JOHN GARY, ESQ., TWELFTH MASTEE. 153 



John Gary was among the first to welcome his quondam Royal 

 Master on his return to his native land. The King thereupon 

 included his ex-master of the privy Buckhounds in the general 

 amnesty, by which he was purged of any treason, overt or 

 intended, against His Majesty's sacred person and prerogatives. 

 This was more a matter of form than of necessity, seemingly 

 quite unnecessary for a person of Mr. Gary's undoubted 

 loyalty, save so far as the circumstance of his having sub- 

 scribed to the National Gonvention in 1650, which might 

 possibly be afterwards raked up to his disadvantage, but this 

 " pardon " rendered such a contingency impossible, even in 

 the intrigues of the corrupt Gourt of the Merry Monarch. 

 Mr. Gary did not lose much time in pushing his claims on 

 the royal bounty, as we find that he petitioned the King in 

 August 1660 to be restored to his right of the custody of 

 Marylebone Park, of which he was deprived in 1642, as well 

 as a grant of the timber felled therein and still on the ground, 

 for repairing the lodges * in the said park. In this matter he 

 was successful ; consequently, he at once resumed his duties, and 

 enjoyed the profits and privileges of the post until Marylebone 

 Park was disparked as a royal game preserve exactly eight 

 years afterwards, when he and all the gamekeepers under him 

 were discharfjed from further attendance or service in or 

 concerning the same. On November 6, 1600, a special warrant 

 was issued to the Lords of the Treasury to pay John Gary, Esq., 

 and others, the sum of 1,000/. for His Majesty's service — for 

 what purpose is not mentioned. As we shall presently see, 

 this grant referred to re-stocking the Royal forests, parks, and 

 chaces with deer. The reinstitution of the Royal Buckhounds 

 had been engaging the attention of the King and the Gourt 

 officials for some time, although Mr. Gary was not actually 

 appointed Master of the Household branch of the pack until 

 July 7, 1661 — the date of his patent to that office. This 

 document sets forth that he was entitled to hold the Master- 



* The chief, or royal lodge, erected for James I., at the entrance of St, John's 

 Wood, within the precincts of Marylebone Forest, is now the property of the 

 Marquis of Bute. 



