68 RECREATIONS OF A NATURALIST 



curious instances which can be adduced of a hunting 

 agreement. I need only quote so much of the 

 translation as relates to the "deer-leaps" between 

 the forest and the park : — 



" This is the agreement made at Leicester on the 

 day of St Vincent the Martyr (January 22), in the 

 thirty-first year of the reign of King Henry III., 

 son of King John (Anno 1246), before Sir Roger 

 de Thirkilby [and others], justices in eyre there, be- 

 tween Roger de Quincy Earl of Winchester, and 

 Roger de Somery. To wit : That the aforesaid 

 Roger de Somery hath granted for him and his 

 heirs that the aforesaid earl and his heirs may have 

 and hold his Park of Bradgate so enclosed as it was 

 on the octave of St Hilary (January 20) in the 

 thirty-first year of the aforesaid King Henry with the 

 ' deer-leaps ' then made therein {cum saltatoriis tunc 

 in eofactis). And for this agreement and grant, the 

 same earl hath granted for him and his heirs that 

 the same Roger de Somery and his heirs may enter 

 at any hour on the forest of him the said earl to 

 hunt in it with nine bows and six hounds, according 

 to the form of an Indenture before made between 

 the aforesaid Roger Earl of Winton and Hugh 

 d'Albany Earl of Arundel in the King's court at 

 Leicester. And if any wild beast wounded by any 

 of the aforesaid bows shall enter the said park by 

 any ' deer- leap' or elsewhere, it shall be lawful for 

 the aforesaid Roger de Somery and his heirs to 

 send one or two of his men who may follow the 

 aforesaid beast with the dogs pursuing it within the 

 aforesaid park, without bows or arrows, and may 



