has left behind him an admirable volume of
instruction in the art. Not unto me to attempt to
indue me with the seven-league gaiters of that
great man; not unto me to attempt to convey
hints, "wrinkles," or "dodges" to the regular
gunner: mine be it simply to discourse on the
inner life of the art, showing what can be done,
in what manner, and for how much, and giving
certain practical information in simple and
concise form to the neophyte.

And first to be mentioned in a treatise,
however humble, on gunning, are guns. A muzzle-
loading double gun by a first-class London
maker costs forty guineas; or, with its cases and
all its fittings, fifty guineas. The leading
provincial makers, and those of Scotland and
Ireland, charge from thirty to forty pounds
complete; most of their guns are, however, in
reality manufactured in Birmingham, where the
price of a double gun varies from twenty pounds
to two pounds five shillings, or even less,
according to quality. The second class London
makers charge from twenty-five to thirty-five
pounds, but most of their work is made at
Birmingham, and only " finished" in London. The
London work is much the best; for, as the
wages paid are much higher, London attracts
the best workmen from all parts of the country.
Another reason, is the greater independence
of the workmen in London. In Birmingham
especially, between trade agreements on the
part of the masters, and trade unions on the
part of the men, a man who can work better
or more quickly than his fellows is continually
hampered, and he generally makes his way
to London, where he finds a fairer market
for his labour, and fewer restrictions. The
situation of Birmingham, near to the coal-
producing districts, renders the cost of fuel
much less than in London, and all the operations
which require a large expenditure of fuel, such
as the welding and forging of the barrels, &c., are
done at Birmingham, even for best guns, and it is
frequently asked, since all the materials, barrels,
&c., come from Birmingham, why pay the much
higher prices of London makers for the same
thing? meaning that as the London makers get
their barrels (the chief portion of the gun) from
Birmingham, the prices they charge are
extortionate. Now, what the London barrel-maker
really does get from Birmingham is simply two
rough tubes of wrought iron, not fit in their
then condition even to serve as gas-pipes. All
that makes them of any value as gun-barrels—
the boring, filing, putting together for shooting,
&c.—has to be done in London, at four times
the cost, and generally with ten times the
accuracy, of Birmingham work. The fallacy lies in
supposing that " the same thing" is obtained in
both cases. If what a man buys when he
purchases a gun be merely the six pounds of wrought
iron and steel in the barrel and locks, and the
half a foot of walnut plank in the stock, the
value of these materials at twenty pounds a ton
for the metal and a shilling a foot for the wood
is less than five shillings for the whole, and he
may well consider he is overcharged if he pay a
pound for the complete gun. But what he buys
is really the time and technical skill of the
contriver, the time and skill of the workman, the
waste of manufacture (and how enormous this
frequently is, may be judged from the fact that
ninety pounds of rough metal will be consumed
in making a pair of Damascus gun-barrels
weighing about six pounds when finished): these
are the real things purchased, and whether the
buyer pay ten or fifty pounds, he will generally
get only the value of his money, and no more.
Skill and time can never be brought to the same
close competition as the price of raw material,
and the tendency of both is to become dearer
instead of cheaper every day.

During the last four or five years the use of
breech-loading guns has become common in
England. The system adopted is called the
"Lefaucheux," from the name of its inventor,
and it has been general in France for many years.
Twenty-five years ago some guns of this pattern
were brought from Paris by Mr. Wilkinson of
Pall Mall, who endeavoured to introduce their
use into England, but without success; and
they were finally sold at one-fourth their cost,
as curiosities only. The price of breech-loading
guns of best quality is five guineas more than
muzzle-loaders; they are sold in Birmingham
at from eight pounds to thirty pounds. The
advantages of a breech-loader to young sportsmen
are, principally, that the guns cannot be
over-loaded, two charges cannot go into the same
barrel, the charge can be taken out in an
instant, and though, if the gunner be clumsy he
may shoot a friend, he cannot by any possibility
shoot himself. This little distinction is highly
appreciated, since accidents in loading from the
muzzle were by no means unfrequent.

To a moderate-minded man, three or four
thousand acres in England would be a good
manor, of which four hundred should be covert.
Potatoes used to be good covert, now the best
is clover left for seed, mangold, swedes and
turnips, beans, &c. The usual price is one
shilling per acre, but in the neighbourhood of
London and large towns the rent is higher, and
the value arbitrary. For four thousand acres,
to do the thing well, one should have a head-
keeper, whose cost will be as follows: a house,
a guinea a week for wages, five pounds a year
for clothes, twelve pounds a year for
ammunition, a certificate three pounds, and a
"deputation" from the lord of the manor, without
which he cannot, I believe, legally take a gun
away from a poacher. He generally has a
pony and a spring-cart allowed him, sometimes
the keep of a dog. It has been well observed,
that "it is not every fellow with a short jacket
and half a dozen pockets, that is fitted for a
gamekeeper." He must be trustworthy; for, he
has in the mowing-time to pay a shilling a nest
to the mowers, sometimes to pay for the
destruction of vermin, &c., and he can cheat
if he like. He should be a good, but not a
noted or crack shot; not such a shot as keeps
his hand in by practice on his master's game;
and he should be thoroughly knowing in