THE NEW FOREST 8 



his resting-place. This is no doubt a necessary pro- 

 ceeding with hounds which are kept for the purpose of 

 hunting various animals, and especially in strong 

 woods difficult of access to man and horse. Neverthe- 

 less these practices, no doubt, might be amended, to 

 what extent I will not presume to state ; but if hounds 

 were kept to the chase of one kind of animal only, 

 properly attended by skilful whippers-in, there is no 

 doubt they would find their game, whether stag, boar, 

 or wolf, with as much certainty as our hounds do the 

 fox; and they would unquestionably be steadier in 

 chase than they are under the present management. 

 The French custom of destroying the animal with 

 spears, guns, or swords, whenever opportunity offers, 

 while the hounds are in pursuit, is precisely similar to 

 that of the ancients, excepting that before the use of 

 fire-arms, spears, swords, or bows and arrows were the 

 weapons of destruction. 



Fox-hunting is an amusement almost exclusively 

 confined to this nation. To identify the precise period 

 when it was first conducted according to the prevailing 

 system of the present century, would be an impossi- 

 bility, and indeed it is quite evident that it has under- 

 gone many gradations and changes. We have authentic 

 testimony that William the Conqueror brought with 

 him to these shores an inordinate appetite for the 

 chase, and the laws which he established in order to 

 pursue his pleasure, by dispossessing the poor peasants 

 of their abodes in the New Forest to render that wide 

 tract of land an arena for royal amusement, were such 

 as a tyrant ruler only would have attempted; but 

 hunting foxes formed no part of his diversion. This 

 regal prerogative, although modified, existed during a 

 period of nearly 800 years; for it was only during the 

 enlightened reign of our amiable and beloved Queen 

 that the rights and privileges of the forest were 

 abandoned by the Crown. The death of the Conqueror's 

 successor, William Rufus, by the discharge of an arrow 

 levelled at a stag in the aforesaid forest, is a circum- 



