ia6 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS, 



or fix years in arriving at maturity, lives feven times that 

 number, or from thirty-five to forty years. 



The following fac~t, recorded in hiftory, will ferve to 

 {hew, that the Stag is poffefTed of an extraordinary fhare 

 of courage, when his perfonal fafety is concerned: — 

 Some years ago, William, Duke of Cumberland, caufed 

 a Tiger and a Stag to be inclofed in the fame area ; and 

 the Stag made fo bold a defence, that the Tiger was at 

 length obliged to give up. 



The hunting of the Stag has been held, in all ages, 

 a diverfion of the nobleft kind ; and former times bear 

 witnefs of the great exploits performed on thefe occa- 

 fions. In our ifland, large traces of land were fet apart 

 for this purpofe *, villages and facred edifices were wan- 

 tonly thrown down, and converted into one wide wafte, 

 that the tyrant of the day might have room to purfue his 

 favourite diverfion. In the time of William Rufus and 

 Henry the Firft, it was l&fs criminal to deftroy one of the 

 human fpecies than a beaft of chafe. Happily for us, 

 thefe wide-extended fcenes of defolation and oppreffion 

 have been gradually contracted ; ufeful arts, agriculture, 

 and commerce, have extenfively fpread themfelves over 

 the naked land ; and thefe fuperior beafts of the chafe 

 have given way to other animals more ufeful to the com- 

 munity. 



In the prefent cultivated (late of this country, there- 

 fore, the Stag is almoft unknown in his wild ftate. The 

 few that remain are kept in parks among the Fallow- 

 deer, and diftinguimed by the name of Red Deer. — Its 

 vicioufnefs during the rutting feafon, and the badnefs of 

 its flelh, which is poor and ill-flavoured, have occafioned 

 almoft the extinction of the fpecies. — Some few are yet 

 to be found in the forefts that border on Cornwall and 



