THE STAG. 95 



The luxury attendant on the practice of hawking in 

 England was on a par with this : it was '' the ruin of 

 good estates/' as a writer of the day remarks ; " it moveth 

 many to be so dearly enamoured of it, as they will 

 undergoe any change rather than foregoe it."' * 



But the like causes and consequences are ever3rvvhere 

 to be found ; in all ages, as well as in all lands. For 

 where men are, there, too, must arise human desires, 

 human passions, and superstitions. It is everywhere 

 the same, varied only by trifling accessories of habits, 

 age, and clime. Even the belief in certain supernatural 

 powers of healing we find repeated with slight modifi- 

 cation. As in England, until very recently, the royal 

 touch was deemed a remedy for the king's evil, so the 

 blessing of the nuns of AVerberg was believed to be a 

 preservative against hydrophobia. And, accordingly, 

 from time to time the litters of youDg hounds were sent 

 thither, to have the nuns' hands laid upon them and be 

 blessed. Since those days there have been revolutions 

 in the forest as there have been in cities, changing all, 

 and substituting the New for the Old. It is, no doubt, 

 for the best; I only wish there were not so very few 

 red deer left. The wood is deserted now, and with its 

 inhabitants one charm has also passed away ; but it has 



* Brathwait's "English Gentleman," 1635, 



