46 THE STAG. 



dom exceeds thirty-five ; if he attains the age of forty, 

 he exhibits manifest symptoms of infirmity and age. 

 The original colour of the English stag was red, but the 

 generality of them now are between a yellow and a 

 brown ; some few amongst them are perfectly white, 

 and those have the appearance of being most domestic 

 and tame. 



The passion for hunting was formerly carried to such 

 an excess, that in the reigns both of William Rufus and 

 Henry the First, the life of a stag was thought so esti- 

 mable, that the same criminality was attached to their 

 destruction as to one of the human race: but, as the 

 arts and civilization were introduced, these sanguinary 

 laws were gradually abridged, and the great no longer 

 purchased their gratifications at the expense of their 

 probity, or the poor man's peace. 



Though there are very few varieties of the red-deer 

 in this country, and they are generally of the same co- 

 lour and size, yet in opposite parts of the world they 

 greatly differ in form, in colour, and in size. The 

 stags of China are not larger than a house-dog, and their 

 flesh whilst young is very much admired ; but as soon 

 as they arrive at maturity, it then becomes both dry 

 and tough. The Corsican stag is likewise very small, 

 and totally devoid of elegance in its make : the hair is 

 of a dark brown ; and the body and legs both short and 

 thick. In the forests of Germany there is a kind of 

 stag which the natives call the bran-deer ; the colour 

 is darker than the common stag, and it has long white 

 hair upon its neck and throat, which gives it rather the 

 appearance of a goat. There is likewise a very beauti- 

 ful stag called the Axis, which some Naturalists believe 

 to be a native of Sardinia, but Mr. Buffon thinks it 

 comes either from Africa or the Indies : the hair of this 



