64 THE ROYAL FORESTS OF ENGLAND 



on the Duke of York's version of Livre de Chasse ; it possesses 

 no originality. 



The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting, by George Turbervile, 

 of which the first edition was issued in 1575 and the second in 

 1611, is almost a literal translation of Jacques du Fouilloux's 

 La Venerie, first printed in 1560. The illustrations are also 

 identical with those of the French work, save for one or two 

 exceptions, and several of them are made to do service more 

 than once with different headings. The book is only of small 

 service as an exponent of English hunting customs. 



Sir Thomas Cockayne's Short Treatise of Hunting is a very 

 rare and delightful tract of thirty-two pages, published in 1591. 

 It is most genuinely English throughout, and gives the writer's 

 own experiences of the different kinds of hunting then pre- 

 valent. He recommends that roe deer should be hunted from 

 the beginning of March till Whitsuntide. 



The seventeenth century supplied two works of some 

 celebrity on the sport of hunting. That prolific writer, 

 Gervase Markam, brought out the first edition of Country 

 Contentments in 1615, wherein hunting holds the foremost 

 place. Before the end of the century this work had passed 

 through fifteen editions. The second was The Gentleman's 

 Recreation, compiled by Richard Blane, a literary hack, and 

 first issued in folio in 1686. Its chief value is in the plates, 

 which aptly illustrate the sporting costume of that period. 



In the eighteenth century books and essays on hunting 

 multiplied ; but the one memorable production, first printed in 

 1781, was Beckford's charming and scholarly work, Thoughts 

 upon Hunting. 



HUNTING COSTUMES. One of the most valuable features of 

 Sir Henry Dryden's annotated Twici is the discussion on the 

 costume of foresters, huntsmen, and their attendants. The plates 

 illustrative of their dress are borrowed from that rare little 

 treatise. Royalty and the nobility hunted on horseback, wear- 

 ing their usual riding dress, as is evidenced by a great variety 

 of illuminated manuscripts. The king's huntsman was also 

 usually mounted, and there was generally one riding forester 

 to each forest ; but the ordinary class of huntsmen, berners, 

 varlets, etc., were on foot. In the thirteenth century they are 

 generally represented (p. 182) as wearing close-fitting caps, 



