THE RED DEER. 325 



.chase; which, though recorded only in a ballad, 

 may, from what we know of the manners of the 

 times, have very probably been founded in truth. 



Of fifteen hundred Englishmen, 



Went home but fifty-tree ; 

 The rest were slaine in Chevy-chase, 



Under the greenwood tree. 



And of two thousand Scots, it is related thai 

 scarcely fifty-five survived the effects of that 

 fatal day. With respect to the style of hunting at 

 that period, some tolerable idea of it may be 

 formed by observing, that, particularly in the 

 Highlands of Scotland, the chieftains frequently 

 assembled four or five thousand persons of their 

 clan, who drove the Deer into toils, or to the sta- 

 tion where they were themselves posted, in order to 

 kill them with arrows or spears. The ballad, before 

 quoted, informs us as to the probable number of 

 Deer that may have been slain in one day. 



The gallant greyhounds swiftly ran, 



To chase the Fallow Deere: 

 On Monday they began to hunt, 



Ere daylight did appeare ; 

 And long before high noone they had 



An hundred fat buckes slaine; 

 Then having din'd, the drovers went 



To rouse them up againe. 



Z3 But 



