And there was Edgar Ravenswood--Master of Ravenswood that is now--when he goes up to the wood--there hasna been a better hunter since Tristrem's time--when Sir Edgar hauds out, down goes the deer, faith.

But we hae lost a' sense of woodcraft on this side of the hill." There was much in this harangue highly displeasing to the Lord Keeper's feelings; he could not help observing that his menial despised him almost avowedly for not possessing that taste for sport which in those times was deemed the natural and indispensable attribute of a real gentleman.

But the master of the game is, in all country houses, a man of great importance, and entitled to use considerable freedom of speech.
Sir William, therefore, only smiled and replied, "He had something else to think upon to-day than killing deer"; meantime, taking out his purse, he gave the ranger a dollar for his encouragement.

The fellow received it as the waiter of a fashionable hotel receives double his proper fee from the hands of a country gentleman--that is, with a smile, in which pleasure at the gift is mingled with contempt for the ignorance of the donor.

"Your honour is the bad paymaster," he said, "who pays before it is done.