142 THE RED DEER OF EXMOOR. 



enclosed parks and when ladies were present. In 

 Act IV. Love s Labour Lost, the scene is King of 

 Navarre's park. Enter Princess, a Forester, and 

 others. 



Princess: " Then, forester, my friend, where is the bush 



That we must stand and play the murderer in ? " 



Forester : " Hereby, upon the edge of yonder coppice ; 



A stand where you may make the fairest shoot." 



Nicolas Corun seems to have been guilty of a 

 double offence, for he not only " forestalled " a stag, 

 but he " forestalled " a stag whose p^^ace had been 

 proclaimed. One wonders whether he ensconced 

 himself where he could command the spot at the 

 end of Burrow Wood, where deer always break out 

 to the Punchbowl. 



The fact that the stag which was taken was one 

 whose peace had been proclaimed cannot be taken 

 as pointing to a royal hunting, as he would then have 

 been called a Hart Royal Proclaimed, besides which 

 we have no record that Edward ever journeyed as far 

 as Exmoor. The stag had probably given a good 

 run to someone holding a licence from the King. 

 The record is only valuable as proving that hunting 

 at force, that is with a pack of hounds hunting by 

 scent — odora cantim ms — was carried on upon 

 Exmoor at that date. What we would like to know 

 is whose hounds they were. 



Mention has hitherto only been made of the dis- 

 afforestations on the Somerset side of Exmoor, but 



