small compass by means of inclosures, and temporary stands “ere made for them to be spectators of the sport; though in many instances they joined in it, and shot at the animals as they passed by them, with arrows. Agreeable to these manners, which custom reconciled to the fair sex, most of the heroines of romance are said to be fond of the sports of the field. In an old poem entitled the “Squyer of lowe degre,” the king of Hungary promises his daughter that in the morning she shall go with him on a hunting party, arrayed most gorgeously and riding in a chariot covered with red velvet, drawn by

Jennettes of Spayne that ben so white,
Trapped to the ground with velvet bright.

In the field, says he, the game shall be inclosed with nets, and you placed at a stand so conveniently that the harts and the

hinds shall come close to you—

Ye shall be set at such a tryst,
That hert and hynde shall come to your fyst.

He then commends the music of the bugle-horn—

To here the bugles there yblow
With theyr bugles in that place,
And seven score raches at his rechase

He also assures her that she should have—
A lese of herhounds with her to strake.

The harehound, or greyhound, was considered as a very valuable present in former times,” and especially among the ladies, with whom it appears to have been a peculiar favourite; and therefore in another metrical romance, probably more ancient than the former, called “Sir Eglamore,” a princess tells the knight, that if he was inclined to hunt, she would, as an especial mark of her favour, give him an excellent greyhound, so swift that no deer could escape from his pursuit—

Syr yf you be on huntynge founde,
I shall you gyve a good greyhouude

That is dunne as a doo:
For as 1 am trewe gentylwoman,
There was never deer that he at ran,

That myght yscape him fro.

f It is evident, however, that the ladies had hunting parties by \ themselves.

We find them, according to this representation, in the open fields winding the horn, rousing the game, and pursuing it, without any other assistance: this delineation, which is by no means singular, is taken from a manuscript in the Royal Library, written and illuminated early in the fourteenth century 1 We may also observe, that, upou these occasions, the female Nimrods dispensed with the method of riding best suited to the modesty of the sex, and sat astride on the saddle like the men; but this indecorous custom, I trust, was never general, nor of long continuance, even with the heroines who were most delighted with these masculine exercises. An author of the seventeenth century speaks of another fashion, adopted by the fair huntresses of the town of Bury in Suffolk. "The Bury ladies," says he, "that used hawking and hunting, were once in a great vaine of wearing breeches," which it seems gave rise to many severe and ludicrous sarcasms. The only argument in favour of this habit, was decency in case of an accident. But it was observed that such accidents ought to be prevented, in a manner more consistent with the delicacy of the sex, that is, by refraining from those dangerous recreations.2

/"Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of the chase, and the nobility who entertained her in her different progresses, made large hunting parties, which she usually joined when the weather was favourable. She very frequently indulged herself in fol

i lowing of the hounds. "Her majesty," says a courtier, writing to Sir Robert Sidney, "is well and excellently disposed to hunting, for every second day she is on horseback and continues the sport long."3 At this time her majesty had just entered the seventy-seventh year of her age, and she was then at her palace at Oatlands. Often, when she was not disposed to hunt herself, she was entertained with the sight of the pastime. At Cowdrey, in Sussex, the seat of lord Montecute, A. D. 1591, one day after dinner her grace saw from a turret, "sixteen bucks all having fayre lawe, pulled downe with greyhounds in a laund or lawn."4

The hunting dresses, as they appeared at the commencement of the fifteenth century, are given from a manuscript of that time, in the Harleian Collection.5

-PRIVILEGES OF THE CITIZENS OF LONDON TO HUNT
AND HAWK.

The citizens of London were permitted to hunt and hawk in certain districts. And one of the clauses, in the royal charter granted to them by Henry I., runs to this purport: "The citizens of Loudon may have chases, and hunt as well, and as fully, as their ancestors have had; that is to say, in the Chiltre, in Middlesex, and Surry." l Hence we find, that these privileges were of ancient standing. They were also confirmed by the succeeding charters. Fitzstephen, who wrote towards the close of the reign of Henry II., says, that the Londoners delight themselves with hawks and hounds, for they have the liberty of hunting in Middlesex, Hertfordshire, all Chilton, and in Kent to the waters of Grey,2 which differs somewhat from the statement in the charter. These exercises were not much followed by the citizens of London at the close of the sixteenth century, not for want of taste for the amusement, says Stow but for leisure to pursue it.1 Strype, however, so late as the reign of George I., reckons among the modern amusements of the Londoners, " Riding on horseback and hunting with my Lord Mayor's hounds, when the commonhunt goes out."

This common-hunt of the citizens is ridiculed in an old ballad called the " London Customs," published in D'Urfey's Collection,2 I shall select the three following stanzas only.

Next once a year into Essex a bunting they go;

To sec 'em pass along, O 'tis a most pretty shew:

Through Cheapside and Fenchurch-street, and so to Aldgate pump,

Each man with 's spurs in's horses sides, and his back-sword cross his rump.

My lord he takes a staff in hand to beat the bushes o'er;

I must confess it was a work he ne'er had done before.

A creature bounceth from a bush, which made^liem all to laugh;

My lord, be cried, a hare a hare, but it prov'd an Essex calf.

And when they had done their sport, they came to London where they dwell,
Their faces all so torn and scratch'd, their wives scarce knew them well;
For 'twas a very great mercy, so many 'scap'd alive,
For of twenty saddles carried out, they brought again but five.

Privileges to hunt in certain districts, were frequently granted to individuals either from favour, or as a reward for their services. Richard I. gave to Henry de Grey, of Codnor, the manor of Turroe, in Essex, with permission to hunt the hare and the fox, in any lands belonging to the crown, excepting only the king's own demesne parks; and this special mark of the royal favour was confirmed by his brother John, when he succeeded to the throne.3

Others obtained grants of land, on condition of their paying an annual tribute in horses, hawks, and hounds. And here I cannot help noticing a curious tenure, by which Bertram de Criol held the manor of Setene, or Seaton, in Kent, from Edward I.; he was to provide a man, called "veltarius," or huntsman,4 to lead three greyhounds when the king went into Gascony, so long as a pair of shoes, valued at fourpence, should last him.5