EXPECTATION;

A PRIZE HUNTER, THE PROPERTY OF SIR WATKIN W. WYNN, BART., M.P.

- ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY E. CORBET.

Expectation comes from the Emerald Isle, and was bought by Sir Watkin or Lord Combermere, of Mr. McGarne, the well-known Dublin dealer. He has carried Sir Walkin four seasons, and was awarded the first prize of £80 at Islington this year for the best weight-carrying hunter, up to not less than fifteen stone with hounds, with the Gold Medal as the best horse in any of the hunting classes, beating, among others, Iris, the Wetherby prize-horse; Harkaway and Tyrconnel, seconds at Islington; Brian Boru, a well-known prizetaker; Heroine, the first of the light weights at Islington; Comrade, the selected four-year-old; and Coxcomb, a prize hunter and ladies' horse; as well as Loiterer, who played third to The Heroine in the light weights, and was not placed in the weight-carriers up to fifteen stone, but afterwards was proclaimed the winner of the Badsworth Hunt Cup at Wakefield.

Expectation is a rich chesnut, standing over sixteen hands high, and is a grand square-looking horse, with a deal of quality. Like all goodmade ones, he looks smaller than he is, and when going collects himself together, so that he almost gives one the idea of a short horse; but he is quite the reverse, as, when standing up to him, he is very lengthy, covering a deal of ground, with room enough for half-a-dozen twelve-stone men from his withers to his tail, which he carries and feathers like a game-cock. He has a good sensible head, in the right place, with nicely-laid shoulders, and his hind legs well under himthree great points in a hunter. Then he is very muscular throughout, and adding to this a neat, strong neck, running nicely into capital hunting withers and shoulders that balance well with his great quarters, a very deep girth, capital back and middle, standing on a short leg, with knees and hocks near the ground, and good feet, we have something near perfection in hunting form. His fetlock-joints tell of the four seasons that he has carried the welter weight of Sir Watkin; and on this account some said he ought not to have had a prize, but would have given it to some perfectly sound horse, that perhaps had never done a day's work, and that would have sunk into the earth at the sight of Sir Watkin in scarlet.

"HERE'S

SPORT INDEED!"

BY LORD WILLIAM LENNOX.

SHAKSPEANZ.

СНАР. СѴ1.

There are few periods of the year looked forward to with more pleasure than the opening of the shooting season, and great is the delight of the sportsman when that golden day in his calendar, the first of September, is ushered in with a feu de joie, which may be heard throughout the country. During the latter part of August the prudent "gunner," like a skilful general, will have made every preparation for taking the field; previous to the opening of the campaign and the commencement of hostilities against the partridges, his "commission" in the form of a licence will have been procured; his field pieces will have been taken from their cases, carefully looked over and cleaned; his accoutrements will have been thoroughly examined; his ammunition stores replenished; his skirmishers, Old Tip and Beppo, with Don, Sancho, Nora, and Fan as a reserve, prepared for many a rough march; a few mounted men for outpost duty to watch the movements of the flying enemy will be in readiness; markers will be "told off," and his personal staff, consisting of his keepers, whose special duties are to keep a return of the killed and wounded, with a commissary-general to superintend the "victualling department," will be under orders to move at a moment's notice. In the meantime, to carry on our military metaphor, the commander-in-chief will have ascertained the number of coveys in each field, and will have made himself acquainted with their feeding ground, their basking places, and watering retreats. Upon the thirty-first of August, a review of the forces, an inspection of the ordnance department, and a visit to the kennel, will be advisable; and despite of what many eminent and talented authors have written upon the subject (men for whom and for whose opinions, generally speaking, we entertain the highest respect), we venture strongly to recommend an early gathering on the glorious first of the showery seventh month of the Romans, in order at least to carry out the old saying of "having the day before you." A French modern historian, Achille de Vaulavelle, in a most able and impartial work, entitled "Chute de l'Empire," tells us "that the catastrophe of Waterloo, notwithstanding the unskilfulness of many general officers and the apathy of others, would have been converted into a glorious victory, had the action been commenced a few hours earlier." Now, without going quite to this extent, we are not at all prepared to say that time would not have been of the greatest service to Napoleon, as it might possibly have brought the battle to a termination before the arrival of the Prussians; by a parity of reasoning, then, we think that the earlier the field is taken the better for the assailants. Even in partridge shooting we have foes to contend with, wind, rain, extreme heat, poachers, reapers and gleaners. The ardent and industrious sportsman then will take time by the forelock, so as to get through his engagement before sunset; he will not court his downy morning pillow nor follow the present rising

generation (we mean no paradoxical pun), who are satisfied to commence operations after a half-past-ten breakfast. "Call me at daylight," "breakfast on table at half-past-six," "keepers in readiness at seven," "lunch at two," "and a relay of pointers at eleven and four," will be the orders of the day. And here, I would remark, that lunch should be an old-fashioned one, cold meat, bread, cheese, and beer, and not a modern one of soups, hot dishes, wines and claret cup; for not only does the latter Apician feast interfere greatly with the shooting, but it does not look well, for the "shooters," who live daintily every day, to be pampering themselves when those who never enjoy such a meal, and who have been toiling for hours, are partaking of a most humble repast. Setting aside the sport, there is nothing more calculated to raise the spirits than an early walk in the bright month of September, and to those accustomed to pass a large portion of the year in a crowded town, to inhale the noxious atmosphere of a pent-up city, to turn day into night, the effect produced by the freshness, elasticity, and clearness of the morning air is exhilarating to the greatest degree; while, with health and strength, an untroubled conscience, a cloudless sky, bright verdure, flowery banks, shady hedgerows, an agreeable companion, breech-loading gun, a brace of pointers, a walk through an extensive range of stubble and turnips, is one of the greatest delights that] mortal man can enjoy. Despite, then, of other authorities, we again boldly affirm that the old proverb

"Early to bed and early to rise

Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,"

ought to be the sportsman's motto; and if, as it has been asserted, your bag may suffer a little from doing what the fashionable world call getting up in the middle of the night," or "going out before the day is aired," depend upon it, in the long run early hours will repay and ensure at least one of the benefits enumerated in the above lines.

During a tolerable long sporting career I have shot and seen others shoot with guns of all the first-rate makers, and I have never had occasion to find fault or to hear of any fault being found with them. Purday, Lancaster, Egg, Dougal, Grant, Lang, and others, turn out excellent guns. For "Auld Lang Syne." I own I never wish to handle a better gun than the latter furnished me last season for my son, a youth of fourteen, who for a youngster showed great prowess against the hares and rabbits in North Wales during his Christmas holidays.

I now proceed to a brief notice of sporting dogs, commencing with the pointer, and I need scarcely impress upon my reader's minds the necessity of paying the strictest attention to the breed, both as regards purity of blood and field qualifications. "A good strain" if once hit upon ought to be preserved, and it is alone to be attained by paying the greatest attention to the forms and qualities of both parents. There is much truth in the lines of the poet, whether applied to canine or other subjects:

"Whoever thinks a perfect 'dog' to see,

Thinks what ne'er was, nor is, nor e'er will be,"

and, therefore, to get as near perfection as possible great care must be taken not to perpetuate any defect. If the dam is wanting in any good quality select a mate to counteract the imperfection, and the only sure