CHAPTER XVIII. 



CLOUTSHAM AND HADDON. 



Who list by me to learn Assembly for to make 

 For Keyser, King, or Comely Queen, for Lord or Lady's sake, 

 Or where or in what sort it should prepared be, 



Marke well my wordes and thank me then, for thanks I crave in fee. 



Gascoigne. 



CloutSHAM Is the meet which is most intimately- 

 associated in the minds of most of us with stag- 

 hunting, for here, year after year, we gather in the 

 second week of August for the " opening meet,'' or 

 " solemn assembly" as it would have been called in 

 old days. So perfectly suited is Cloutsham for a 

 big meet that it would be hard to think that George 

 Gascoigne had not Cloutsham in his mind when he 

 penned his rhymes, printed with " The Noble Art of 

 Venerie" in 1584, did one not know that they are 

 but a bad metrical version of the words of Edward, 

 Duke of York, translated from Gaston de Foix. 

 Here at Cloutsham we have the " gladsome green," 

 the " stately trees," the " chrystalle running streams," 

 and the cool breezes described by the poet. Here is 

 yearly held the opening meet which, true to ancient 

 custom, begins with a big picnic. Being in the middle 

 of the holiday season, the seaside towns are full of 



