the gun. During showery weather, especially after a long period of drought, the rats will sally forth in search of the moisture which they then procure; at such times, numbers may be shot by those who have patience to watch for them. The most effectual means that I am acquainted with, is that of laying food of various kinds impregnated with arsenic; it requires great care to secure it from the consumption of other animals and poultry which resort to such places.

Some years since a circumstance occurred to me which affords incontrovertible evidence that rats will destroy the eggs of partridges whenever they chance to find them out. It must also be remembered that the season of the year when partridges lay their eggs is a period when the voracious marauder is somewhat put to his wit's end to find provision, the barns being for the most part cleared of grain, and the ricks on all well-arranged farms being secured from his depredations; at such times the rat is a vicious and desperate animal. But to the relation of our anecdote. In a field adjoining some farm-buildings, at which I was sojourning, I discovered a partridge's nest, containing twelve or fourteen eggs in it, and two shells close at hand, one of which had been very recently purloined. On a bare spot I detected the foot-mark of a small animal, but it was not sufficiently distinct to recognise the species; nevertheless, it induced me to set steel traps in various directions round about the nest, at such a distance as would not, in all probability, capture the birds; that, however, I risked for the sake of ascertaining the genus to which the depredator belonged. In the course of a night or two, a female rat, evidently the mother of a numerous progeny, was secured in the remorseless fangs of the treacherous engine, affording the most convincing proof as to the identity of the thief, established by the sequel; as not any of the other eggs were molested, which would most probably have been the case had a cat, stoat, or any other animal than the rat, been implicated. In order to deter other rats from approaching the nest, I singed the dead captive, and drew it in all directions upon the ground in the vicinity of the nest: a remedy which I have no doubt is most effectual, as these animals are gifted with very great sensibility of their olfactory nerves.

The destruction of rats is an employment with which a keeper may occupy his leisure hours to great advantage; indeed, it may be looked upon as one of the most advantageous occupations in which he can be engaged, not only in regard of their depredations among the game, but in the reduction of vermin most offensive to the agriculturist. There is nothing so likely to reconcile the farmers to what they may conceive an injury to them, in damages done by game when it is abundant, and any trivial breaking down of their fences, as the compensation emanating from the keepers diminishing their stock of rats. To estimate the quantity of grain which they consume, would create astonishment. At the low calculation of half a bushel of grain per annum to each rat, two hundred will consume one hundred bushels of corn; and that number is very frequently exceeded at homesteads, where the destruction of them is at all neglected.

Cats are very destructive among game of all sorts, when they take to the propensity of prowling about the fields. The destruction of

them, however, very frequently causes the ire of the good dames to whom they belong; whilst the ostentatious display of them on the vermin gallows tends to increase that feeling, by identifying at once the author of the outrage. Nor is it a very unnatural impression, that any individual should feel, and, consequently, express annoyance that an animal which they have fostered as a pet should fall a sacrifice to an ignominious, and, perhaps, painful death, however guilty they may have been of trespass; on this account it is, perhaps, more desirable not to exhibit the feline race among the other trophies.

Something must, of necessity, be introduced on the subject of foxes. Can it, however, be imagined that I am about to sanction their destruction? Quite the contrary. The fox is the sportsman's idol; and unworthy is he of that proud distinction who can permit such sacrilege to be perpetrated, or the slightest molestation to be offered to one of the vulpine race by any other means than the legitimate one of a pack of hounds. Keepers will frequently shew great anxiety to be permitted to destroy them, and will argue with great earnestness upon the depredations which they commit among the game. But other reasons, independent of the true cause, may be assigned; it will afford them an excuse for the head of game not being so numerous as it ought to be. Upon that subject I shall, however, as I proceed, most unequivocally point out to the contrary. When the preservation of game is made an object of great importance, it too frequently happens that the extirpation of the vulpine race is an accompaniment, under the impression that their destructive propensities far exceed what is correctly true. To deny that a fox will occasionally trespass among the pheasants, or that he will avail himself of the temptation afforded by taking a halfgrown leveret, when the capture can be made with facility, would be incorrect; but he will not give himself the trouble to seek for that prey so long as there are rabbits to appease his hunger, which he can secure with much greater ease, and which are equally acceptable to the palates of the most epicurean of the vulpine race. The few head of game which fall to his share is simply that which he happens to meet with accidentally.

