CHAPTER XII 



STAGHOUNDS 



THE ancient and royal diversion of stag-hunting is 

 coeval with the earliest annals of sporting in the 

 British empire. In honour of it sovereigns and princes 

 levied tyrannical inflictions on their subjects, but those 

 evils have long since passed away, and we are content 

 to read of them in history, and rejoice at their dissolu- 

 tion. The abolition of rigorous enactments adopted in 

 the uncivilised feudal ages is deserving of common 

 gratitude from all who make the excellence of our con- 

 stitution a national and proverbial boast. 



The Forest Laws were not, however, all repealed at 

 once, although the exactions were relaxed. In the year 

 1814 Windsor Forest wajs disafforested; but it is only 

 recently that similar concessions have been made 

 respecting the New Forest in Hampshire, and the 

 Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. 



When the preservation of deer in the royal forests be- 

 came only partially enforced, and those places were no 

 longer retained for the exclusive privileges of royal 

 hunting, a new custom was introduced that of 

 keeping deer for the purpose, and conveying them to 

 the place of meeting in a cart, there to be enlarged at 

 an appointed hour. This obviates the evils which pre- 

 viously existed in the preservation of the game, and also 

 the necessity of harbouring the stag and driving him 

 from his lair with two or three hounds called tufters, 

 according to ancient usage, which must have entailed 

 much uncertainty and frequently occupied much time. 

 Yet it should be admitted that it divests the amuse- 

 ment of the wildness of character, uncertainty, and 

 enthusiasm inseparable from legitimate sporting. 

 Conveying the stag in a cart is somewhat synonymous 

 with turning down a bag fox. 



