IIO DERBYSHIRE TAPESTRY. 



to witness tlie pastimes of the nobility after a lapse of more than 

 four hundred years. Here we have the hunling of the bear, the 

 otter, and the wild boar, together with fowling and hawking. 

 The robbing of swans' nests, with the discomfiture of the young 

 thieves by the angry birds, illustrates an amusing incident in the 

 earlier career of these sportsmen. 



Unfortunately, some of the subjects have suffered by adapta- 

 tion. The hangings are much older than the present mansion, 

 and, consequently, must have been brought here from some other 

 place, and the sheets have been cut and joined to fit their present 

 position. 



One of these is composed of five pieces of different sizes. The 

 first of them exhibits a part of a bear hunt. A dense forest 

 appears in the distant background. In front of this, Bruin lies 

 on his back with one of the hounds in his deadly embrace, whilst 

 two others attack him in the neck and flank. 



Two ladies, most gorgeously attired, appear in the foreground 

 on the flower-sprinkled turf One of them is apparently retiring 

 in a state of great anxiety or fear, whilst the other is summoning 

 her dogs in the charge of a servant to the attack. Tlie 

 costume of the latter lady is singularly beautiful. A mounted 

 nobleman, in the wide foliated or dagged sleeves so much in 

 vogue at the earlier part of the fifteenth century, is leaving the 

 scene. 



The second fragment represents the conclusion of a boar hunt, 

 showing the loading of the carcase. A horse, provided with a 

 ribbed wooden saddle, with high guards before and behind, is 

 backed up to the carcase, while two stalwart fellows in the skirted 

 and belted jackets of the period having seized, one the fore and 

 the other the hind legs of the boar, are preparing to swing him 

 upon the saddle from behind. Two castles appear in the wooded 

 background, whilst in front of these, proceeding towards the right, 

 are two richly-dressed lords with their ladies, followed by a 

 servant. In the foreground are two figures with halberts mounted 

 on knotted and spirally-grooved shafts. 



Below these is the third piece, with a fowling scene, which 



