THE HORSE. 



country. During the reigns of the Stuart Princes, the chase 

 of the stag still continued to be the favoured pursuit of the 

 privileged classes, but the numbers of the animals became 

 gradually thinned, so that, by the beginning of the last cen- 

 tury, they were scarcely to be found in the wild state. In 

 the Highlands of Scotland they are yet in considerable num- 

 bers, but in a country so wild, dangerous, and rocky, that they 

 'cannot be pursued by horses and hounds. When stags could 

 no longer be found in their wild state in the woods, it became 

 common to rear them in enclosures, and turn them out to be 

 pursued : but this destroyed the very idea of hunting ; and 

 though the sport was pursued by George III., and till our 

 own times, it has lost all favour amongst sportsmen of the 

 present day, who are in the habit of ridiculing it as " calf- 

 hunting." The ridicule is in no degree merited with refer- 

 ence to the hunting of the stag in his natural state, which is 

 undoubtedly the most noble arid animating of all the kinds 

 of chase in which the hound is employed. "With the decline 

 of the hunting of the*deer, that of the Hare, which had been 

 a very ancient sport, gained ground. The hounds employed 

 in this amusement were early termed Harriers and Beagles, 

 the latter a race of dogs with sharp but musical voices. Con- 

 siderable numbers of harriers are still maintained in differ- 

 ent parts of the country, but a greatly swifter race of dogs 

 being employed, the sport has wholly changed its character. 

 The runs are more rapid and short, with some loss, assuredly, 

 of that pleasure which was derived from observing the ex- 

 quisite powers of the pack, and the artifices of the prey. 

 The substitution of the Fox for the Hare is comparatively 

 recent. Although foxes were followed and killed by various 

 means, with the same feelings as other noxious animals were 

 destroyed, it seems only to have been about the beginning 

 of last century that they began to be regularly pursued by 

 hounds as a source of amusement. It was soon found, how- 

 ever, that this animal, after the destruction of the deer and 

 other game of the woods, was really the best suited of all 



