red and thirty head of game, namely hares three
hundred and thirty-nine; pheasants two hundred and twenty-one; partridges
thirty-four; rabbits eighty-seven; and the following day upwards of fifty
hares, pheasants, &c., (wounded the previous day) were picked up. Out
of the four hours' shooting two of the party were absent an hour and
a-half, namely the Earl of Marney and Captain Grouse, attending an
agricultural meeting in the neighbourhood; the noble earl with his
usual considerate condescension having kindly consented personally
to distribute the various prizes to the labourers whose good conduct
entitled them to the distinction."

"What do you think of that, Franklin?" said Morley. "That is our worthy
friend of Marney Abbey, where we first met. You do not know this part of
the country, or you would smile at the considerate condescension of the
worst landlord in England; and who was, it seems, thus employed the day
or so after his battue, as they call it." And Morley turning the paper
read another paragraph:--

"At a Petty Sessions holden at the Green Dragon Inn, Marney, Friday,
October--, 1837.

"Magistrates present: The Earl of Marney, the Rev. Felix Flimsey, and
Captain Grouse.

"Information against Robert Hind for a trespass in pursuit of game in
Blackrock Wood, the property of Sir Vavasour Firebrace, Bart. The case
was distinctly proved; several wires being found in the pocket of the
defendant. Defendant was fined in the full penalty of forty shillings
and costs twenty-seven; the Bench being of opinion there was no excuse
for him, Hind being in regular employ as a farm labourer and gaining his
seven shillings a-week. Defendant being unable to pay the penalty, was
sent for two months to Marham Gaol."

"What a pity," said Morley, "that Robert Hind, instead of meditating the
snaring of a hare, had not been fortunate enough to pick up a maimed one
crawling about the fields the day after the battue. It would certainly
have been better for himself; and if he has a wife and family, better
for the parish."

"Oh!" said Gerard, "I doubt not they were all picked up by the poulterer
who has the contract: even the Normans did not sell their game."

"The question is," said Morley, "would you rather be barbarous or mean;
that is the alternative presented by the real and the pseudo Norman
nobility of England. Where I have been lately, there is a Bishopsgate
Street merchant who has been made for no conceiveable public reas