spirit, however, soon passed away to happier scenes than those made desolate by worldly intolerance. The church alone remains to tell the sad tale. The gates of St. Petersburgh passed, Finland is entered at once. Although half the provinces of the empire are flat and uninteresting, Finland is distinguished by occasional undulations which in Russia may be fairly denominated as hills, if not mountains, if only from their rocky outlines of granite, which rise in enormous blocks from the earth. In fact, the walls, the quays, the pavements, monuments, temples, and palaces-everything and every building of stone in St. Petersburgh is built of Finland granite, which is to be obtained within slight distance of the city. The vicinity of this precious locality was doubtless one of the reasons which caused Peter the Great to select a marshy forest as the site of a new capital. The mode employed to obtain the granite from the Finland quarries, and which is resorted to even in the present day, is alike primitive and ingenious. Large pieces of green wood are driven into the fissures of the rocks, the wood being constantly watered in order that it may retain its greenness; and thus, swelling day by day, it forces the largest blocks imperceptibly from the surface. Finland is also distinguished by the peaceful character of its people-subdued without battles, first by the Swedes, afterwards by the Russians. The race are, generally speaking, small, fair, and constitutionally weak, in comparison with their more hardy neighbours, the Muscovites; moreover, they have a great reputation for sweetness and docility of character, which is entirely in accordance with their physical constitution; nevertheless, proud of their ancient lineage and privileges, which in some measure detract from the disgust of servitude, they know well how to avenge themselves when forced to extremities by Russian overbearance. Indeed, on my arrival at the Château of our hospitable host, we were informed that only on the evening previous an old lady, who was desirous to witness the infliction of the knout on the backs of several of her tenants, had been shot dead in fact, the murder of rich Russian landlords by their Finland tenants, as well as the burning of their houses, is of constant occurrence. The report of such crimes, according to the statement of the Home Minister, averaging at least sixty per annum. These terrible reprisals, so unchristian and inhuman, cannot be too strongly condemned by all the really enlightened and thinking people of the Empire, although the present position of the serfs is, God knows, sufficiently barbarous in this period of advancing civilization. It is said, I know not how truly, that the abolition of serfism, or slavery, as it may be fairly termed, is about to be maturely considered in Russia; if so, the sovereignty, which alone has authority over fourteen millions of human beings, might show a bright example, and at once make the law. Happy would be the Prince, I should imagine, who could attach to his memory so great and christian a measure. There is, however, I fancy, little time to lose; for the allied armies, marching onwards to victory and civilization, will ere long, if God so will it, place even the serfs of Russia in a position to do that for themselves, which, having been done for them, would have placed a crown of earthly love and admiration, even on the brow of H a despot. Whatever the formidable power of Russia may be, if formidable it is, let us hope that the emancipation of fifty million souls from slavery will exterminate the last remnants of a name harsh to the ears and demoralizing to the feelings of human nature. It appears to me that I have already lingered too long on my road to the Château des Suerres; arrived there, I found a gay and agreeable party assembled-French and Russians, Germans and English, all bent on sport and pleasure. Champagne flowed at dinner; whist, song, and laughter, at night; sports, exercise, and fresh air during the day. To enter into any minute details of the sporting qualities or costumes of those with whom, by mere accident, I was thrown for a time in friendly association, would be alike as uncourteous as beyond the limits allowed me for these pages; suffice, I had every reason to be grateful for their attentions to a stranger. To the imaginations of my brother sportsmen in Merrie England, it may nevertheless be interesting that I endeavour to describe with truthfulness the varied scenes of this my first appearance as a streleek* on the territory of the Emperor of All the Russias--I may add, without fear of contradiction, of all the Russians. Day had scarcely dawned on the morning subsequent to my arrival at the Château, ere I was disturbed from a sound and refreshing sleep by the measured tread of an army of keepers and beaters, all in sporting attire, armed to the teeth and booted to the knee, inasmuch as during the autumn, the woods or forests of Russia are for the most part in a state of absolute swamp; it was, therefore, necessary that I should follow the example of the ardent "streleeks," and equip myself in long waterproof boots. I subsequently