28 Phyfiognomy of the Horfe. I fhall be pardoned for inferting this defcription of a beautiful horfe in a phyfiognomical effay intended to promote the knowledge and the love of man. You laugh. Having laughed with you, permit me, afterwards, to afk, does not this defcription prove the reality of that fcience which has been exploded among thofe that are held to be chimerical? But must not a horse thus formed, be more excellent, and of a more noble character than a dull and common hack? not only beautiful, but, I repeat, more noble, proud, fpirited, firm, faithful, and fure. : And fhall he who thus has formed the horse, whofe underftanding is fo deficient compared to that of man, fhall he who has thus transfufed beauty and nobility, ftrength and truth, through all his limbs, to have formed man, that his internal and external fall be incongruous? Shall he who can find the countenance of a horfe fignificant, (and that it is fignificant no fophift can doubt the moment a horfe appears) fhall he poffibly fuppofe the countenance of man -to be infignificant? The more accurately we obferve horfes, the more fhali we be convinced that a feparate treatife of phyfiognomy might be written upon them. I have fomewhere heard a general remark, that horfes are divided into three claffes; the fwan-necked, ftag-necked, and hog-necked. Each of thefe claffes has its peculiar countenance and character, and from the blending of which various others originate. eyes to the mouth: the nostrils are wide and open; the mouth fmall; the ears little, pointed, and projecting; the eyes large and round; the jaw below fmall; above, fomething broader: the whole body well proportioned; and the horse beautiful. This kind is chearful, tractable, and high fpirited. They are very fenfible of pain, which (when dreffing) they fometimes express by the voice. Flattery greatly excites their joy, and they will exprefs their pride of heart by parading and prancing.I dare venture to wager, that a man with a fwan-neck, or what is much more determinate, with a fmooth projecting profile, and flaxen hair, would have fimilar fenfibility and pride. The ftag-necked has fomething in the make of his body, much refembling the ftag itself. The neck is fmall, long, and scarcely bowed in the middle. He carries his head high. I have seen none of thefe. They are racers and hunters, being particularly adapted for fwiftnefs by the make of the body. The hog-necked-The neck above and below, is alike broad : the head hanging downward; the middle of the nofe is concave, in profile; the ears are long, thick, and hanging: the eyes fmall and ugly; the noftrils fmall, the mouth large; the whole body round; and the coat long, and rough. Thefe hories are untractable, flow, and vicious; will run the rider against a wall, stone, or tree. When held in, they rear, and endeavour to throw the rider. Blows or coaxing are frequently alike ineffectual; they continue obftinate and reftive. The heads of the fwan-necked are commonly even, the fore--I leave the reader to apply these head small, and almost flat; the remarks to the human counte nofe extends, arching, from the Ta Obfervations on the Quail of the Cape of Good Hope. 29 To the EDITORS of the Sporting | land to Africa, and return by the Magazine. GENTLEMEN', D The fame thing happens to all other birds of this kind. fame route. It is very probable that if thofe of the ifle of Roben dare not venture to cross that URING my travels abroad, fmall space of fea which feparates I have frequently took the them from the coaft, much lefs pleafing diverfion of fhooting, will they dare to hazard a paffage more particularly at and near the incomparably more confiderable. Cape of Good Hope, where there The quail is a very heavy bird; are game of various fpecies in and the fmallness of its wings, in large quantities; abundance of proportion to the weight of its partridges, and a ftill greater nunbody, is no wife fuited to a long ber of quails. I have fometimes and continued flight. There is killed from fifty to fixty of thefe fcarcely a fportfman who does birds in a morning. The quails not know by experience that, of the ifle of Roben, 'and those of when he fprings a quail three or the Cape, are abfolutely the fame four times fucceffively, it is imfpecies, without any difference poffible for it to fly any more; and which might render my affertion that, overcome by fatigue, it fuf even doubtful; yet the quails offers itfelf to be taken by the hand. the Cape are birds of paffage. This fact is well known; and though the distance from the isle Befides the quail common to of Roben to the continent, be Europe and Africa, there is found only two leagues, it is alfo certain at the Cape a bird much smaller, that the quails there never emi-which is called a quail, but very grate. They are always equally improperly; for it has only three abundant, and found in every fea- toes, and