53 



CHAPTER III. 



HOUSEHOLD BRANCH.— EDWARD VL— ELIZABETH. 

 1547—1602. 



Celebrity of Hunting in England tenq). Edward VI. — John Dudley, Earl of 

 Warwick, Fourth Master: April 5 to November 10, 1551. — Sir Robert 

 Dudley, Fifth Master : November 11, 1551 toe August, 1553. — The House- 

 hold Pack temp. Philip and Mary. — The Hunt Servants. — Annual Cost 

 of the Pack. — Accession of Queen Elizabeth. — Annual Cost of the Pack. — 

 The Hunt Servants. — Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, Sixth Master : 

 May 28, 1572 to September 4, 1588.— State of the Pack to the End of 

 Elizabeth's Reign.— Dearth of Hunting Intelligence. — The Queen and 

 Ladies in the Hunting Field, 



As the accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber are not 

 extant, we are unable to give any particulars of the cost 

 of the "Privy," or Household portion of the Royal Buck- 

 hounds in the reign of Edward VI. Beyond the fact that 

 John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, and his son, Sir Robert Dudley 

 (afterwards Earl of Leicester), held the office of Master of this 

 branch of the pack in Edward VI.'s reign, there is nothing 

 further known of the hunt servants or the cost of this establish- 

 ment for the time being. Nevertheless, we may safely assume 

 that it was maintained as in the preceding reign. The fame 

 acquired by the Royal packs was well known in continental 

 Courts. For instance, it is recorded that Marshal Jacques 

 d'Albon St, Andre, Ambassador of Henry II. at the Court of 

 Edward VI., brought in his suite, in May 1.5.51, "a great 

 number of the young gentlemen of the French Court" who 

 were " desirous to have some experience in the English hunt- 

 ing, wherein they (the English) do excel other nations." In 



