HUNTING DIRECTORY. 13 



Ancient Norman Hunters. 



scarcity of foxes, yet these animals, which at present 

 afford a species of diversion which leaves all other field 

 sports at an immeasurable distance, were httle attended 

 to by the sportsmen of the remote period now iinder 

 contemplation : the reason is evident — the chase of the 

 fox was not understood, nor yet adapted to the state of 

 the country ; and though we now regard the pursuit of 

 this animal as far preferable to any other chase, it is 

 owing almost intirely to the different aspect which the 

 face of the country presents, that it stands so deservedly 

 high in the estimation of modern sportsmen. When the 

 early Normans followed the chase in this country, the 

 game, it is true, was roused and pursued by the hounds, 

 as I have already observed ; but it generally received its 

 quietus from the hand of the sportsman, either by means 

 of the arrow, the spear, or other weapon with which he 

 was prepared for the purpose. Under such a system of 

 the chase, a fox would appear scarcely entitled to atten- 

 tion ; nor would he indeed form a mark sufficiently con- 

 spicuous for the arrow or the spear ; and therefore, upon 

 a transient view of the subject, it will seem no way sur- 

 prising, that he was little, if at all, sought after by the 

 old Norman sportsmen. 



A few illustrative observations, from an ancient writer, 

 will show the irresistible propensity of the Normans for 

 the chase, as well as the style and character in which they 

 pursued it. — " In these days (says he) our nobihty esteem 

 the sports of hunting and hawking as the most honourable 

 employments, the most exalted virtues ; and to be conti- 

 nually engaged in these amusements is, in their opinion, 

 the summit of human ha})piness. They prepare for a 



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