INTRODUCTORY 13 



particulars of this great hunt are given 

 by Barclay in his Defence of Monarchical 

 Government. In closing these notices of 

 royal hunts it may be mentioned that 

 Queen Mary's great rival and relative, 

 Elizabeth of England, seems not to have 

 disdained on occasion to indulge herself 

 in the same diversion. In 1595 she is 

 recorded as having given her royal 

 presence to a deer - chase at Cowdrey 

 Park. 



How far these royal visits, associated 

 as they were with great operations of the 

 chase, such as have been referred to, were 

 visits of honour paid by the sovereigns to 

 the more distinguished and powerful of 

 their nobles, for which, as is still observed, 

 extensive and costly preparations were 

 made for the entertainment of the royal 

 visitors, or were subordinate to a real 

 necessity of periodically resorting to a 

 rigorous campaign on a gigantic scale 

 against the denizens of these vast and 

 secluded forests, whose depredations may 

 now and then have become troublesome, 