found, however, that those who were about to take the most active part in the proceedings of the day had provided themselves with very small ponies, similar to those of Exmoor and Dartmoor, of equal surety of foot, docility of temper, and powers of endurance, from whose backs they shot. Prepared with the boots I have named, and mounted on one of these sagacious animals, bogs, swamps, and overflowing water-courses may be placed at defiance; their instinct is only to be surpassed by their activity and stamina; it is, therefore, only necessary to follow your leader, or the general tactics of the army of which you become a humble member; for hare-shooting, as it is termed in Russia, becomes at once "a battue" of no ordinary pretensions. Hunting, according to the signification of the term in England, is unknown in Russia. The country, however, through which I passed, en route to the château from St. Petersburgh, appeared well adapted for the chase. The horses of the country are also of an active and hardy breed. Nevertheless, during winter the snow would at once put an end to all hopes of a race; and many of the forests, when approached, are endless as to extent and thickness: to enter them, in fact, without a guide perfectly acquainted with the locality, in search or on the trail of game, leaves little hope of returning. Our place of meeting for this the first currant-jelly battue I had * Sportsman or marksman. ever taken part in, was at a small village at no great distance from the château; and the scene which presented itself on our arrival will not readily be effaced from my memory. In the long street, which comprised, in fact, the village, drawn up as it were on parade, there appeared about two hundred men, formed three deep, the whole being divided into subdivisions of thirty or forty; each subdivision having a standard-bearer, who bore aloft a flag of varied colours according to taste; the front ranks being entirely composed of athletic soldiers in military undress; the rear, of peasants, of various ages from adolescence to manhood and grandfatherism. On the approach of our party from the château, caps were raised, and, in perfect and respectful silence and attitude, the men remained in their ranks-a subjection, in fact, truly Russian, carried even to the pleasures of the sporting field. My first question was naturally that of asking for what purpose were assembled in the village these troops, so silent and so orderly. "Our beaters," replied my informant, as if it were the most ordinary circumstance. My imagination reverted at once to "merry England," and I fancied a whole regiment of Gloucestershire militia turned out in fatigue dress to beat the woods of Badminton. Ten or a dozen beaters I know to be sufficient to beat the thickest coverts of my fatherland. My astonishment, however, softened into a smile of curiosity when I recollected I was in Russia. Here men appear to be so plentiful, and moreover are made use of simply on the grounds of enough and to spare. For the payment of tenpence a day, there is little difficulty in obtaining the aid of every male inhabitant of a district, as well as that of the men of the Imperial Guard, "now so differently employed," quartered in the environs of St. Petersburgh, who are as ready to enter into the spirit of the sport, as they are to receive the donation. In fact, they formed the principal portion of our beaters on that haredestroying occasion. The arrangement for the day being decided on, each subdivision, headed by its standard-bearer, received its pay and a ration of raki. A battue, in fact, to them becomes a sort of peaceful military service, and when the beaters commence their march towards the forest selected for the battue, imagination might readily picture a small army advancing to attack an enemy, though that enemy be only a poor timid hare. A long line of beaters, carrying hatchets in their girdles and long poles on their shoulders, march in compact order, manoeuvring by word of command from their leaders; while innumerable ardent sportsmen, mounted on the little ponies I have named, gallop about the plains as though they were advanced guards; in fact, it is a battlefield in miniature, and when the firing commences it is complete. The appearance of a Russian forest-or woodland, as the lesser ones might be termed-is peculiar, to the eye of a stranger accustomed to the well-kept coverts, and well-cut rides through them, in England. Abandoned to the will of Nature, it is wild, dark, tangled, and overgrown; no gates, no fences, no well-cleared underwood for the better growth of oak meet the eye; all is one mass of tree, bush, and briar, vast and dark, and apparently impenetrable. These woods are irregularly cut, ofttimes solely at the immediate requirements of the owners, to build a house, or for fuel, or to secure faggots for the oven. Moreover there is little variety of tree. The forests of the midland can only boast of two, in fact, of any size: pines of no great height or circumference, and the spruce or silver fir; the latter occasionally attains the growth of an oak, and is an elegant and picturesque tree, whether in the foreground of a picture