278 Tally ho. 



permitted to rest in his lair, for tlie fiat has gone 

 forth, *^This day a stag must die/^ Gradually the 

 hounds draw up, and when they closely approach his 

 resting-place^ up starts the antlered monarch of the 

 woods : — 



" ' But ere his fleet career he took,' 

 The dewdrops from his flank he shook, 

 Like crested leader, proud aud high. 

 Tossed his beamed frontlet to the sky, 

 A moment gazed adown the dale, 

 A moment snufled the tainted gale, 

 A moment hstened to the cry, 

 That tliickened as the chase drew nigh. 

 Then as the headmost foes appeared, 

 ' With one brave bound, the copse he cleared,* " 



landing within a few feet of me, and going a rattler 

 over the lovely country, running down from West 

 Quantock Head, and making seawards. For a while 

 we followed him in view, then ran him through the 

 beautiful park and pleasure grounds of " St. Audries,'^ 

 a charming residence situate on the shores of the 

 Bristol Channel. It was at that moment I fully 

 realised what the pleasure of hunting is, and as I sat 

 down on my nag — a son of Thormanby — and went at 

 a racing pace over the springy turf, I experienced a 

 greater delight than has ever fallen to my lot before 

 — I mean whilst indulging in the pleasures of the 

 chase — and when I saw him, no longer daring to 

 trust himself on terra firma, make for the muddy 

 waters, and go boldly out to sea, in the hopes of 

 shaking oflP his foes, I could but admire the courage 

 of this splendid wild red deer, whose motto evidently 

 was ••'no surrender;" and it was with regret that I 



