558 Ancient Games and Pastimes. 
cultivated the sports of the field, and other manly exer-— 
cises by which the body is inured to fatigue and hardship. 
Like all the northern nations the Saxons delighted in 
huaoting. “ With the northern invaders,” says Mr. Hallam, 
“hunting was rather a predominant appetite than an 
amusement. It was their pride and their ornament, the 
theme of their songs, the object of their laws, and the 
business of their lives. Falconry, unknown as a diver- 
sion to the ancients, became, from the fourth century, 
-an equally delightful occupation. A knight seldom 
stirred from his house without a falcon on his wrist 
or a greyhound to follow him. Thus are Harold 
and his attendants represented in the famous tapestry of 
Bayeaux, and in the monuments of those who died any- 
where but on the field of battle, it is usual to find the 
greyhound lying at their feet, or the bird upon their wrist 
nor are the tombs of ladies without their falcon, for 
this diversion being of less danger and fatigue than 
the chase was shared by the delicate sex. This exces- 
sive passion for the sports of the field produced those 
evils which are apt to result from it. A strenuous idle- 
ness which disdained all useful occupations, and an 
Oppressive spirit towards the peasantry. The devasta- 
tion committed under the pretence of destroying wild 
animals which had already been protected in their 
depredations, is noticed in various authors, and has 
also been the subject of popular ballads. What effect this 
must have had upon agriculture, it is easy to conjecture. 
The levelling of forests, the draining of morasses, and the ex- 
tirpatior. of mischievous animals which inhabit them, are 
the first objects of man’s labour in reclaiming the earth to 
its use, and these were forbidden by a landed aristocracy, 
whose control over the progress of agriculture was unlimited, 
and who had not yet learned to sacrifice their pleasure to 
their avarice.” 
The Saxons, like other Teutonic races, were much ad- 
dicted to drinking and gaming. Tacitus speaks thus of 
the Germans: “While they banish hunger without prepa- 
ration, and with nothing to entice the appetite, their mode- 
ration as regards thirst is not the same. If you indulge 
their drunken habits by supplying them with as much 
drink as they require, they may be conquered not less 
easily by means of their own vices than by arms.” 
With regard to their love of gaming, he says: “When 
they are sober they play at dice, regarding this as one of © 
