CHAPTER XIII. 



Stag-Hunting in Essex — Royal Stag-Hunting — The 

 TiLNEYs and the Mellishes — " LoNG Welleslev " 

 — The Petres and the Neaves. 



In common with other forests — past and present — 

 that of Epping, formerly of great extent, and known 

 as " Waltham Forest, " or " The Poorest of Essex," 

 held red deer from time immemorial, and they were 

 found therein until the reign of George IV. Unless, 

 however, restrained by high walls or palings, the wild red 

 deer will not live in a circumscribed space, as those who 

 have hunted on Exmoor well know, and so it comes about 

 that, so far as Epping Porest is concerned, the red deer 

 have died out. In the hope of restoring the breed, a stag 

 and a couple of hinds were turned out on the forest a few 

 years ago ; but, as was only natural, they did so much mis- 

 chief to crops that they were destroyed. To-day the 

 Epping Forest deer are chiefly fallow deer of a dark brown 



