146 THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL BUCKHOUNDS. 



and the ensuing Civil War rendered its accomplishment 

 impossible for the time being. Nevertheless it is a singular 

 circumstance that the New Park, Richmond, was destined 

 to become the headquarters of the Royal Hunt about a 

 hundred years after this time, when the hereditary heir of 

 Charles I. was a fugitive, and when another dynast}^ reigned 

 in his kingdom. 



The domestic troubles so prominent in those days militated 

 against the enjoyment of rural sports, consequently we hear 

 very little of the proceedings of the Royal Buckhounds in the 

 hunting field. The antagonism of the King with the majority 

 of his subjects left few harmonious intervals during his unhappy 

 reign. He had hardly ascended the throne when the Plague 

 began to depopulate the land. Then, in rapid succession, 

 followed the afl'air of Diggs and Eliot, shipmoney, Bucking- 

 ham's fiasco at Rhe, — whereby the prestige of the nation was 

 ruined for the time being, — troubles with the Parliament, 

 the binef interval of quiescence from the Peace with France 

 and Spain down to the appointment of Stafford and the 

 republication of the " Book of Sports." Then John Hampden 

 appeared, the Star Chamber, pillory and mutilation, the 

 League of the Covenant, the expedition against the Scots, 

 which happily ended in a Royal hunting journey, more 

 trouble in Parliament, another Royal hunting journey to 

 the North, the King in league with the Lords, the Long 

 Parliament, the impeachment of Strafford and Laud, the 

 Royal flight from London, the Standard set up at Nottingham, 

 followed by eight dreary years of blood, fire, and rapine, 

 terminating on the scaffold at Whitehall, January SO, 1649, 

 with the word " Remember." Alas ! we only remember to 

 forget; and often when we endeavour to ascertain what the 

 Remembrancers have recorded, the oflicial dog in the manger 

 snarls defiance, whining incoherentific yelps. 



On the outbreak of the Civil War, fish, game, and poultry 

 in the British Islands had a bad time of it. However, rabbits 

 and Roundheads seem to have got on pretty well, to the 

 prejudice of higher game. About this time the coustableship 



