16 HUNTING DIRECTORY. 



Progress of Hunting. 



to the pursuit of the stag, the roe-buck, the fox, the 

 hare, &c. nor do they appear to have depended entirely 

 on their dogs, as they were excellent marksmen and made 

 a very liberal use of the bow — thus William Rufus lost 

 his life. 



Edward I. may be justly enumerated among the ori- 

 ginal fox-hunters ; and his wardrobe book, for the 28th 

 year of his reign, contains an item of the number and 

 expense of his kennel, which it seems consisted of twelve 

 hounds, and their annual expense amounted to twenty- 

 one pounds, six shillings. 



Hunting, indeed, about this period, appears to have 

 been reduced to a regular science ; and several treatises 

 were written on the subject, containing instructions for 

 juvenile sportsmen, as well as rules for the various offices 

 in the forest, the stable, and the kennel. A curious 

 performance on this subject, in Norman-French, is still 

 extant. It was written in the beginning of the fourteenth 

 century, by William Twice, grand huntsman to Edward 

 II. and an ancient translation of it may be found among 

 the Cottonian manuscripts. After all, it is very clear 

 that the oppressive severity of the forest laws was not 

 sufficient to restrain the yeomanry from a diversion to 

 which they were so passionately attached. Many of them, 

 taking advantage of that relaxed state which the feudal 

 system naturally produced, retired into the recesses of 

 the large forests, which, at this period, covered a con- 

 siderable part of the kingdom, and, forming themselves 

 into a sort of banditti, pursued their favourite sport 

 almost without restraint. Hence the tradition of Robin 

 Hood and Little John ; whose deeds are related in num- 



