4 THE HISTORY OF THE EOYAL BUCKHOUNDS. 



Dean Hook, in his " Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury," 

 very truly remarks that " the domestic history of Edward III. 

 can scarcely be said to exist, all modern historians having 

 directed attention to the warlike splendours of his reign." 

 Under such circumstances our task, though a labour of love, 

 becomes a very difficult one. The game is abundant, but so 

 wild, that we frequently find ourselves fields behind the 

 quarry, and, alas ! the scent is far from holding. The glory 

 of this era militates and obscures the detailed records of the 

 chase, so much so that the " imitation of war " had to give 

 place to the genuine article — Mars, not Diana, monopolising 

 for a great part of the time the attention of kings, princes, 

 nobles, knights, squires, and clerics. 



Merry England in the days of Edward III. was not unlike 

 ancient Rome in her gi'eatest prosperity — successful wars, 

 glorious conquests, splendid spoils, brilliant triumphs ; in short, 

 our ancestors at this period might be justified in adopting the 

 imperial motto, and place over their triumphal arches, " Antique, 

 sublime, and alone ! " Hence it happens that ordinary every- 

 day events in England are rarely mentioned by the chroniclers 

 of the time ; local incidents of a pastoral nature were lost sight 

 of, or eclipsed by the martial glory of the era. Notwithstanding 

 these drawbacks we must don our hunting tabard, mount our 

 horse, wind our horn, and seek for some information relating 

 to the Royal Buckhounds, as the facts may happen to be 

 occasionally inscribed "on time's backward roll." 



King Edward III. was every inch a sportsman. He usually 

 took his hounds and hawks with him wherever he went, 

 whether at home or abi'oad, in time of peace or in time of 

 war. There is little doubt that his hunting establishment was 

 spacious, well furnished with all the accessories of the chase, 

 and kept upon a proper footing. With one portion of it only 

 we are now concerned — namely, the Royal Buckhounds, as 

 reorganised and dignified by this magnificent Plantagenet 

 monarch. For reasons given above, it is impossible to say 

 precisely the number of hounds usually uncoupled at a meet 

 of this pack. According to the conditions of the sergeanty, 



