36 HUNTING. 



CHAPTER II. 



BEASTS OF THE CHASE. 



THE STAG. 



The chase of the stag was considered, as we have already 

 read, the most 'princely and royal chase of all chases,' and the 

 animal itself of all beasts ' the goodliest, stateliest, and most 

 manly.' Among modern sportsmen the fox now holds the 

 pride of place, if not in personal qualities, at any rate in the 

 diversion those qualities afford. Your true Devonshire stag 

 hunter certainly will not allow this, and even the staunchest 

 follower of the fox has been known at times to confess that for 

 thorough genuine sport there are few things to compare with a 

 gallop after a ' warrantable ' stag at the stern of the North 

 Devon hounds, and not many things harder than to keep in 

 that place ! The field sport that has stood the test of public 

 criticism through a period of from three to five hundred years 

 may surely assert its claim to the title of a national pastime. 



Stag hunting, as everyone knows, has existed from time 

 immemorial; but whether it was conducted in precisely the 

 same manner as it is at present, until the reign of Queen 

 Elizabeth, is very doubtful. Historical records prove conclu- 

 sively that there was, kennelled at Simonsbath, in this reign, 

 a pack of staghounds, which hunted the red deer on the 

 Exmoors on a system similar to that now in vogue. It is not, 

 perhaps, too much to hope, that while English noblemen, 

 gentlemen, yeomen, and farmers retain their profound love of 

 field sports, there will be, at some convenient centre on the 

 moorland range, a pack of staghounds as efficient in every 



