SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 



1899, put on a red fly of the same shape as 

 a mayfly and was as successful with it as he 

 had previously been with the ordinary mayfly. 



The river Gade is probably the best trout- 

 ing river in the county owing to its gravelly 

 bed, which makes excellent ground for 

 spawning. On June I, 1897, the Hon. A. 

 Holland Hibbert of Munden, fishing on the 

 Gade, caught between the hours of 9 a.m. 

 and 9 p.m. no fewer than eighty-five trout, 

 weighing I2O lb., the flies he used being the 

 mayfly, the alder and the sedge. 



Many improvements can be made in our 

 rivers by good management ; this is probably 

 nowhere more apparent than in the portion of 

 the river Colne that passes through Munden. 

 The river was first dragged with the net in 

 1872 and only one trout was caught and a 

 large number of pike and coarse fish were 

 taken out. Between the years 1872 and 



1899 no less than 1,151 pike and 7,700 

 coarse fish have been taken out of this portion 

 of the river, and for some years either 1,000 

 yearling trout or 250 two year olds have 

 been turned into it. The result has been 

 that in late years the ordinary catch of trout 

 has been from 250 to 330 per annum, 

 averaging over I lb. in weight, and the largest 

 fish weighed 6 lb. 6 oz., caught in 1896, 

 while several others of 5 lb. and 4 lb. have 

 also been caught. 



This improvement has taken place with 

 but little assistance from the proprietors of the 

 river either above or below the Munden 

 water, which is about three miles in length. 

 There are many other owners of water in 

 Hertfordshire who have improved the fishing 

 in their rivers, especially in the Club water 

 on the river Lea near Hatfield and in the 

 Mimram at Marden. 



HAWKING 



The art of hawking was practised through- 

 out Hertfordshire at an early date, the right 

 of hawking being claimed by most of the 

 great lords in the county in the reign of 

 Edward I. It was a sport much indulged in 

 by ecclesiastics over the numerous manors in 

 Hertfordshire owned by them and where they 

 exercised their sporting rights. We have 

 evidence of preserves for partridges and other 

 birds by the abbot of St. Albans at various 

 places, by the abbot of Westminster at 

 Wheathampstead, by the king at Kings 

 Langley, and by many others of less degree 

 at other places. The wooded condition of the 

 county however, particularly on its western 

 side, probably interfered with the sport and 

 caused the loss of many a hawk. Before the 

 introduction of the musket hawking was a 

 necessary means of obtaining flying game, 

 although it was essentially an aristocratic sport 

 on account of the expense entailed in the pur- 

 chase, training and maintenance of the birds. 



It was, as is well known, a favourite diver- 

 sion with ladies, and Hertfordshire can boast 

 of having produced the earliest English 

 treatise on the subject, and that by one 

 of the gentler sex, Dame Juliana Berners, 

 who in her Bake of St. Albans, enters 

 minutely into the subject and instructs us in 

 ' the manner to speak of Hawks from the 

 egg.' We must not say young hawks are 

 hatched, but ' disclosed ' ; they do not breed 

 but 'eyer' ; they 'timber' their nests, not build 

 them ; when they first leave the nest they 

 are ' bowesses,' and when they can fly they 



are dubbed ' branches.' She mentions that 

 hawks are liable to a variety of diseases, of 

 which gout was by no means an uncommon 

 one. Dame Juliana ends her list of hawks 

 with a characteristic qualification 



An Eagle for an Emperor. 



A Gerfalcon for a King. 



A Peregrine for an Earl. 



A Merlyon for a Lady. 



A Goshawk for a yeoman. 



A Sparrow hawk for a priest. 



A Muskyte for ' an holiwater clerke.' 



In Queen Elizabeth's time hawking was 

 very fashionable in Hertfordshire. The queen 

 herself indulged in the sport during her 

 numerous visits to Sir Robert Cecil at Theo- 

 balds, and on September 16, 1595, Lady 

 Wolley writes to Sir W. More : ' Yesterday 

 evening Her Majesty went abroad hawkynge. 

 Sir R. Cecil's hawke killed three partridges 

 which he presented the Queen with, and 

 myself being in place, her Majesty gave them 

 me with the express charge that I should send 

 them to you this day again dyner, desiring 

 you to eat them for her sake. Since Sir 

 Robert Cecil begged them of me I could not 

 deny him of.' 



Charges for hawks appeared regularly in 

 the Cecil estate accounts at Theobalds, and 

 later in those of Hatfield. The following 

 is a specimen bill at Theobalds (Edwardes 

 bill) : 



Paid for 2 dozen pidgeons for hawks, 

 45. 6d. ; meate for pidgeons, 4*. 6d. ; yeard 



3 6 3 



