206 STAG-HUNTING 



the pace of the modern foxhound fairly wears deer 

 down, and brings them to a standstill, unable to do 

 much more in the way of either running or fighting. 

 Be that as it may, the first directions given sound 

 strange ; namely, that if the stag is in deep water, the 

 pack should be called off, coupled up and kept out 

 of the way till the deer lands again, or comes near 

 enough to the bank to be stabbed, or till a boat can 

 be procured ; the alternative being for the huntsman 

 to strip and swim out, hanger in hand, and give the 

 stag his death-blow in the water. This Du Fouilloux 

 says he has done several times himself, and that before 

 many men who can witness if he He ; if the stag 

 stands to bay on dry land the pricker may steal up 

 behind on foot and kill him, or if the deer breaks bay 

 gallop up beside him and so use his sword. 



The old sporting prints lately republished in the 

 first numbers of the ' Badminton Magazine ' illustrate 

 many of the incidents. A woodcut by Hans Burg- 

 maier, 1473-1531, shows the stag just roused by the 

 harbourer and his lymer, the pack, which are smaller 

 hounds of a different breed, being about to take up 

 the running. Other pictures, somewhat later in date, 

 show stags being killed both in water and on land, 

 the field, some of whom have ladies riding pillion 

 behind them, carrying and using spears. One picture 



