CHAPTER XXII 



" Come then, fair doe ! hence home we'll traverse free : 



Upou my lawn no huntsman seeks thy life : 

 This forest land, from farthest south to sea. 



To all thy kind witli more than danger's rife. 

 Away, then, home, sweet creature, come with me ! 



Thy gentlest, best protector I will be. 

 She shook her head, and timidly referred 



To things that scared her ; falsehoods, full of guile. 

 The most unfounded stories she had heard ; 



Yet closer came she, with a trustful smile." 



The Last of the New Forest Deer.—G. F. B. 



In winding up these Reminiscences, and in sj)eaking of my 

 sporting inclinations yet existing, supposing that I had a domain 

 of my own, I think that at my present time of hfe 1 should feel 

 as much or more pleasure in rearing, taming, and taking care of 

 birds and animals, and of affording them rest and enjoyment 

 around me, than I should have in the active pursuit of their 

 lives. Landseer's beautiful picture of " The Forester's Family '" 

 .should have a living illustration at my door ; where, though I 

 might still kill the fot stag or buck at the right season, as well 

 as the " yeld hind," or " dry doe," and the " aver," or " hevier," 

 as it is vulgarly called, between the seasons of the male and 

 female deer, still my chief amusement and pursuit would be in 

 nursing and rearing heaven's creatui-es, rather than in their 

 chase and destruction ; and when age had come upon me, if 

 given the blessing of a gradual descent into the grave, I would 

 be found in my white hairs and faded limbs still poring over the 

 beautiful mysteries of animal life, the economy of flowers, and 