all directed forwards; fon. If I add, likewife, that the a mark fufficient to convince us quails of Europe are exactly of that they ought not to be conthe fame fpecies as thefe, muft we founded. M. Sonnerat, in his not conclude that the former do voyage to India, defcribes a bird not pass the fea, as has been hi- of the fame kind, which he calls therto pretended? Some travellers the three-toed quail. M. Def affert as a truth, that they have ob- fontaines mentions alfo, in his ferved them at fea: but this does voyage to the coafts of Barbary, not decide the queftion: for, at the a like fpecies approaching near distance of more than fixty leagues to that of the Cape, of which it from the coaft, I have fhot ftar- is doublefs a variety. I am aclings, chaffinches, linnets, and an quainted with two others much owl. All these birds, which, as larger, one of the island of Ceyis well known, never pass the fea, lon, and the other of Java: I had been undoubtedly driven from thail give a defcription of them; their course by fome violent ftorm and I think it will be neceffary to or hurricane; and I fhall always make a believe that the cafe was the fame with thofe quails which have been met at fea, until this part of the natural hiftory of birds be better elucidated. new genus of them to form the link of connexion be tween the quail and the French field duck*, to which it has *See a defcription and figure of it in I am fo much the more inclinBriffon's Ornithology, under the name of the ed to difbelieve that quails crofseer buftard. See alfo Diclionaire Raisonne et Univerfal des Animaux, under the articles the fea, because they may go by canard de pre de France, and cane petiere, great 1 30 Philidor, the Chefs Player.---Hints to City Sportsmen. great refemblance in the confor- Government fends every year a detachment to the ifle of Roben, to kill fea cows and penguins, from which an oil is extracted, particularly from the latter: they furnish a great deal. By inferting the above in your cabinet of time before his death; and, if it be a fact, we can only account for it by fuppofing, that his faculties were impaired by age, bad health, and the anxiety he has fuffered under a feparation from his family and connexions in France fince the revolution in that country. MAGAZINE. fporting knowledge, you will To the EDITORS of the SPORTING OLD TRAVELLING SPORTSMAN. PHILIDOR, the late celebrated CHESS PLAYER. T is faid that this man died of IT a broken heart, on his ill fuc cefs in a conteft at. chefs, with the Turkish Ambaffador, now in this country. The ambaffador, as the story goes, having heard of the fame of Philidor, expreffed a defire to play with him. Phili, dor attended, and fummoned up all his powers for the contention. The Ambaffador obtained an eafy victory in fix fucceffive games; and obferving a very ftrong expreffion of chagrin and mortification in poor Philidor, endeavoured to comfort him, by faying, that he himfelf knew very GENTLEMEN, THE HE fhooting feafon having commenced, if you think the following hints may not be unneceffary to cockney fportfmen the infertion will oblige, Your conftant Reader HINTS TO CITY SPORTSMEN. If there are three of you, by all means hire a post-chaife, as it cuts a dash, and comes cheap. Be fure you let the muzzle of the guns be out a quarter of a yard on each fide of the chaife, to fhew all the people on the road you are Sportsmen. On no account begin fhooting for game before you get to Hackney, Camberwell, Kentish Town, Mile End, top of Kent Street | Road, or any place of equal diítance from town. Take On Hunting. Take care you do not fhoot a fheep, or a cow, inftead of the bird you take aim at. The guns of leaft repute among common fportfmen are the best, thofe that featter their shot the wideft, as there is more chance of hitting them,-If: one, as the faying is, won't, another will. There is nothing like a fure fhot. Many a bird has been miffed by firing haftily, at too great a diftance. The beft mode is to place your piece clofe to his head; thus the body is not torn. Taking aim with both eyes fhut, is not fo good a practice as with both open, as cunning birds have been known to take advantage of the moment, and fly away. In the choice of dogs, that fpecies of the fpaniel called the Spitalfields Hie-away is to be preferred, as he will hunt every kennel, as well as ditch, and runs over most ground. There are now no partridges in Hoxton brick fields, nor any groufe at Bethnal Green, but there are ducks at Battle Bridge. ON HUNTING. LETTER XXIV. 3.1. their being courfed by sheep dogs; long faults; cold Hunting; and the dying away of the fcent; make it neceffary to keep always as near to the fox as you can; which fhould be the firft and invariable principle of fox-hunting. Long days do great hurt to a pack of fox-hounds. I fat out one day laft winter from the kennel, at half pait feven, and returned home a quarter before eight at night, the hounds running hard the greatest part of the time. The huntfman killed one horse, and tired another, and the hounds did 'not' recover for more than a week; we took them off at laft when they were running with a better fcent than they had had the whole day*.