210 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



The royal buck-hounds, though kept in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Windsor for many ages, were formerly 

 kept at Swinley, where I believe the kennels were in the 

 reigns of Henry the Eighth and Queen Elizabeth, both 

 of whom are said to have taken great delight in the 

 chase. It is on record that Henry the Eighth, after a 

 severe chase, dined with the old Abbot of Reading, to 

 the ruin of the latter. In the year 1684, during the 

 reign of Charles the Second, a wild deer was found at 

 Swinley in Windsor Forest and was hunted thence into 

 Essex, where he was taken at Thorndon Hall, the seat 

 of Lord Petre. The chasie led through Amersham and 

 Chesham in Buckinghamshire, Redboum and Hatfield, 

 in Hertfordshire, and ended at Brentwood. There was 

 a large field out in the morning, but only five went to 

 the end, and they remained for the night at Lord Petre 's. 

 The Duke of York, brother to Charles, was out on the 

 occasion and was present when the deer was taken. 

 The distance must have exceeded seventy-five miles. 



The Ascot kennels have been in use many years. 

 George the Third was an enthusiastic admirer of stag- 

 hunting, and during the early part of his reign the 

 establishment was in great force ; but at one period it 

 fell into a very ineffective state. That, however, was 

 speedily altered by his Royal Highness the Prince 

 Regent, who in the year 1814 commanded the purchase 

 of the Duke of Richmond's fox-hounds, which were 

 forthwith installed in the Ascot kennels. This gave a 

 fresh impetus to stag-hunting, as the hounds which had 

 previously been used for the purpose were of a coarse, 

 heavy description, with, as I imagine, a very near 

 alliance to the blood-hound. In the reign of George 

 the Third and his royal predecessors it was the practice 

 to stop the hounds whenever they outpaced their 

 sovereign; — an operation which could not be on all 

 occasions effected with high-bred fox-hounds, even if it 

 were desired ; but the plan of stopping them has been 

 for many years abandoned. 