or in a midland forest; at the end of autumn (when its leaves become gilded, and its stem assumes a pale grey colour) it presents in the evening sun an appearance of a silver candelabra with gilded branches. Previous to arriving on the selected theatre of war, the order of battue was arranged with considerable effect. The shooters and beaters were divided, the latter being placed at intervals in the sides of the wood, the shooters in the centre-the beaters extending themselves in échelon lines, at short distances. All, in fact, was done in the most precise order, as though we had been about to attack an enemy, instead of a few timid hares. Flags were placed at each end of the forest, and others borne aloft in the hands of the leaders of each subdivision. All being prepared, and every one in his place-guns loaded, and poles in hand--the signal was given, when instantaneously there burst forth, through the hitherto-silent forest, far and wide, a clamour of savage hurras, strange to the ear-now the full voices of men, now the more feeble cries of youth-every species of sound, human and inhuman-in fact, the most astonishing row, the most barbarous conflict of sounds, possible to conceive. Truly was it more like a battue of savages than civilized men, led on by human voices, accompanied by the blowing of horns; and ill luck to him among the beaters who regards his legs or arms, through bush or briar! The "knout" is there, even amid this so-termed sporting pastime, to do its duty on the shoulders of those who fail in their own. At each shot which sounds throughout the forest, a renewed and more energetic uproar echoes through the woodlands, now diminishing, now increasing with additional vigour, till the whole forest is traversed, when the shooters, issuing forth from its dense masses, are received by the countless beaters, with hats in hand. In the large woods of Finland, not too extensive for a battue, though at all times difficult to traverse, black-cocks, heath-poults, wild boars, wolves, foxes, and, above all, hares, are abundantly found. Of the latter there are two species-the one perfectly white, or which becomes so on the first appearance of snow; the other of a darker colour, with a dark line on the back, these are called "roussaks." Both are larger and coarser than the hares of more southern countries. The roussaks are scarcer in Finland than on the steppes of Eastern Russia, where they often attain the size of small foxes. After all, these battues are agreeable and novel, from the manner of forming them, as well from all their associations of air and exercise and the pleasant society they bring together. Of the sport I can say little. It offers few results in comparison with the great trouble and absurd expense it entails. I recollect, during one of the most agreeable sporting parties that it was my good fortune to join when in the north, in which there numbered twelve of us, and which met as I have described, the whole produce of the day did not exceed six brace of hares, and a very small and heterogeneous bag of other game. What say you to such sport as this, ye gentlemen-sportsmen, who live at home at ease? In order to stock a certain portion of the country, the Directors of Field Sports (Russia boasts of such a commission-possibly a more useful one than many we have at home) imported four hundred living hares from the neighbourhood of Moscow. These animals were packed in large cases, each hare having a separate compartment, containing corn to feed upon, and ice in place of water. No sooner was this army of four-footed Muscovites, who all arrived safe and alive, turned out somewhere in the forest, than an army of sportsmen were invited to a battue. Every one came prepared for slaughter, their only fear being that the hopes of the year would be destroyed in a day. Moderation was therefore requested; and the best sportsmen determined to use their rifles only. As usual, the arrangements for beating the wood were on a great scale; and all was performed en règle. Nevertheless, when the bag was made at the end of the day, it produced only a brace of hares. Scarcely half-a-dozen shots had been fired. In fact, the whole of the imported stock had vanished-whither, none could say. Possibly they preferred the neighbourhood of Moscow to that of St. Petersburgh. The mystification was complete. On this occasion, as on many others, the animal hare evinced more foresight than the animal man. (To be continued.) A SERIES OF WRINKLES TO YOUNG ONES BY AN OLD MASTER OF HOUNDS AND OWNER OF RACE-HORSES. No. V.-ON GAMBLING. "The mind's disease, its ruling passion came.' POPE. Young man, beware of gambling: avoid it as you would your deadliest enemy. Other youthful follies and excesses may damage you; but Providence is kind, and has bestowed upon man elasticity of mind and body that may enable him to rally again from their effects, however baneful and however desirable that they should not have been committed; but from gambling, never. For the young gambler there is no hope. Once let it become a passion with him, it soon will be an inveterate one, and utterly uncontrolable: it absorbs all others. There is |