HISTORY AND LITERATURE. 33 



hunted from The Oaks, his place near Epsom from which the 

 famous race takes its name. The deer were all bred at Knows- 

 ley, and occasionally crossed with the Yorkshire breed of Lord 

 Fitzwilliam ; they were noted for their speed and stoutness, 

 and the hounds were a good match for them in both qualities. 

 Pace was becoming the fashion then everywhere, and there is a 

 story told of Lord Derby's huntsman summing up the praises of 

 a favourite bitch by vowing that she could run four miles in less 

 time than a greyhoitnd \ The late Thomas Moreton Fitzhardinge 

 Berkeley (born in 1794, died in August 1882, legally Earl of 

 Berkeley, but who, out of respect to his mother's memory, never 

 would assume the title) and his brother Grantley when young 

 men also hunted stag with a pack kept at Cranford, the family 

 seat. The brothers were the officers of the hunt, together with 

 Mr. Henry Wombwell, all wearing the orange tawny livery of the 

 family. The pack was given up about 1830, when Mr. Grantley 

 Berkeley went to hunt the Oakley. A smart little pack was also 

 kept some years ago near Leamington, and the Surrey Stag- 

 hounds are of very ancient fame. But save in the West Country 

 the wild stag has not been hunted in England (excepting occa- 

 sionally in Windsor Forest in George IIL's time), certainly 

 within this century, though in Ireland the sport has been, we 

 believe, occasionally followed within more recent times, but not 

 as we understand 'hunting.' It consists in driving the woods 

 of Killarney and forcing the stags into the Lake, where they are 

 shot or caught with ropes by the horns. Wild deer exist no- 

 where else in Ireland. 



Fox hunting, as we know it now, with its pace and its hard 

 riding, its sumptuousness and refinement, may be said to have 

 come in with this century. Mr. Childe of Kinlet, says ' The 

 Druid,' first began hard riding in Leicestershire to Mr. Mey- 

 nell's great disgust, and on a half-bred Arabian, too ! When 

 Lords Forester and Jersey came with the reckless style of 

 riding, the good old sportsman declared that he 'had not had a 

 day's happiness ; ' as he has been described as a ' regular little 

 dumpling ' in the saddle, probably the new style of going was 



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