HOESES AND HOUNDS. 273 



morning sun, as if defying the approach of man, is rather a 

 different affair to seeing a poor wretched animal, shorn of his 

 chief beauty, bundled out at the tail of a cart, and oftentimes 

 whipped to make him run. I cannot call this by any other 

 name than calf-hunting. Stag-hunting, in the true acceptation 

 of the term, it is not. It does very well for the cockney sportsr 

 man of the vast metropolis. 



The flourishing tradesman takes down his wife and children 

 on Easter Monday to treat them to a holiday on the occasion of 

 the grand turn-out, himself mounted on a borrowed hackney for 

 the day. The carriage containing his precious ones is drawn up 

 to have a good view of the scene, whilst papa is nervously pre- 

 paring himself lor the coming fray. ''La, pa," cries out Master 

 Thomas, " where is the stag f '' There he is, my dear, in that 

 cart." " I can't see anything of him, pa." " Wait a bit, he 

 will soon come out." After waiting half an hour or more in 

 fidgety expectation, Master Tommy is gratified by seeing an 

 animal emerge, which anything but meets his notions of what a 

 stag should be. " Law, pa, is that a stag ]" '' Yes, my dear ; 

 what did you think it was V " Only look, it has got no horns^ 

 it looks more like a donkey, pa ; the stags in my picture-book 

 have all got fine horns, and look so grand. Oh, pa, it must be a 

 donkey after all." " Hold your tongue, Tom, and don't talk so 

 loud, or her Majesty's huntsman will hear you." — Exit pa. 



Tommy ain't satisfied, so he attacks mamma next. " AVhy do 

 they cut the stag's horns off, ma — it makes him look so foolish T 

 " Why, my dear, if his horns were not cut off, he might run 

 them into your papa's leg or stomach, and that would be a very 

 serious thing, you know. Tommy." "Well, ma, I shouldn't like 

 riding after such a poor thing as that" 



I was present at a grand meeting in the N"ew Forest, some 

 few years ago, when the royal pack went down for a week's 

 wild deer hunting. The first fixture I shall not easily forget. It 

 appeared to be a gathering together of all nations and languages. 

 Such a motley group of equestrians I never before set eyes on. 

 Soldiers, sailors, tinkers, and tailors ; every animal, from a 

 donkey to a dray-horse, being put in requisition. The numbers 

 were computed at from one to two thousand. Davis, the 

 huntsman, on recognising a brother of the craft in the crowd, 

 lifted up his hands as if in supplication to rid him from the 

 mob. As the hounds moved off at a pretty brisk trot through 

 the trees, the motley assemblage began to disperse, and even at 

 this early period casualties occurred. A sailor on a cart-horse 

 rode foul of his brother tar on a forest pony. " Avast there. 

 Jack," cried the latter. " Shiver my timbers, but that big craft 



