CHAPTER THE LAST. 389 



birth. The stag liveth to be one hundred years old. 

 Three hundred years after Caesar's death one was 

 found with a golden collar round its neck, and graven 

 thereon c Caesar me fecit/ The stag hath a large 

 heart, and a bone therein. The stag is ashamed when 

 he is without his horn." 



In those ancient books, in which the noble Art 

 of Venerie is bravely upheld, as inferior only to the 

 science of war, and the excitement of the chase deemed 

 scarcely less heart-thrilling than a battle, much weight 

 is always laid on the qualifications of a hunter. " And 

 the hunter" so it is written in a quaint old volume 

 of some centuries ago "shall be strong of body, 

 bold, and of gay disposition : in body not too stout, 

 in order that he may bear work, and in time of need 

 follow well afoot. Nor should he be too spare of habit 

 or meagre, in order that he may have strength in him, 

 and so go to meet the wild animals with greater safety. 

 The manly hunter followeth the praiseworthy pastime 

 of the chase, nor doth he let himself be withheld by 

 snow, cold, rain, water, mountain, valley, desert, hunger, 

 thirst, heat, unrest, vigils, work, trouble, nor danger." 



Whether on the plain, in the forest, or on the moun- 

 tain, he who has tarried much with Nature, and made 

 her his companion, will, unless duller than a clod, have 

 at times experienced strange emotions in the solitude ; 

 familiar shapes will have assumed unwonted forms, 

 and awe will have seized on him, and great fear ; he 

 will have heard "low breathings coming after him," 

 or " steps almost as silent as the turf they trod ;" and 



