THE RED DEER'S HOME 13 



setters that the Monks thereof would return in the 

 night from Cheshunt Nunnery, where they had secretly 

 quartered themselves. Sir Henry pitcht a Buckstall 

 (wherewith he used to take Deer in the Forest) in the 

 narrowest place of the Marsh where they were to passe 

 over, leaving some of his Confederates to manage the 

 same. The monks coming out of the Nunnery, 

 hearing a great noise made behind them, and sus- 

 pecting to be discovered, put out the light they had 

 with them, whose feet without eyes could finde the 

 way home in so used a pathe. Making more hast 

 than good speed they ran themselves all into the 

 net. The next morning Sir H. Colt brought and 

 presented them to King Henry, who had often seen 

 sweeter but never fatter venison.' * Fuller tells this 

 story when discussing the morals of the monasteries 

 destroyed by Henry VIII., in 1536-9. But to return 

 to the subject of the Martindale deer, there can be no 

 doubt that the pleasure of following the hunted stag 

 was shared by the whole country-side, even in our 

 own day. 



I have listened with eager attention to the gossip 

 of old-fashioned folk, who loved to recall the good 

 cheer which { t'auld squire Hasell ' used to dispense 

 to the country-side at Dalehead. The merits of 



1 Fuller's Church History of Britain, p. 317, edition 1655. 



