Class I, DEER. 51 



occupied, no individuals received an injury: 

 but when the conquest had settled the Norman 

 line on the throne, this passion for the chace 

 was carried to an excess, which involved every 

 civil right in a general ruin ; it superseded the 

 consideration of religion even in a superstitious 

 age : the village communities, nay, even the 

 most sacred edifices were turned into one vast 

 waste, to make room for animals, the objects of 

 a lawless tyrant's pleasure. The New Forest in 

 Hampshire is too trite an instance to be dwelt 

 upon : sanguinary laws were enacted to preserve 

 the game, and in the reigns of William Rufus, 

 and Henry I. it was less criminal to destroy 

 one of the human species than a beast of 

 chace.* Thus it continued while the Norman 

 line filled the throne ; but when the Saxon line 

 was restored under Henry II. the rigor of the 

 forest laws was immediately softened. 



When our barons began to form a power, 

 they clamed a vast, but more limited tract for 

 a diversion, the English were always fond 

 of. They were very jealous of any encroach- 

 ments on their, respective bounds, which were 

 often the cause of deadly feuds ; such a one 

 gave cause to the fatal day of Chevy -chace, a fact, 



* An antient historian speaks thus of the penalties incurred ; 

 Ccrvum vel capreolum capienti, oculi eruebantur. Amahat enim 

 ferus Rex, J eras, quasi pater ferarum. Mat. Paris. Q. 



E 2 



