of some of these overpaid men are highly censurable. The first of these grievances may, to a great degree, be remedied by employing a practical man of character to thoroughly overhaul a vessel before the purchase is completed; the second may be averted by contracting for articles to be supplied, upon equitable terms, from respectable tradesmen, and I shall therefore merely confine my remarks to the two last points. The wages asked by a class of persons that may strictly be called summer sailors, or pleasure-boatmen, are twenty-five shillings a week; they invariably expect a present when the yacht is laid up, in addition to one or two suits of clothes. None of these terms are objectionable where the yacht is really used as a seagoing pleasure vessel, and where the men are competent and willing sailors, ready for all calls, and capable in every case liable to occur; but as the majority of the men who hire themselves at the fashionable yachting ports seem to act and think that the least possible work is enough for the highest possible wages, they look sulky at any pastime that the owner may please to indulge in. Many of them stare if ordered aloft to set a gaff topsail, and turn actually sulky if the pleasure of the owner induces him really to go to sea for even one night. Keeping in their own waters is all they seem to think themselves

engaged for; sailing in those waters some half-adozen hours-between breakfast and dinner-and being secured for the night to their own moorings in the same spot, is what they consider an ample return for their services. To expect them to sleep on board, when so near their own homes, would be a stretch of imagination quite out of all routine, and many a yacht owner has to stand the cost of damage done in the night, because there was no deck-watch to move the helm, or no light up, to show the vessel's whereabouts. Many another, having made up his mind for an early start, to get over a good day's run, as from the Wight to Plymouth or Falmouth, has had to wait for hours before his crew could be mustered. The above remarks of course apply to yachts of the smaller class, the owners of which albeit are most in want of protection. Of course, in vessels of 40 or 50 tons and upwards, where captains are annual servants, things are different; there the owner has only to look to his captain, who, if conscientious, as such men universally are, will take care that the men under their command do something more than mere eye-service. They see that the decks are kept clean, the brass-work polished, the sails dried, the boats in order, the water-tank and breakers filled, and the vessel ready for a start anywhere, at any moment it may suit their employer

to give the word, and that, too, without further question than circumstances, nautically speaking, justify, or further loss of time than may be necessary to collect such portion of the crew which this state of discipline has not prevented the cap→ tain from allowing to go on shore, when the vessel has been perhaps for days at her moorings, or when he may not himself have been, to use a nautical term, under sailing orders.

Yachting cannot be said to be on the wane; the liking is as strong as ever; the desire to take a turn at it increasing rather than otherwise. But the really unnecessary expenses attached to itthe feeling of all employed in it that, it being for pleasure, any amount of charges are justifiablehave induced many lovers of aquatics to give up this truly English, manly, and favourite amusement. We do not expect of course a yachting Utopia; but we are sanguine enough to think that a few regulations might be started which would be attended with equal advantage to owners and crews; for instance, suppose at all club houses a register was kept of the men employed in yachts -their character and capabilities, the book to be as much open to the men requiring berths as to the employers wanting them; and, in respect of wages, that the secretaries should come to an understanding before the season commences-say

in April-as to the rate, based upon the price of provisions, the current wages of the day in the merchant service, and the period for which the men's services will be required. This system, if universally agreed to be acted upon, would prevent extortion and bickering on one hand, and all that dissatisfaction on the other, caused by different scales or dissimilar arrangements.

CHAPTER VI.

Amusements of the Months-Winter Shooting-The Scotch Game of Curling-Its Introduction into England-Golfing, Skating, and Sledging-James II. a Distinguished Golfer Sledging at Vienna and in Canada-The Game of Tennis-The Shooting Gallery-Havoc among the Plaster Images-Hunting-Somerville's Animated Description of the Chase-The Management of Shooting Dogs-Fishing in Scotland-The Yachting SeasonLuxuries of the Modern Yacht-The National Importance of Yachting Salmon Fishing in Scotland-Cricket— The Preservation of Game in France--Angling in Scotland-The Lakes of Northumberland and Cumberland-The Twelfth of August-Bottom Fishing Pigeon Match Shooting.

A SEVERE frost, which may usually be looked for in the first month of the year, is a matter of the deepest importance to those who have large and valuable studs; for the "frozen-out foxhunter" has not only to complain of and grumble over the high price of oats and hay, which he is called upon to pay for horses standing, but he has also