58 



King's table, and that of his followers. Whereas, when the Wolf, Fox, Bear, 

 and the wilder animals were the object of chace, a number of dogs were employed, 

 and it was called a barking hunt ; and besides these too, a number of beaters 

 with sticks and poles were employed, as it was thought the greater the noise 

 the greater the chance of success." 



A third object of chase in those days was a swarm of bees — honey having 

 been much prized — and nobody kept tame bees then as is so commonly done now. 



The ancient royal law in regard to Hereford was, for every house to 

 furnish a man to assist in taking the game when the King hunted in Haywood 

 Forest ; and at Shrewsbury, Mr. Sharon Turner tells us (vol. 3, p. Gl), that 

 when the King hunted in that vicinity, the law or custom was, for " all the 

 most respectable burghers who possessed horses, to attend with arms, and serve 

 as his guard. And it was the duty of the Sheriffs likewise to send out thirty-six 

 men on foot, to be stationed at the hunt whilst the King was there." 

 Neither was the precaution in those times altogether unnecessary. We all know 

 the tyrannical manner in which whole districts were afforested, villages 

 destroyed, not to mention the extreme severity with which forest laws were 

 enforced. Secret revenge therefore, or retaliation, must not unfrequently 

 have existed. 



So onerous were the duties imposed upon citizens in those days by their 

 conquerors, and so rigorously were these services and chai-ges exacted, that Mr. 

 Turner tells us (vol. 3, 108), as it related to Hereford, that if anyone wished 

 to sell his house and retire from the city, he might do so with the leave of the 

 Gerefa ; but that this leave was never granted unless the purchaser was both 

 willing and able to perform the accustomed services to the king. And more 

 than this, too, if he left without the Gerefa's permission, he was compelled to 

 give up his house without any compensation, and " the Gerefa had then to take 

 care that the house did not long remain empty, that the king might not lose 

 his dues." "The Gerefas were officers appointed by the Executive power. In 

 rank, they were inferior to the Eorl, or Ealdoman (Alderman), but next to 

 him" (Turner 3, 228). 



Mr. Turner, on this subject, gives us a curious dialogue which took place 

 between one of the Saxon Kings and a new Burgher, as to his qualifications to 

 fulfil the duties lie was about to engage in. 



New Burgher : " I am a hunter." 



King : " How do you exercise your art ?" 



Burgher : " I spread my nets and set them in a fit place, and instruct 

 my hounds to pursue the wild Deer till they come to the nets unexpectedly, 

 and so are entangled, and I slay them." 



King : " What other game are you able to take ?" 



Burgher: "Harts, Boars, Goats, and sometime Hares." 



King : "Have you hunted lately ?" 



Burgher : " Yes, only yesterday, when I killed a Hart in the nets, and a 

 Wild boar I slew." 



