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.
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