142 THE HISTOEY OF THE EOYAL BUCKHOUNDS. 



and to take his fences without a blunder. There was a great 

 demand for hunters of that class, and, apparently, hunters of 

 that class were obtainable to meet that demand. Of course in 

 this class there were degrees of quality. The choice and select 

 hunter of the early Stuart period in England was tended and 

 trained with all the care bestowed on the racehorse of our 

 own times. The hunting match of those days corresponded 

 with the steeplechase of our days, save that under the early 

 seventeenth-century rules of racing and 'chasing the horse and 

 horsemanship of the " tryer " was paramount, for the result 

 and the honour of the " hunting-match " depended on the 

 " tryer," and not upon the jockey and the horse by which he 

 was represented in the match. These sporting events were 

 ridden over many miles, intersected with such natural obstacles 

 and fences as were peculiar to the course selected for the race, 

 and the race had to be ridden under the complicated rules 

 and regulations alluded to as above, which have long been 

 obsolete and now are almost forgotten. 



These circumstances appropriately lead us on to the subject 

 of hunting " at force " which prevailed in those dsiys. In the 

 Accounts of the Treasurer of the Chamber we find hardly any 

 reference to the horses used in hunting the Royal Buckhounds. 

 The hunters ridden to the hounds by the King, the Master, 

 and hunt-servants nominally came under the cognisance and 

 supervision of the Master of the Horse. But it further appears 

 that, for this purpose, the Sovereign depended more on his 

 own private studs for these mounts than upon the official 

 studs under the control of the Master of the Horse. Thus, in 

 treating this important element, we lose sight of the Sovereign's 

 private and particular stud of hunters ; and the only informa- 

 tion available on these points appertains to the lesser and more 

 insignificant ofticial studs under the Master of the Horse. It 

 is therefore almost impossible to get the actual number of 

 hunting horses annually allocated to this particular service 

 with the Hoyal Buckhounds. We find commissions issued 

 from time to time, " according to the ancient form," to Sir 

 Thomas Tyringham and to Robert Tyrwhitt, Esq., to obtain, 



