/IDasters of tbe Wcvon ant) Somerset 4-^9 



excellent historical sketch of ' Stag-hunting on Exmoor,' 

 quotes the following letter which gives a vivid picture of 

 the sport as it was carried on under the Mastership of 

 Sir Thomas Acland. 



' DuLVERTON, Somerset, Sept. 4, 1759. 



' Sir, — I am ordered by my master, Courtenay 

 Walrond, Esq., to trouble you with this letter, that you 

 may have the pleasure of hearing of one of the finest 

 stag hunts that ever happened in this kingdom. About 

 one o'clock Monday morning, my master, with his 

 brother and his steward, Mr Brutton, set out from 

 Bradfield, bravely mounted, attended by several servants 

 which had horses. About ten o'clock they got to the 

 woods, and soon after roused a stag at the head of the 

 Ironmill Water, where he took to Stuckeridge Wood and 

 crossed the river Exe, from thence to Exe Cleeve, and 

 after running over Exmoor Forest, on the whole more 

 than seventy miles, he was killed near Lowry Gate, when 

 he appeared to be about ten years old, his brow, bay and 

 tree angles having all his rights, and seven on one top, 

 and five on the other, and was, to one inch, fourteen 

 hands high. This noble chase being ended, my master, 

 his brother and Mr Brutton, with about twenty gentle- 

 men more, waited on Sir Thomas Acland at Pixton, 

 where each of them drank the health of the stag in a 

 full quart glass of claret placed in the stag's mouth, and 

 after drinking several proper healths, they went in good 

 order to their respective beds at two o'clock, and dined 

 with Sir Thomas next day on a haunch of this noble 

 creature, and about fifty dishes of the greatest rarities, 

 among which were, with several others, black grouse. 

 Master, his brother and Mr Brutton rode extremely 