On some occasions, but I trust they are but few, the mandate to destroy every fox that frequents the coverts is given by the owner of the property; on others, under indefinite orders, the keepers assume a liberty which is tacitly permitted by their employers; between which positions no very wide distinction is admissible. It is true every man has a right to do as he likes with his own; but when a man, possessing a large estate, looks round the world with a due regard to his own happiness, he will surely bear in mind that he has neighbours, friends, and associates, whose amusements and interests are to a certain extent linked with his own; and if one man, however affluent he may be, shows a determination to sacrifice the welfare and pleasures of a whole country at the shrine of his own personal gratification, how can he reasonably expect that the individuals who surround him, either collectively or separately, can evince that attention to his wishes which as a body they are bound to do, and which in justice to human nature it is but fair to state is invariably

the case, when that liberal spirit of universal accommodation and kindness prevails which is the surest test of a true-born Englishman's heart?

Whenever I hear of foxes being destroyed, I immediately draw these conclusions: that the owner of the estate, wanting judgment and confidence in himself, listens to the exordium of his keeper; because any person may satisfy himself that game and foxes are preserved in the same coverts to a very great extent; in this case the master permits himself to be subservient to his keeper. By the next conclusion I am convinced that the keeper, wishing to have some excuse to offer for not showing that head of game which he is conscious his territory ought to carry, and knowing that the preservation of foxes will be exacted, resorts to the argument that, in consequence of their depredations, many heads of game are destroyed; whereas, if the truth came to light, it would be found that he himself was the marauder; in plain English, that the game represented by him as destroyed by the foxes, has found its way to market, and the proceeds into his pocket. The practice which is adopted on some estates of awarding to the keepers the rabbits which are produced in lieu of, or as a part of their salary, cannot be too loudly, too strongly deprecated; on one account, because it is the means of encouraging their numbers to an unlimited extent, greatly to the prejudice of the farmers, whose crops are injured by them, and who may consequently, under such circumstances, be considered as indirectly paying the keepers' wages. Such an incentive to the encouragement of a superabundance of rabbits is accompanied with many other objections: a moderate number may increase the general interest of shooting, but when they are over numerous, they are a great impediment to the good behaviour of the dogs; constantly bringing them to the point, they confuse their noses, and create a pottering style of hunting, insufferable in the estimation ofevery man who takes a pride in pointers and setters. Nothing can have a greater tendency to induce dogs to chase than a wounded rabbit at a distance from his hole, neither can anything disappoint a retriever more than marking him up to the aforesaid sanctuary, because, when once ensconced, no one would take the trouble to dig out so worthless a prize. Foxes will feed upon rabbits in preference to anything else, if there be a sufficient number for his consumption; they are animals which the vulpine race can much more readily secure than any others. The hare must be surprised upon her form before she can be sacrificed; partridges are not readily taken; and pheasants usually resort to the trees, during the hours of repose, which is the principal season for the fox to go forth in quest of his meal; a hen-pheasant, it must be admitted, will occasionally be taken from her nest, but it is not a very usual occurrence, and a preserve of game must be very deficient if it will not afford a few pheasants to satiate the dainty appetite of a fastidious fox. In advocating the preservation of foxes, I have not the least desire to take an ex-parte view of facts, but fairly, honestly, and conscientiously to introduce such remarks as are consistent and practical, and to corroborate them by examples.

(To be continued.)

FLOREAT ETONA.

BY AN OLD ETONIAN.

INTRODUCTION.

"Ye distant spires, ye antique towers,
That crown the watery glade,
Where grateful Science still adores
Her Henry's holy shade."

GRAY.

