56 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HARE 



less wight to lodge in the king's prison for twelve 

 weary months. James I. was a sport-loving sovereign. 

 The lawyers of his reign framed (for his satisfaction, 

 I suppose) no fewer than three Acts to repress poach- 

 ing. Of these, the first enacted that from August i, 

 1604, no one might keep a greyhound for coursing 

 hares, unless he was either a man of good family, or 

 enjoyed an income, in his own or his wife's right, of 

 10/. a year. Happily for Puss, the man who dis- 

 regarded this statute might be mulcted in a fine of 

 40J'. of good and lawful money of England. A flavour 

 of popularity was infused into this arrangement by 

 the proviso that the persons who were to benefit by 

 the enforcement of the law were the poor and needy 

 persons of the parish, upon whom the fine was to be 

 duly expended by the churchwardens. Charles 11. 

 sanctioned a much more stringent Act, by which the 

 property qualification was raised to 100/., due half- 

 yearly from landed property, or at least a lease of 

 1 50/. for ninety-nine years. Only gentlemen of such 

 visible substance, their heirs and keepers, were thence- 

 forward to have or to kee]j guns, bows, greyhounds, 

 harepipes, or other sporting implements. There 

 exists a certain statute of William III. which is worth 

 mentioning for the paternal spirit which it breathes, 

 and the adroitness with which the draughtsmen pro- 



