4 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



right hand or a right eye as a penalty for so 

 doing. 



It seems probable that the pursuit of the deer 

 on horseback was first practised in this country in 

 the time of the Normans, previous to which epoch 

 the chase was conducted on foot, and consisted 

 rather in waiting for and shooting, or trapping the 

 animals, than in capturing them after exhausting 

 their strength by putting their fleetness and powers 

 of endurance to the proof. 



Hunting, the choice pastime and diversion of 

 monarchs and nobles before the Conquest, continued 

 to be the popular sport of ' kings, princes, and greate 

 and worthy personages ' for centuries after that 

 event, and many an elaborate treatise is extant, 

 touching the noble art of venerie and the sister 

 sport of falconry. The sums of money lavished by 

 the nobility on their kennels of hounds were 

 enormous. Nor were these establishments confined 

 to the laity, for we read of many bishops and 

 abbots, and other high dignitaries of the church, 

 who could match their hounds and hawks agfainst 

 those of any noble in the country, and who prided 

 themselves on their skill in woodcraft, in times 

 when there were mighty hunters in the land, and 

 every great man was a Nimrod. 



