cause you then dispense with taking spirit in a morning, the very bad habit of which should always be avoided, except in a country where the chances of ague might justify your taking a little purl;

which, by the way, was recommended to me by one of the first medical gentlemen in the profession. Do not have recourse to any such liquors, unless absolutely required to defend your health against a pestilential climate; or in case of being taken with a sudden chill; when a small quantity of spirit and beer, mixed together, if not thought too disgusting a beverage, might sometimes prove one of the most powerful stimuli to warm you, of all things that an alehouse, or perhaps any other house, could afford. If going out, take it cold; if going to bed, you may have it warm; for in the one case perspiration is as objectionable as it would be desirable in the other.

Sixthly, Never sit down with wet feet*, or with wet clothes on any part of your body; but, if a change is not at hand, keep in motion, or go to bed, till one can be procured. Or, if you want to start again, when refreshed, first wet your feet with either spirits, or essence of mustard, and then be as quick as possible in taking your refreshment. Many people prefer applying the spirit to the inside, instead. This is not so well; because spirit alone always flies to the head; while strong beer, on the contrary, would warm the body.

I shall here conclude, under this head, with the multum in parvo advice of the great Dr. Boerhaave; Keep the BODY OPEN; the HEAD COOL; and the FEET WARM.

I am proud to say, that some gentlemen who are the very heads of the profession, with that liberality which distinguishes all men of talent, have approved of the humble advice here given (of course, without the slightest pretensions, and merely as a refuge for the destitute): and there

*To keep the soles of shoes dry, you will find no ready-made article better, or cheaper, than the late Mr. Hunt's "water-proof composition."

are only some of the little doctors who bark, and cry "quack," at what they think an infringement on their sacred rights. But, if they knew to whom all here had been submitted, before it went to the press, they would, perhaps, to use a vulgar phrase, in language most opposite to their overwhelming rhetoric" knock under.”

Having now mentioned the few things that happen to occur to me, as deserving the small space they would occupy in the baggage of a sportsman, who we all know is sometimes in an exile, where he might die before he could get medical assistance, I shall just note down a few articles, as desirable for his comfort, as the foregoing ones might prove for the preservation of his life; viz.

Canastre tobacco, or cigars.

Cayenne pepper.

A pot of anchovies.

A phial of lemon acid.

A bottle of the best olive oil.
And above all, TEA,

With these ingredients, and half as much knowledge as usually belongs to all our old compaigners, he may perfectly enjoy his dinner on fish, flesh, and fowl, in those wild places where they are most abundant, but where we are the least able to have them dressed in perfection. For example:

There is no better sauce for a wildfowl, plover, or snipe, than equal quantites of olive oil and lemon juice. Cayenne pepper, when mixed with a little vinegar, gives a fine relish to a pheasant, or any other game. With good oil you can, in most places, during the fishing season, have a French salad made with the young leaves of the wild dandelion; or in the shooting season, a German salad, called in some parts of Germany, I believe, "kartoffel salat," with slices of cold boiled waxy potaEither of these, with a few onions, an anchovy, and two spoon

toes.

fuls of oil to every one of vinegar (or equal quantities of each to the German one), make a very good salad; or, at all events, a good substitute for one, where perhaps the lettuce, cress, or endive, are scarcely known to the inhabitants. Tarragon vinegar, for salads, is generally preferred to the other vinegar. (Let me observe, by the way, that the chief art of dressing a salad consists in wiping perfectly dry whatever it is made with, and cutting off the flabby parts from the leaves of the herbs.) If you have no good butter for your fish, you will find, that with a little cayenne, a spoonful of the liquor from your anchovies, and some lemon, or vinegar, olive oil, and mustard, it will be perfectly good. Nothing is better than a dish of small birds fried, and eaten with oil and lemon juice; and if you have no good butter to fry them with, here again some oil must be your substitute.

If you have no biscuits to eat with your wine, or what you may drink for want of it, cut some slices of raw potato very thin; have them broiled, or fried, brown and crisp with your oil, and sprinkled with a little cayenne pepper; but, in dressing them, let the slices lie independent of each other, or they will become soft by fermentation. If you wish for a hash, or anything dressed by way of variety from plain cooking, you can always give it a flavour, if you have cayenne, lemon, and anchovy.

In short, the ingredients here named, as general acquisitions to your eating in comfort, will be found, I trust, some of the most useful; and I therefore need add no more; as I neither profess, nor wish, to gratify the palate of an epicure; but have merely attempted to show how one man may make himself comfortable, where another would starve, by the foregoing hints to young caterers and young sportsmen.

Having now said enough as to taking care of, and providing for my young readers, we will suppose one of them to have arrived at the miserable hole alluded to, and that the first salutation, after the knock at his bedchamber door, in the morning, is "A wet day, sir!" and instead of being able to pursue his sport, either after breakfast, or at

noon (the most usual time for the weather to clear up, if it clears up at all), he is consigned a close prisoner to the pothouse; looking alternately to the windward clouds, and the plastered walls of the room; hearing through a thin partition the discordant merriment of drunken fellows; and inhaling the breezes of a smoky wood fire with the fumes of their shag tobacco! In such a predicament, then, how can I prescribe for him? and in this predicament, I believe, there are very few sportsmen that have not often been. Why here again, then, I will endeavour to give him a little advice, though I hope he will not think I am beginning to write a sermon. I shall now first observe, that of all the things on earth, to make a man low-spirited, unhappy, or nervous, is to get into a habit of idleness; and although there are many young people that would pay little attention, and perhaps laugh at me, if I told them that "idleness" was the "root of all evil," yet some among those very persons might listen most earnestly, when I remind them, that being nervous or low-spirited is of all other things the most likely to put even a crack sportsman off his shooting; or to make a young angler whip off his flies; or be too eager, and therefore unskilful, in killing his fish. Always, therefore, let him be employed, and think no more of the weather, till his man comes, with a smiling face, and says, "Sir, it will do again now!" when, if he is a man of genius, and has proper resources, he could almost have wished for another hour's rain, in order to complete that in which his mind was become absorbed. Supposing the hole in which, for the sake of a few days' good sport, he is immured, contains neither books, nor newspapers, nor even stationery good enough to write a few letters in comfort (which, by the way, he should be

always enabled to do, by carrying a quire of paper and a few steel pens), still there is no excuse for his being in sheer idleness. The mere pocket will always contain enough to employ successfully many a leisure hour. If he is studying any thing particular, he may be provided with some little volume, the most useful to his subject. If he draws, he may at least, make a sketch of the hole he is in, for a laugh when he gets home; or, if in another style, practice according to his fancy. If he is a "musician," and away from an instrument, let him study some exercises in harmony, for no man should be called a musician till he does know harmony. If he is an author or a poet, he can never be at a loss: or, if nothing greater, perhaps he may be a merry fellow, who sings a good song over his bottle, and therefore, on this occasion, by being provided with a "Pocket Nightingale," he may stock himself with songs enough to enliven all his associates on his return. If he is a dry fellow, an enemy to the Muses, and an admirer of only that which is tangible, he may, in his retreat, con over his pounds, shillings, and pence; and be amused with sketching his affairs, and thinking of what will be most to his advantage. But if he is an idler destitute of all resources-why I will not say "Lord help him!"— but—let him help himself. Let me advise him to embrace, in this day, a moment for reflection, and consider it as a specimen, perhaps of many hours and days he may have to spend, at an age when he has no longer youth and vigour to distinguish himself among the field. of sportsmen; and make a determination to embrace some pursuit, that will be to him a source of future amusement; and he will then, I think, have reason to consider this as one of the most successful days in his calendar.