Venison appreciated. 129 
The order of precedence in hunting is thus given by 
Holinshed:— 
“ The stag is accounted for the most noble game, the fallow deere 
is the next, then the roe, whereof we have indifferent store; and last 
of all the hare, not the least in estimation, because the hunting of that 
seelie beast is mother to all the terms, blasts, and artificial devises 
that hunters do use.” ( Chronicles , vol i. p. 380.) 
In the light of our modern civilized sport it is strange to 
notice that the fox is not even mentioned. 
Exaggerated notions prevailed respecting the longevity 
of the stag. The life of a stag, according to modern 
authorities, does not exceed twenty years. 
A “hot venison pasty” was a favourite dish at all 
times, but was not reckoned a very wholesome one. 
Andrew Boorde, better known by his nickname, “ Merry 
Andrew,” was physician to Henry VIII. He wrote a 
dietary, in 1542, which has been recently edited by Mr. 
Eurnivall for the Early English Text Society. Herein 
the worthy doctor admits that his love of venison out¬ 
weighs his discretion :— 
“ I have gone rownde about Crystendome, and overthwarte Crys- 
tendom, and a thousande or two and more myles out of Crystendom, 
yet there is not so moche pleasure for harte and hynde, bucke, and 
doo, and for roo bucke and doo, as is in Englande; and although the 
flesshe be dispraysed in physycke I pray God to sende me parte of the 
flesshe to eate, physycke not-withstandyng.” 
The pretty little Musk Deer, so valued for its perfume, 
was found in Thibet and Northern India. It 
is thus described by Marco Polo in his Musk Deer * 
Travels in the East , in the fourteenth century :— 
“ In this country [Thibet] it is that the finest and most valuable 
musk is procured. The animal which yields it is not larger than the 
female goat, but in form resembles the antelope. Its coat is like that 
of the larger kind of deer: its feet and tail are those of the antelope, 
but it has not the horns. It is provided with four projecting teeth or 