If we peruse any article, written either by the scient or artist, we shall perceive that he begins its foundation in an obtuse and dull manner, which as it gradually expands improves, and when it reaches its climax is very interesting. The theological theorem of the divine, the new motion of the senator, or the fresh system of the agriculturist, all must have a beginning or groundwork on which they raise their ideas; and in most cases this groundwork is obtuse and dull. Now, in our case, we must plead guilty to the latter; but when we have such noble examples as those we have mentioned, we are sure it would be useless to write a page in apology.

From the time of the good King Alfred till the commencement of the fourteenth century, literature and the fine arts had been little attended to. The propagation of the British renown was not performed (as in these days) by the science of rhetoric, but by that of arms; and it is not surprising, as printing was not known, that we read of rising genius nipped in the bud, and students of the university ducked in a well for their accomplishments in a poetical vein. At this time, however, it was sought after with great zeal and ardour by all grades and classes of the nation; and it continued to increase and increase till the fifteenth century, when the popular effervescence began a little to evaporate. Nevertheless, Henry the Sixth had imbibed some of the precious draught from his ancestry, which prompted him to zealous exertions both in its acquisition and diffusion. Among many of the adamantine memorials of his bounty, we may number the founding of Eton.

Eton College was founded and endowed A.D. 1441, by the name and style of "The College of the Blessed Marie of Eton besyde Wyndesore." The society now consists of a provost, vice-provost, six fellows, two masters, two conducts or chaplains, seventy scholars,

* This charter is in good preservation, and was confirmed by Act of Parliament, at Westminster, May the 4th, 1444.

ten almswomen, &c., &c. The scholars must be born in legal wedlock, and within the limits of the kingdom of England ("Infra regnum nostrum Angliæ"). Persons born in Ireland and Scotland are ineligible. The head scholar is elected, should a vacancy occur during his captainship, to King's College, Cambridge. These vacan cies occur, on an average, about four a year. There are also exhibi. tions and scholarships given by charitable individuals, among whom we may enumerate H. R. H. Prince Albert, the late Duke of Newcastle, Provost Francis Rous (of whom there is an excellent picture in the Provost's Lodge), &c., &c. Besides these scholars aforementioned, there are about seven hundred oppidans.

FRAGMENT I.

"Whose hungry maws are daily bent
On the rich feast of cent. per cent.;
Whose virtue, talents, knowledge, health,
Are all combined in that word-wealth!"

SYNTAX'S TOUR.

Authors generally plunge their readers into an abyss of a conversation, and then leave them to extricate themselves from it in the best way they can, and afterwards proceed to describe the family, talents, and former deeds of their chief character. But when we have so many peerages, baronetages, histories of commoners, racing calendars, and stud books, the best plan we, in our humble opinion, consider we can pursue, is to give the genealogy of our hero, and at once introduce Mr. Treacle, the grandsire.

Alderman Treacle Old Treacle, as he was called on 'Changewas, so libellous gossip says, the parvenu of some merchant; others, that he first saw light in a pothouse, and that he was born of nautical parents, who had deserted their precious offspring after putting him (cod-fish like) into a hamper, and leaving him at the door of some merchant, whose charitable feelings were aroused, and, instead of sending him to the parish officer, educated and brought him up; but all came to this one conclusion, that Treacle's birth was in obscurity, and in this obscurity we must leave our kind peruser. Master Treacle was sent, at the age of eight, to a foundation school at Lancaster. Here began those propensities which afterwards raised him to such eminence, and made him worthy of being commemorated in such works as "The New Sporting," "The Sportsman," and "The "Review." He never played at taws without duly considering the pro's and con's how much he might lose and how much he might win. Mother Goody brought toffy every Friday. Treacle saved his; most boys eat theirs. Then he easily sold it for cent. per cent. For the small sum of sixpence, he took rhubarb for anybody; but a black dose was a shilling. The batter and rice puddings, which were intended for a choker before the meat, were consumed by Plutus Treacle at so much a bit. He was very clever in this respect; he gained the

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