SPORTS AND PASTIMES OF THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. BOOK I. RURAL EXERCISES PRACTISED BY PERSONS OF RANK. CHAPTER I. I. Hunting more ancient than Hawking.-II. State of Hunting among the Britons.. -III. The Saxons expert in Hunting.-IV. The Danes also.-V. The Saxons subsequently;-The Normans.--VI. Their tyrannical Proceedings.-VII. Hunting and Hawking after the Conquest.-VIII. Laws relating to Hunting.—IX. Hunting and Hawking followed by the Clergy.-X. The Manner in which the dignified Clergy in the Middle Ages pursued these Pastimes.-XI. The English Ladies fond of these Sports.-XII. Privileges of the Citizens of London to Hunt ;-Private Privileges for Hunting.—XIII. Two Treatises on Hunting considered.-XIV. Names of Beasts to be hunted.-XV. Wolves not all destroyed in Edgar's Time.-XVI. Dogs for Hunting.-XVII. Various Methods of Hunting.-XVIII. Terms used in Hunting ;-Times when to hunt. I.-HUNTING MORE ANCIENT THAN HAWKING. We have several English treatises upon the subject of Hunting, but none of them very ancient; the earliest I have met with is a MS. in the Cotton Library at the British Muscum,' written at the commencement of the fourteenth century. These compositions bear great resemblance to each other, and consist of general rules for the pursuit of game; together with the names and nature of the animals proper for hunting, and such other Vespasian, B. xii. There are also three copies of this MS. but more modern, in he Royal Library. [See sec. xiii. of the present chapter.] B matters as were necessary to be known by sportsmen. Hawking most commonly forms a part of these books; and, though this pastime can only be considered as a modern invention, when it is put in competition with that of hunting, yet it has obtained the precedency, notwithstanding the sanction of antiquity is so decidedly against it. I shall, however, in the following pages, revert the arrangement of those amusements, and begin with hunting, which naturally, in my opinion, claims the priority of place. II.-HUNTING AMONG THE BRITONS. Dio Nicus, an ancient author, speaking of the inhabitants of the northern parts of this island, tells us, they were a fierce and barbarous people, who tilled no ground, but lived upon the depredations they committed in the southern districts, or upon the food they procured by hunting. Strabo also says, that the dogs bred in Britain were highly esteemed upon the continent, on account of their excellent qualities for hunting; and these qualities, he seems to hint, were natural to them, and not the effect of tutorage by their foreign masters.2 The information derived from the above-cited authors, does not amount to a proof that the practice of hunting was familiar with the Britons collectively; yet it certainly affords much fair argument in the support of such an opinion; for it is hardly reasonable to suppose that the pursuit of game should have been confined to the uncultivated northern freebooters, and totally neglected by the more civilised inhabitants of the southern parts of the island. We are well assured that venison constituted a great portion of their food, and as they had in their possession such dogs as were naturally prone to the chase, there can be little doubt that they would exercise them for the purpose of procuring their favourite diet; besides, they kept large herds of cattle, and flocks of sheep, both of which required protection from the wolves, and other ferocious animals, that infested the woods and coverts, and must frequently have rendered hunting an act of absolute necessity. If it be granted that the Britons, generally speaking, were expert in hunting, it is still uncertain what animals were obnoxious to the chase; we know however, at least, that the hare was not anciently included; for Cæsar tells us, "the Britons did not eat the flesh of hares, notwithstanding the island abounded Dio Nicæus ex Xiphilin. 2 Lib. iv. Cæsar Bel. Gal. lib. vi. with them." And this abstinence, he adds, arose from a principle of religion; which principle, no doubt, prevented them from being worried to death: a cruelty reserved for more enlightened ages. We do not find, that, during the establishment of the Romans in Britain, there were any restrictive laws promulgated respecting the killing of game. It appears to have been an established maxim, in the early jurisprudence of that people, to invest the right of such things as had no master with those who were the first possessors. Wild beasts, birds, and fishes, became the property of those who first could take them. It is most probable that the Britons were left at liberty to exercise their ancient privileges; for, had any severity been exerted to prevent the destruction of game, such laws would hardly have been passed over without the slightest notice being taken of them by the ancient historians. III.-HUNTING AMONG THE SAXONS. The Germans, and other northern nations, were much more strongly attached to the sports of the field than the Romans, and accordingly they restricted the natural rights which the people claimed of hunting. The ancient privileges were gradually withdrawn from them, and appropriated by the chiefs and leaders to themselves; at last they became the sole prerogative of the crown, and were thence extended to the various ranks and dignities of the state at the royal pleasure. As early as the ninth century, and probably long before that period, hunting constituted an essential part of the education of a young nobleman. Asser assures us, that Alfred the great, before he was twelve years of age, was a most expert and active hunter, and excelled in all the branches of that most noble art, to which he applied with incessant labour and amazing success."2 It is certain that, whenever a temporary peace gave leisure for relaxation, hunting was one of the most favourite pastimes followed by the nobility and persons of opulence at that period. It is no wonder, therefore, that dogs proper for the sport should be held in the highest estimation. When Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred, had obtained a signal victory at Brunanburgh over Constantine king of Wales, he imposed upon him a yearly tribute of gold, silver, and cattle; to which was also added a certain number of "hawks, and sharp-scented dogs, fit for 1 Cæsar Bel. Gal. lib. vi. 2 Asser. in Vit. Ælfredi. hunting of wild beasts." 1 His successor, Edgar, remitted the pecuniary payment on condition of receiving annually the skins of three hundred wolves. We do not find, indeed, that the hawks and the hounds were included in this new stipulation; but it does not seem reasonable that Edgar, who, like his predecessor, was extremely fond of the sports of the field, should have given up that part of the tribute. IV.-HUNTING AMONG THE DANES. The Danes deriving their origin from the same source as the Saxons, differed little from them in their manners and habitudes, and perhaps not at all in their amusements; the propensity to hunting, however, was equally common to both. When Canute the Dane had obtained possession of the throne of England, he imposed several restrictions upon the pursuit of game, which were not only very severe, but seem to have been altogether unprecedented; and these may be deemed a sufficient proof of his strong attachment to this favourite pastime, for, in other respects, his edicts breathed an appearance of mildness and regard for the comforts of the people. V.--HUNTING DURING THE RESTORATION OF THE SAXONS. After the expulsion of the Danes, and during the short restoration of the Saxon monarchy, the sports of the field still maintained their ground. Edward the Confessor, whose disposition seems rather to have been suited to the cloister than to the throne, would join in no other secular amusements; but he took the greatest delight, says William of Malmsbury, "to follow a pack of swift hounds in pursuit of game, and to cheer them with his voice." He was equally pleased with hawking, and every day, after divine service, he spent his time in one or other of these favourite pastimes.4 Harold, who succeeded him, was so fond of his hawk and his hounds, that he rarely travelled without them. He is so represented upon the famous tapestry of Bayeux, with his hounds by his side and a hawk upon his hand, when brought before William duke of Normandy. Travelling thus accompanied, was not a singular trait in the character of a noblemau at this period. Will. Malmsbury. Hist. Reg. Anglorum, lib. ii. cap. 6. 4 Ibid. • Montfaucon Monarch. Fran. and Ducarel's Anglo-Norman Antiquities. |