was nothing like a venison deer within shot; however, by the way their heads were set and the method of their feed, it was evident to me that all the deer had entered the lawn from the side furthest from me, and they were slowly working in my direction. Among the bucks that were in view there were three fine deer, any one of which Holloway said was good; so on these deer I fixed my attention.

How picturesque was the group! There capered around us the young and frisky doe of two years old, who all day long had never deemed it necessary to hide in the thicker cover-for, unlike the bucks, she knew that no one wished her death. She had cropped the tenderest leaf or wild flower all day long, and therefore she could afford to gaze about her and to neglect the grass. Not so the bucks-their antlered heads were always down, and with only an occasional glance around, they trusted for their safety to the younger and more idle and vigilant does, and to other wild things around them, any one of which would have been sure to have telegraphed the approach of an intruder.

To the left, were picking about the grass five old blackcocks, their crimson-fringed and bright dark eyes permitting nothing to escape their attention; while nearer to the bucks, and more to the right, was a pert and active magpie, who looked askance at everything, and once, I thought, paused in his hopping, to direct his inquisitive bill towards the ambush I maintained.

The three bucks came gradually browsing on to

144 THE MAGPIE AND THE STRICKEN DEER.

gether; the nearer to me they approached, the nearer they closed on each other, till I had satisfied myself that there was one of the three a better deer than the others, and on him I kept my eye.

Oh, that accursed magpie! on he came too, as if in constant attendance on the deer, now this side of them, now that, now coming on without them, keeping me in dread that he would hop near enough to discover me before the deer was within range, and fair to the rifle for a venison hit, which must not be made anywhere except in the head and heart, or spine between head and shoulder.

"He's near enough now," I whispered to Holloway, "if he would turn aside and stand free of the other deer." For that chance I paused; I dreaded that magpie or the black game, for all were feeding this way; but the former restlessly hopped upon the back of the best deer, and while his curious eyes were searching every "pile" of the buck's coat for ticks, the height at which he sat assisted him to keep a look out for other things.

All at once, I suppose at about seventy yards, the buck, with the magpie on his back, turned broadside to me, and I whispered to Holloway to give me his shoulder for a rest. He instantly complied, but the fact made him so nervous, and he shook so, that I took aim without the rest, and struck the buck behind the shoulder, but not quite low enough to touch the heart.

At the noise of the rifle and blow of the ball on the buck, and at the sudden bound of the stricken

A GOOD DEER FOR THE NEW FOREST.

145

animal, the magpie flew into the air, and kicked his legs behind him as if his wings went not fast enough to carry him away. Holloway and myself jumped up and ran after the deer, for we both knew he had received a deadly wound, and we saw him drop among some rushes.

On reaching the spot I fancied I could judge his head by the antlers, which were in sight, and fired in that direction. The buck sprung up, but dying, paused and staggered, when Holloway shot him through the head. He was a good deer, but was not like some I have killed in other parks at Badminton, Taymouth, and Charborough, though for the New Forest very fair. It better pleased me, however, to kill an indifferent deer in that sweet wild forest than in the tamer scenes of artificial parks.

VOL. III.

L

CHAPTER VII.

COTERIES AND PETTI-COATERIES.

"Sets" in society-Swells and swell makers-Stultz and PooleClubs Pic-nics Calves' heads - Crockford's The Alpine Club-Royal Yacht Squadron-The Savages and EccentricsThe Shakspeare and Garrick-Lord Palmerston at the Reform -Jockey Club-Working Men's Associations-Ladies' assemblies-Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire-Lady HollandLord Holland-Thomas Moore-The Rev. Sydney Smith and his hoaxes-Sir James Mackintosh-The Misses Berry-Lady Charleville and Lady Cork-Holdernesse House re-unions— Lady Jersey's retort-courteous.

SOCIETY is constantly being broken up into sections; every planet in the heavens moves in its appropriate orbit, and every social star in its particular "set." This favours cliquism, and often fosters prejudice, for the set is pretty sure to be marked by exclusive ideas, not only as regards sociality, but politics, religion, and taste. To be sure, if a lot of people choose to run in a groove, however narrow, they are at perfect liberty to do so; but there is nothing to justify them in looking down upon, or ignoring the rest of the world for preferring other modes, or a wider path of locomotion.

A small coterie of dandies in my youth formed a remarkable example of this assumed superiority.

ASSUMPTION OF "DANDIES."

147

The Prince of Wales gave them an elevation they could not have gained without his Royal Highness's countenance, for, as is well known, he had a weakness in the way of desiring to be thought a fashionable model, that led him to direct not only his own apparel, but the uniform of the cavalry regiment he commanded, the officers of which, all very good fellows, were notoriously the greatest swells in England.

Where are they all, those funny fellows who found the pavement of Bond Street far too narrow for the display of their greatness, as with eye-glass raised to identify the inmates of a passing carriage, or stare at a pretty woman on the opposite side of the fashionable thoroughfare, they lounged towards the fruit-shop or the confectioner's, and then, with the same overpowering self-sufficiency, lounged back to Brooke's or White's!

We all know the sad fate of their leader-the aristocratic dandies have passed out of the peerage, and the minor satellites have sunk into oblivion. A few years ago I used to meet somewhere about the "sweet shady side of Pall Mall," a lean, shuffling, haggardfaced figure with rouged cheeks and a youthful wig, in a queer hat, and a long-skirted coat, leaning on a cane and nearly bent double as he went slowly on his way. He was the last of the dandies-the sole sur vivor of that once glorious coterie immortalized by the genius of Cruikshank.

And what has become of the matchless coat-the irreproachable cravat, the exquisite hat, the superla