ITS ANIMALS. 75 



ones, set at liberty. A cart for the purpose was in 

 readiness, and the deer caught were placed in it and 

 taken to Loughton Bridge, where they were kept in 

 the paddock till wanted." The following graphic ac- 

 count, taken from Bailey's Alagazine a few years ago, 

 is from the pen of an old writer well acquainted with 

 the Forest : — " The limits of the grand old Forest have 

 been grievously curtailed since the days when Mr. Long 

 Pole Wellesley played high jinks at Wanstead House, 

 where he kept a pack of staghounds, in a style of 

 princely magnificence, to hunt the wild red-deer. These 

 hounds were not foxhounds entered to deer, but the old- 

 fashioned staghounds, such as King George III. used 

 for the purpose. The servants were dressed in Lincoln 

 Green. There were constant hunt breakfasts at the 

 Eagle, at Snaresbrook (then in the midst of the open 

 waste), where all were bidden at Mr. Long Wellesley's 

 expense. Evei-ything was done with the most reck- 

 less extravagance ; and he would scatter sovereigns to 

 countrymen in the hunting field as readily as other 

 liberal sportsmen would give shillings or sixpences. 

 The pace was too great to last ; and when the establish- 

 ment at Wanstead was broken up. Tommy Rounding 

 managed to secure a few couples of the hounds, which 

 he kept in a rough sort of a way at the back of his 

 house, the Horse and Groom, at Woodford Wells. It 

 may seem passing strange to the present generation that 

 a publican, living within nine miles of the London 

 stones, should have kept hounds to hunt the wild red- 

 deer ; but there are those living who can vouch for the 

 fact. Rounding was a capital sportsman, and so were 

 all the family ; his brother Richard, who had died pre- 

 viously, and his brother Robert, who only died last year. 

 We must borrow from Mr. Thomas Hood, who knew 

 him well, a description of the man himself : — 



'A snow-white head, a merry eye, 



A cheek of jolly blush ; 

 A claret lint laid on by health 

 With Master Reynard's brush ! ' 



And so the game was kept alive until an order came 

 that the red-deer were to be caught up and taken to 

 Windsor Park. This was carried out as far as practic- 

 able ; the few that had escapeil the toils of the yeomen 

 prickers gradually fell victims to poachers and pot- 

 hunters, until of the whole herd only one old stag 

 remained. This stag was hunted by Tommy Rounding, 



