon begin to tell upon a dog, and thus an old wellpractised hare will often make her escape. When pursued by a couple of greyhounds, the hare has a most difficult game to play, as it frequently happens that when she is turned by the leading dog she falls into the fangs of the second. It is highly interesting to watch the "artful dodges" of an old hare. On moving from her seat she makes E |