THE REV. JOHN RUSSELL. 299 



Skinner, mounting the roof in his rear, with 

 rope in hand, gave token that the curtain was 

 about to fall and bring the last act to its tragic 

 end. 



And here most touching was the spectacle 

 which the poor beast presented ; as, winding 

 the man on the roof behind him, he turned 

 round, stood on his hind legs against the side 

 of the house, and looked his enemy in the face ; 

 as if he would have said, in the extremity of 

 despair, " Ah ! that's foul play — a cowardly trick 

 to win your game." 



The noose then fell ; but his noble head — 

 which may still be seen adorning the hall of 

 Baron's Down — yet exists to tell the tale and 

 remind Mr. Lucas and his friends of the 

 perilous incidents which occasionally attend the 

 chase of the wild red deer. 



Mr. Collyns, although he gives neither date 

 nor minute particulars, probably alludes to the 

 same event at Bratton Mill, where, he says, ** I 

 remember seeing a deer, when ' set up ' by 

 hounds, thrust his brow-antler through the 

 hand of a man who attempted to secure him;" 

 and then he adds: "On one occasion when I 

 was out, the late Sir Arthur Chichester, then 

 the Master of the Hounds, had a very narrow 

 escape from serious injury. We had brought 

 to bay an old stag, after a severe chase. The 

 deer posted himself on a high bank, from which 



