/iftasters of tbe IRo^al 3Buc??boun^s W9 



Burrovves, which forms the introduction to Lord Ribbles- 

 dale's entertaining gossip on ' The Queen's Hounds,' are 

 aware of the great antiquity of this department of the 

 Royal Household. But as neither of those works — the 

 one from its erudition, the other from its costliness — 

 is likely to find perusal among the general public, I hope 

 I may be pardoned for giving here a brief sketch of the 

 origin and history of the Royal Buckhounds and their 

 Masters. 



The office was originally hereditary, but when it was 

 first created is a question which neither Mr Hore nor 

 Mr Burrowes seems able to answer satisfactorily. 

 Osborne Lovell, Chamberlain to Henry H, appears to 

 have been the first Master of whom there is any record, 

 and the conditions of his tenure of ' Hunter's Manor,' in 

 the parish of Little Weldon, Northamptonshire, were 

 that he and his heirs should keep the King's hounds. 

 ' Custos canum ' is the phrase used in the oldest deed 

 extant relating to this tenure, and the learned authorities 

 I have referred to are at variance as to the meaning 

 of the words — whether ' custos ' is equivalent to 

 ' Master,' or merely implies the duties of a huntsman. 

 That is a point I am not competent to discuss, and, if I 

 were, the discussion would be out of place here. The 

 Lovells intermarried with the de Borhuntes, and the 

 latter family, through this intermarriage, became heredi- 

 tary Masters of the Buckhounds, until Mary de Borhunte, 

 heiress of the family titles and estates, married Sir 

 Bernard Brocas, who by right of his wife became 

 hereditary Master of the Buckhounds. The Brocas were 

 an ancient Gascon House, deriving their name from a 

 village which still exists, and Sir Bernard came over to 

 England in the reign of Edward H. For 300 years 



