24 CHASE OF THE WILD RED DEER 



as we now do. And also at the fifth year they did 

 call him a great stag.* And so they were wont to 

 give him a difference by this word stag, and great 

 stag. And whereas some do think that a stag, of 

 what age soever he be, shall not be called a hart 

 until the king or queen do hunt him ; that is not so, 

 for they are all greatly deceived that so do think ; 

 for after the fifth year of his age he should no more 

 be called a stag, but a hart. And as Buda;us saith, 

 at six years of age then a hart you shall him call ; 

 so that if a stag come to be six years of age, then 

 he is a hart. But if the king or queen do hunt or 

 chase him and he escape alway alive, then after 

 such a hunting or chasing, he is called a hart royall. 

 But if the king or queen do hunt or chase a hart 

 in the forest, so far that he is not likely to return to 

 the forest again of himself, and the king giveth him 



" These terms are thus given in a celebrated work, commonly called 

 che Book of St Albans. Its full title is, 'The Gentleman's Acadamie, 

 or, the Booke of St Albans, containing three most exact and excellent 

 Bookes — the first of Hawking— the second of all proper terms of 

 Hunting— the last of Armorie— all compiled by Juliana Barnest in the 

 year of the Incarnation of Christ, i486. Now reduced into a better 

 method by G. M. (Gervase Markham), 1595.' 



T" ' The historic and the legendary Dame Juliana Berners (or Barnes) are very 

 different persons. What is really known of the dame is almost nothing, and 

 may be summed up in the following few words. She probably lived at the 

 beginning of the XVlh century, and she possibly compiled from existing MSS, 

 some rhymes on ]:Mn\.ing.''—B fades' The Book of St. Albans in Facsimile, 1881. 

 — L. I. B. 



