68 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



hand, and timed the run. Nobody but Davis could have 

 done so ; but his skill and knack with deer were most remark- 

 able. Colonel Anstruther Thomson told me he once saw 

 Davis jump oif his horse in a narrow lane ; a tired stag was 

 coming up it slowly with all the hounds round it. He let 

 it half pass him, caught its horn with his left hand and swung 

 his whip round with his right, keeping the hounds at bay, 

 and held the stag till some one came to help him. The 

 Trump had been out twice before that season, and started 

 on his career as the Eichmond Knobber. After the Ayles- 

 bury performance, however, he was renamed Eichmond 

 Trump, after a popular fighting man of the day, who doubtless 

 much appreciated the delicate compliment. 



I spoke just now of substantial advantages which the 

 best Davis period enjoyed as against the present day. Until 

 well into the fifties the Queen's Hounds moved about and 

 saw a great deal more of other countries than they do now — 

 an excellent thing for everybody.^ A run in the New Forest 

 inspired their huntsman's Muse. She keeps very near the 

 earth. 



At Vinney Old Eidge they found a prime stag, 

 And ran hard for an hour, which caused him to flag. 

 He was taken near Burley alive, safe and sound, 

 But in less than ten minutes fell dead on the ground. 



It is noteworthy that the New Forest deer hardly ever 

 survived a run, although they were always taken alive, if 

 possible, with the object of sending them to Windsor or Eich- 

 mond for a change of blood. Upon one occasion Davis said, 

 ' We shall kill every stag in the forest if we stay here long.' 



' As well as going for a month or more every season to Aylesbury, they went 

 for about a fortnight at a time to Sir Robert Throckmorton's at Buckland, 

 near Faringdon, during Lord Granville's Mastership ; and to Hampton Court, 

 and on to Epsom with Loi-d Rosslyn ; the deer during these outings to Epsom 

 being kept in loose boxes belonging to trainers. And for many years, as every- 

 body knows, the Queen's Hounds used to go down to the New Forest late in the 

 season. 



