258 COVERT-SIDE SKETCHES. 



start her in a "bee line for home ; a few minutes' law being 

 allowed, the pack were laid on, and a rattling burst was the 

 result. The doe always cleared some high gates, and found the 

 door of her pen open beyond ; this a man shut, so as to ensure 

 her safety, as it were, twice over. At the end of the chase, the 

 hounds, having run her to the gates, were let in, and bayed 

 around the door of the pen, like fox-hounds at an earth. Nay, 

 Mr. ]N"evill could open the door and let them bay at her face to 

 face, if he was there to keep order. Both parties were, after a 

 time, perfectly satisfied — they that their game was caught, she 

 that her safety was insured — and were ready to go through the 

 same performance again the next day, if needful. 



A still more curious circumstance was his taming an old red 

 stag, called Monarch, who would walk about with him, and 

 once being turned out and hunted after a short run, took refuge 

 in some farm buildings, where he was not easily taken ; but, on 

 Mr. l^evill's riding up, ordering the hounds away, and asking 

 the field to stand back, the old fellow, on being called by 

 name, came to his knee, and, to the admiration of every one, 

 trotted home by the side of his horse. Mr ]S"evill had a 

 portrait of him taken in this position. This feat was per- 

 formed more than once. 



A still more remarkable instance of his power over deer was 

 shown in the case of his hind, Princess, which I shall give in 

 his own words, as written to his friend ^^Esop, and published in 

 his "Sporting Reminiscences of Hampshire." After speaking 

 of various chases with Monarch, he says, — 



" His fellow-mate. Princess, has also many times done the 

 same thing. She was left (in 1857) in the meadows with a 

 cow, when she thought proper to roam away, and was absent 

 for six months, and then I heard she was in Burntwood. I 

 immediately let out two couple and a half of my stag-hounds, 

 and with my father (who was a great sportsman), my huntsman 

 and whip, after drawing for some time, roused her ; she gave 

 us first a ring round the wood, then broke away to Shrowner, 



