REMINISCENCES OF A SPORTSMAN. 



CHAPTER I. 



FErDAL SYSTEM OP BAEEAROrS NATIONS. — SEVEEITT OF XOEilAX 

 GAME LA^VS. — LOUIS XI. OF FKAXCE. 



" The first physicians by debauch were made, 

 Excess began, and sloth sustains the trade, 

 By chase our long-lived fathers earned their food, 

 Toil strung the nerves and pxirified the blood. 

 But we, their sons, a pampered race of men. 

 Are dwindled down to threescore years and ten ; 

 Better to hunt in fields for health unbought, 

 Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. 

 The wise, for cure, on exercise depend ; 

 God never made his work for men to mend." — Dryden. 



Feom the earliest ages we find that the chase and field 

 recreations have been pursued with eagerness and plea- 

 sure by the human race. 



Formerly, it was considered that the right of pursu- 



B 



