12 HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



Origin of Hunting Terms. 



To rear, feed, hunt, and discipline the pack. 

 Hail, happy Britain ! highly favor'd isle. 

 And Heav'n's peculiar care ! to thee 'tis given 

 To train the sprightly steed, more fleet than those 

 Begot by winds, or the celestial breed 

 That bore the great Pelides through the press 

 Of heroes arm'd, and broke their crowded ranks, 

 Which, proudly neighing, with the sun begins 

 Cheerful his course, and, ere his beams decline. 

 Has measur'd half thy surface unfatigu'd. 

 In thee alone, fair land of liberty ! 

 Is bred the perfect hound, in scent and speed 

 As yet unrivall'd; while, in other climes, 

 Their virtue fails, a weak degenerate race. 

 Tn vain malignant steams and winter fogs 

 Load the dull air, and hover round our coasts. 

 The huntsman, ever gay, robust, and bold. 

 Defies the noxious vapour, and confides 

 In this delightful exercise to raise 

 His drooping head, and cheer his heart with joy." 



1 am inclined to think that many of our hunting terms 

 at present in use may be traced to a Norman origin : 

 halloo, for instance, immediately derived from a loup, 

 seems to have descended from the source just mentioned. 



The Normans went to the field, or rather perhaps to 

 the forest, on horseback, armed with bows and arrows, 

 and other weapons, and attended by a great retinue. 

 The game was roused by the dogs, and shot at by the 

 sportsmen, as often as opportunity offered ; a consider- 

 able space was, on some occasions, encircled by toils or 

 nets, and a sort of indiscriminate slaughter ensued of 

 the Various .animals thus inclosed. 



The stag, the wolf, and the wild boar, constituted the 

 principal objects of pursuit ; and though there was no 



