46 



.V TA G-Hl 'NTING RECOLLECTIONS 



I happened to re-read the ' Four Georges ' just as we 

 began forest huntmg in 1892 — my first season as Master— 

 and Mr. Thackeray shall tell, in his own beautiful English, 

 the sadness of the last few years of our stag-hunting king's 

 life. ' He was not only sightless, he became utterly deaf. Ail 

 light, all reason, all sound of human voices, all the pleasures 

 of this world of God, were taken from him. Some shght 

 lucid moments he had ; in one of which, the queen desiring 



Moonshine, a celebrated Deer, frequently Hunted by 

 His Majesty George III. 



to see him, entered the room and found him singing a hymn, 

 and accompanying himself at the harpsichord. When he 

 had finished, he knelt down and prayed aloud for her, and 

 then for his family, and then for the nation, concluding with 

 a prayer for himself, that it might please God to avert his 

 heavy calamity from him, but if not, to give him resignation 

 to submit. He then burst into tears, and his reason again 

 fled.' 



