poachers who sought to retain their property, often led to lamentable results. Accordingly, George IV. sanctioned an Act intended to repress such outrages, by dealing more severely with professional criminals. The poacher was to be sent to gaol for three months or six for his first and second offences; this could not be considered excessively severe. But the third conviction sealed the career of many a young farm hind who had drifted into evil companionship. The State found him a free passage to the Antipodes, and lodged him beyond the seas for seven years. If he was fortunate enough to survive the horrors of the convict ship, he eventually returned to the old home a wiser though sadder man. It is mournful to think how many fine lads must have owed their downfall to their boyish infatuation for netting our dainty Puss.
About the same time that our great-grandfathers began to deport poachers to the colonies, an Act was passed to secure the safety of hares in warrens. If a man presumed to kill a hare within the limits of a warren during the hours of daylight, he rendered himself liable to a fine of five pounds. If he happened, however, to commit the same offence after nine at night, he committed a misdemeanour, and was punished with suitable severity. Rabbits were protected by the Act just alluded to as well as hares;
