INTRODUCTION 3 



between the valleys, innumerable opportunities 

 must have occurred of shooting them with the 

 crossbow, and possibly with firearms which had 

 lately come into use ; and also of driving the 

 terrified animals with greyhounds into loosely- 

 erected nets — which was a frequent method of 

 taking stags in suitable localities. 



Previous to this great capture of stags, Raydale 

 had rung with the hunting horns when the ill- 

 fated Queen Mary had been permitted to solace 

 the weariness of her imprisonment in Bolton 

 Castle hard by, where she was at first confined 

 by Elizabeth, before being removed to Fother- 

 ingay Castle ; and she, as well as her son, King 

 James, is said to have been the occasional guest 

 of Sir Christopher Metcalfe at Nappa Hall, when 

 intent on a hunting expedition. 



Raydale the romantic is familiar also with the 

 braying of other horns, for, from the days of the 

 Normans, the curfew has been nightly wound at 

 the village of Bainbridge, though no longer on the 

 original trumpet, for Lord Bolton, rightly fearing 

 that in these days of ubiquitous curio-seekers 

 the ancient horn might find a resting-place in a 

 suburban villa, or some equally unsuitable place, 

 caused the venerable instrument to be placed in 

 safety in the museum in Bolton Castle amongst 

 other ancient relics of the dale, and substituted 

 for it a replica, on which the curfew is now 

 sounded. 



An interesting account of the manner in which 

 King Charles II. enjoyed fox-hunting, and tes- 

 tifying to the gallant manner in which he rode, 

 is contained in a letter from my ancestor, Robert 

 Fairfax, to his mother, dated from "Wapping, 

 December 6, 1687 : — 



