Class I. DEER. 53 



diversion : for this reason, the subjects of a 

 despotic government still experience the incon- 

 veniences of vast wastes, and forests, the terrors 

 of the neighbouring husbandmen ;* while in our 

 well-regulated monarchy, very few chaces re- 

 main ; we still indulge ourselves in the generous 

 pleasure of hunting, but confine the deer-kind 

 to parks, of which England boasts of more than 

 any other kingdom in Europe. Our equal laws 

 allow every man his pleasures, but confine them 

 within such bounds, as prevents them from being 

 injurious to the meanest of the community. 

 Before the reformation, our prelates seem to 

 have guarded sufficiently against the want of 

 this amusement, the see of Norwich in particu- 

 lar, being possessed about that time of thirteen 

 parks, f They seem to have forgot good king 

 Edgars advice, Docemus etiam ut sacerdos non 

 sit senator neque accipitrarius neque potato?^ 

 sed incumbat suis libris sicut ordinem ipsius 

 decet.% 



It was customary to salt the venison for pre- 

 servation, like other meat. Rymer preserves a 



* In Germany the peasants are often obliged to watch their 

 grounds the whole night, to preserve the fences and corn from 

 being destroyed by the deer. 



f Peachams Compleat Gentleman, 26 1. 



% Leges Saxon. 87. 



