16 MAESH AND FOREST PERIODS. 



me Ilow to draw, how to lay my body in my bow, 

 and not draw witli strength of arms as other nations 

 do ; " and the good bishop exclaims with the enthu- 

 siasm of a patriot, " It is a gift of God that He hath 

 given us to excel all other nations withal ; it hath 

 been God's instrument whereby He hath given us 

 many victories over our enemies." 



Such were the '^merrie days," when the kennels 

 of the country gentry contained all sorts of dogs, and 

 their halls all sorts of skins, when the otter and the 

 badger were not uncommon along the banks of 

 Shropshire streams, and ere the fox had taken first 

 rank on the sportsman's list. An old " Treatise on 

 the Craft of Hunting" first gives the hare, the 

 herte, the wulf, and the wild boar. The author 

 then goes on to say — 



" But there ben other heastes five of the chase ; 

 The buck the first, the second is the doe, 

 The fox the third, which hath ever hard grace, 

 The fourth the martyn, and the last the roe." 