-I alfo remember, after it was quite dark, to have heard a better view halloo from an owl, than I ever heard from a fportfman in my life, though I hope that I fhall never hear fuch another." A long day, nevertheless, once or twice in a feafon, is of ufe to a huntfman-it fhews the real goodness and ftoutnefs of his hounds.. When long days happen to hounds that are low in flesh, nothing will get them up again fo effectually as reft; it is for this To the Editors of the Sporting reafon hounds that are kept con Magazine, GENTLEMEN, tantly hunted, ought always to be, as fportfmen call it, above their work. If your hounds either congratulate you on the com- from accident or inattention, mencement of the SEVENTHá fhould ever be in the low condi VOLUME of your much admired tion here alluded to, be not inwork; and thought e're now I patient to get them out of it fhould have been at Fault; but fhould you feed them high with your candour, and my own per-flesh, the mange, moft probably, feverance having enabled me thus far to pursue my favourite course, I fhall proceed, by obferving the many chances that are against you in fox-hunting; the changing frequently; the heading of the foxes; Hounds, after every hard day, shouldhave too clear days to reft. It does them lefs hurt to hunt two days following, when their work is eafy, than to hunt, before they may be properly recovered, after hav ing been hard run. will will be the immediate confequence of it: It is reft and wholefome meat that will recover them beft. It will furprise you to fee how foon a dog becomes either fat or lean; a little patience therefore, and fome attention, will always enable you to get your hounds into proper condition; and I am certain that you can receive no pleasure in hunting with them, if they be not. I forgot in my letter upon the feeding of hounds, to obferve that fuch hounds as have the mange actually upon them, or only a tendency towards it, fhould be fed feparately from the rest. They fhould have no flesh-their meat fhould be mixed up rather thin, than thick; and they fhould have vegetables in great plenty*. I muft alfo add that if my hounds return from hunting earlier than they were expected, I now order them to be fhut up in the lodging room till their meat be made ready for them. Hounds never reft contented, till they have been fed; nor will they remain upon their benches, unless they be confined; yet, without doubt, lying upon the pavement, or even ftanding out in the cold, after violent exercise, must be prejudicial to them. and, though headed and turned directly from it, feldom fail to make it good at laft; this, therefore is a great help to an obferv. ing huntfman. Suffer not your huntfman to encourage his hounds too much on a bad fcenting day; particularly in covers, where there is. much riot. Hark, Hark, Hark, which injudicious huntfmen are fo fond of upon every occafion, must often do mifchief, and cannot do good; whilft hounds are near together, they will get fooner to the hound that challenges, without that noife than with it. If it be a right fcent, they will be ready enough to join; and, if it be a wrong one, provided they be let alone, they will foon leave it:-injudicious encouragement, on a bad day, might make them run fomething or other, right or wrong. I know of no fault fo bad in a hound, as that of running falfe; it should never be forgiven; fuch as are not stout, or are stiff nofed, or have other faults, may, at times do good, and at their worst, may do no harm; but, fuch as run falfe, moft probably will spoil your fport. A hound capable of fpoiling one day's fport, is fcarcely worth your keeping-Indiffer. ent ones, such as I have above- defcribed, may be kept till you have better to fupply their places. It is neceffary your huntfmen fhould know the country which he is to hunt nothing, in fox. hunting, is more effential than A huntfman fhould know how that ; and it may make amends to marshal every hound in his' for many faults. Foxes are not | pack, giving to each his proper capricious, they know very well rank and precedence; for, withwhat they are about; are quick, out this knowledge, it is not pofI believe at determining, and refible he should make a large draft, folute at perfevering. They geas he ought. There are, in most nerally have a point to go to packs, fome hounds that affift but little in killing the fox, and it is the judicious drafting off of fuch hounds that is a certain figu of a good huntfman. ; *Sulphur made into a ball with butter or hogs-lard, and given two or three mornings following may also be neceffary, My |