Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-05-14
English Sport.

One third Of the soil of England is de-
voted to the pleasures of the aristocracy
Many Englishmen of fortune seem to sup.
pose they are sent into this world to hunt
foxes and shoot grouse and deer. This is
the purpose of their existence and the oc
cupation of their lives. Among the aristoc
racy the man who does not shoot is an
anomaly, almost a monstrosity.
All the engagements ofthe upper classes are
made with reference to sport. The fashion
able season and the Parliamentary season
are determined by the game laws. Politi-
cal revolutions are precipitated or deferred,
questions of peace or war are taken up or
let alone because Ministers want to go to
Scotland, because grouse shooting begins in
August, and fox hunting is not over till
February. The gravest crisis in the history
of government is neglected, and the ses-
sions of Parliament cannot be held till the
frost is out of the ground and the fox begins
to breed.
On the 18th of August the sportsman IS
year begins. Grouse shooting dissolves Par
lament, and all who have moors, or invita-.
tions to them, make haste to the north
Parties of twelve or twenty are common,
but the genuine sportsmen often go OIL in
smaller numbers. In Scotland there are
hundreds of small shootings let for the sea-
son at from forty pounds to four thousand,
according to the extent and quality OF the
game; but the great proprietors, of course,
reserve the best for themselves.
The shooters 60 out soon after breakfast
The dresses are rough, the boots heavy
soled, the knickerbockers coarse, and in
Scotland many wear the kilt. Lunch is
taken on the moors. Sometimes a cart
comes out from the house with hot lunch,
and the ladies accompany it on ponies or in
little carriages; but if the game is far from
the road, the gillies carry cold meat and
claret in hampers Wbiskey each man
takes for himself. The gamekeepers and
beaters make up procession. with the ex-
ira guns and The game bags. They load for
the gentry, and sometimes bring in the
birds and beat and drive and take as keen
an interest in the sport as their masters or
the dogs.
In Scotland deer stalking is favorite
form OF the amusement. Il is much more
laborious the sportsman must walk fur.
ther, must lie on the hill side often for
hours, must watch more wariy and shoot
perhaps more skilully. The deer forests,
rs uueS are CallCu, COulhlu HO IucS
are simply great stretches of broken land,
bare and bleak for miles and miles, with lit
tie lochs scattered among the hills, their
soping banks covered with masses Of
bracken, tho haunt and the browse of the
red deer.
party of stalkers returning over the
hills after days sport makes picture.
Most Of them are in highland dress, with
plaids and sporrans, feathers in their bon
nets and daggers i'll their hose; their legs
are bare. The stag is slung over pony in
the middle Of the group, his antlers attest
ing his age. The man who has shot stag
is entitled TO wear red waistcoat at dim
ner.
Partridge shooting begins on the 1st of
September and is more of an English than
Scottish sport Pheasants are not killed
till October l. The earnest shooters despise
the phase of sport. The English themselves
never call it ''hunting;" they speak only Of
shooting" pheasants.
These noblemen and gentlemen with
their hundreds of thousands of acres, and
their hundreds of thousands of pounds of
income, their estates and castles and retain
ers, their crowds of aristocratic guests
nearly all sell their game. Now and then
they send friend a brace of birds or a
hauuch of venisop, but the game market is
stocked by the nobility, and to many of then,
it is considerable source of revenue.