EARLY HISTORY. 151 



neighbourhood, yet the injury to the morals of the 

 people is of more moment than the loss of their 

 crops. The temptation is irresistible, for most men 

 are sportsmen by constitution, and there is such an 

 inherent spirit for hunting in human nature as scarce 

 any inhibitions can restrain. Hence about the begin- 

 ning of this century " (the eighteenth) " this country 

 was wild about deer stealing. ... A late Bishop 

 of Winchester, when urged to restock Waltham 

 Chase, refused from a motive worthy of a prelate, 

 replying, ' It had done mischief enough already.' " 



It has never been alleged that the existence of the 

 red deer on Exmoor had any ill-effect on the morals 

 of the district, and it is perhaps permissible to suggest 

 that the reason for this satisfactory state of things 

 is to be found in the existence of the staghounds. 

 In Woolmer and other forests the deer were pre- 

 served for the most part for the amusement of Royal 

 and other important personages, and the dwellers in 

 the district had no share in the sport, except, such 

 as they helped themselves to illegitimately. In 

 Somerset and Devon, on the other hand, where a 

 regular pack of staghounds was kept, certainly as 

 far back as the reign of Elizabeth, and probably much 

 earlier, the whole neighbourhood was able to par- 

 ticipate in the hunting, and the temptation to illicit 

 sport was reduced to a minimum. 



In the bad times between 1825, when the old pack 

 was sold, and 1856, when Mr. Bisset took over the 

 country, hunting was carried on in a spasmodic, 



