Related article: greyhounds — a name which, by the way, Strutt says was given to them because they were first used to pursue the badger or grey, a derivation which needs a good deal of verification ; and it may be noted that in the Royal Library a genealogical roll of the Kings of England to the time of Henry III. contains a very excel- lent delineation of coursing, at which the King is said to have been present. It is because coursing and hunt- ing were formerly so closely allied that the connection of Royalty with hunting may next follow on. As I mentioned above. King Alfred was as fond of hunt- ing as was King George III., and according to Asser he was an expert before he was twelve years old, thus beating the famed "Bob" Ward, of the Hertford- shire, who was said to have been very handy with a pack of beagles when he was but fifteen years of age. Canute, the Dane, no sooner found himself upon the throne of England than he at once pro- ceeded to impose several severe restrictions upon the taking of game, which probably showed that he took a great interest in the chase. One need hardly linger long over the conn^tion of the Nor- mans with hunting, for that is common knowledge. Everyone knows how the Conqueror de- populated villages and pulled down churches to enlarge the New Forest in Hampshire, wherein, according to the story, Rufus was killed by an arrow from the bow of Sir Walter Tyrell. Pre- sumably, it was a " shooting accident," though some have taken another view of the matter ; and one critic wrote to the effect that the wonder was not that he was pierced by an arrow in the thirteenth year of his reign, but that no one had done for him long before. Henry, Earl of Warwick, taking a leaf out of the King's book, made himself a park, and Henry, son of the Con- queror, made the park at Wood- stock, in order that he might hunt at his pleasure. As the death of King William IL shows, however, that hunting was a mongrel sort of sport, hunting, coursing and shooting combined^ so years elapsed before hunting, to use an appropriate phrase, took a line of its own. It is as long ago as the reign of William the Conqueror that we come upon the first known instance of a hunting family. A man named Croc (whose ancestors had pro- bably been with hounds) was huntsman to the first William, and for some time Lincocin Antibiotic at least the son succeeded his father, as William Croc was huntsman to King John; while very many ' years later a man of the same name was forester or verderer in the New Forest. Nowadays we like to see Royalty in the hunting field ; but the sheriffs and squires would pro- bably rather have had the King's room than his company up to at least the fifteenth century. These gentlemen were forced to become unwilling hosts. Taking at ran- dom an account of one hunting arrangement, we find that on June 7th, 12 12, the King sent to the Sherifif of Hampshire, at Andover, Robert de Kereley with two ser- vants and some horses, several officials, twenty-eight hounds, and ten greyhounds, and the Sheriff was directed to supply all things necessary for man and beast. At the same time William Croc was Lincocin 300 Mg sent to another house with some servants, sixty-two hoimds, and twelve greyhounds, the unlucky Sheriff being responsible for the I901.1 ROYALTY AND SPORT. 197 putting up of the whole ; while he had also to supply a cart to carry away the dead game, for it was not then a case of killing one stag, or two, in a day, but of getting as many as possible. When the King decided to hunt all preparations were made in advance, and all particulars were afterwards committed to writing by the Master of the Game to Henry IV. for the use of Prince Henry, his son. On the order being given, the forester, park keeper and verderer, and Master of the Game, set to work to see that all details were observed. The Sheriff looked after the temporary stable and kennel, as already mentioned, while the forester and his men erected a number of temporary stands for the accommodation of the Royal party and their suite. These stands were apparently to be covered with green boughs, and when the party were in position the hunting began. It would seem^ that the first game roused was hunted whether boar, red deer, or fallotv buck ; and the huntsman, or some man in charge of the horn, signified by the notes he blew what the animal was. The country side would turn out, but a staff of persons were em- ployed to keep them from ** head- ing the fox," or glutting too close to Royalty. Three long notes on a horn told the huntsman and his Buy Lincocin attendants that the party were in position, and then the hunts- man uncoupled his hounds, and his aim was, with help, to drive the game past the stands, whence the deer was shot at with bows or cross-bows, or the greyhounds were slipped on the chance that they might run him down. If a deer were killed by an arrow from a Royal bow no official had any claim on any portion of the carcase, but if it were despatched in any other way, or pulled down by the hounds, the Master of the Game assigned certain parts to the various officials who had been engaged in arranging and carry- ing out the hunt. Sometimes, too, the game was driven into nets, very much as are the deer Lincocin Tablets in Windsor Park when Mr. Overton makes his annual arrangements for replenishing the Swinley Herd. This sort of thing is what they called hunting once upon a time, and when it was in vogue corre- sponded to a fine run over a grass country ; but in this primitive form of hunting, in which men were employed to head the game and help to drive it past the Royal pavilions, we may trace the early use of beaters and stops as applied to covert shooting to-day. In the absence of the hunting correspon- dent little is known of the personal feats of the early kings. They no doubt enjoyed themselves, and made some good shots. In the ab- sence, however,of sufficient definite particulars it is needless to trace hunting reign by reign, as for a long time it was conducted on the above lines. Most of our kings hunted, and John, as we know, was so devoted to it and all other sports that he was always ready to take payment in horses, hawks, and hounds ; he is supposed to have had better horses than any