14 HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



Ancient Norman Hunters. 



hunt with more trouble, anxiety, and cost, than they 

 would for a battle, and follow the beasts of the forest with 

 more fury than they do their enemies : by being con- 

 stantly engaged in this savage sport, they contract habits 

 of barbarity, lose, in a great measure, their feelings of 

 humanity, and become nearly as ferocious as the beasts 

 they pursue. The husbandman is driven, together with 

 his innocent flocks and herds, from his fertile fields, his 

 meadows, and his pastures, that beasts may roam there 

 in his stead. Should one of these potent and merciless 

 sportsmen pass your door, place before him, in a moment, 

 all the refreshment your habitation affords, or that can 

 be purchased or borrowed in your neighbourhood, that 

 you may not be utterly ruined, or perchance accused of 

 treason. The sam.e writer tells us, that the fair sex 

 caught the predominant passion ; while we learn, from 

 other sources, that the mitre deserted its functions, and 

 the coiol quitted the quiet retirement of the monastery, 

 to join in the transporting pleasures of the chase." 



Walterus, archdeacon of Canterbury, who was pro- 

 moted to the see of Rochester in 1147, totally neglected 

 the duties of his sacred profession, and devoted his time 

 entirely to hunting. At the age of 80, he is said to have 

 been a keen sportsman, and he died at a very advanced 

 period. Reginaldus Brian, bishop of Worcester in 1332, 

 was distinguished for his attention to field sports ; and 

 in an epistle of his (now extant) to the bishop of St. 

 David's, he reminds him of a promise he had made to 

 send him six couple of excellent hunting dogs. He de- 

 clares his heart languishes for their arrival, and observes 

 > — " Let them come, then, oh ! reverend father ! without 



