THE RED DEER. 327 



obliged to give way to others more useful to the 

 community. The vast tracts of land before dedi- 

 cated to hunting., in proportion as the useful arts 

 gained ground, either lost their original destina- 

 tion, or gave rise to the invention of parks. 



Very few forests or chases now remain. The 

 four principal ones are Sherwood, Dean, Windsor, 

 and the New forests. The Rev. Mr. White informs 

 us, that in Wolmer Forest, Hants, the Red Deer, 

 towards the beginning of the last century, amounted 

 to about five hundred head. He mentions an old 

 keeper, named Adams, (living in the year 1768,) 

 whose ancestors and himself had, for more than a 

 century, enjoyed the head keepership of that fo- 

 rest. This person assured Mr. White, that his father 

 often told him, that Queen Anne, as she was jour- 

 neying on the Portsmouth road, did not think the 

 forest of Wolmer beneath her royal regard. For 

 she came out of the great road at Liphook, which is 

 just by, and reposing herself on a bank, (smoothed 

 for the purpose,) about half a mile to the east of 

 Wolmer Pond, still called the Queen's Bank, saw 

 with great satisfaction the whole herd of Red Deer 

 brought by the keepers along the vale before her. 



The Deer stealers, however, soon reduced them ; 

 and in the course of not many years afterwards, 

 out of about five hundred, there were not more 

 than fifty or sixty head left. They continued de- 

 creasing till the time of the Duke of Cumberland, 

 who, about the year 1736, sent down a huntsman, 



Z 4 and 



