428 HUNTING. 



of substance, living in the neighbourhood ; they 

 found their own hunters, and were expected to at- 

 tend only on hunting days, the senior yeoman- 

 pricker acting as huntsman, when occasion required. 

 In the reign of George III., the royal establish- 

 ment consisted of a huntsman, a whipper-in, and 



six yeomen-prickers His Majesty was 



an ardent lover of the sport ; he would frequently 

 ride ten miles to the place of meeting, and after a 

 run of two or three hours, ride back again to the 

 castle." 



"In 1813 his Grace the Duke of Richmond 

 presented the Goodwood pack of fox-hounds to his 

 late Majesty George IV., then Prince Regent. 

 The whole system now underwent a change, and, 

 to keep pace with the times, it was found necessary 

 to re-model the establishment. Accordingly, the 

 yeomen-prickers were pensioned off, and were re- 

 placed by three effective whippers-in." 



Thus far Mr. Davis ; and the following particu- 

 lars from another pen may be relied upon : — " Al- 

 though there is no authentic account of the origin 

 of the Royal Hunt, history hands it down pretty 

 clearly from the Conqueror, the Henrys, &c. For 

 instance, Henry VIII. dined with the Abbot of 

 Reading, ' after hunting the stag,' which proved a 

 sorry visit for the sleek old boy. Elizabeth hunted 

 in the forest. The Charleses, and James the Se- 

 cond, when Duke of York, did the same — the latter 

 having seen the celebrated run with a deer turned 

 out at Swinley, in the said forest, and taken in 

 Lord Petrels park in Essex, having traversed up- 



