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to hunting, were hawking, falconry, and cocking.

Packs of bounds were always kept in the neighbourhood of the chase, and hunted there in the proper seasons. There were three sorts of animals of chase besides deer, VIZ. foxes, hares, and mertincats: the race of the latter are nearly extinct; their skins were too valuable for them to be suffered to exist. At that time no hounds were kept and used for any particular sort of game except the buck-hounds, but they hunted casually the first that came in their way.

First Pack of Fox-hounds.

The first real steady pack of fox-hounds established in the western part of England was by Thomas Fownes, Esq. of Stepleton, in Dorsetshire, about 1730. They were as handsome, and fully as complete in every respect, as any of the most celebrated packs of the present day. The owner was obliged to dispose of them, and they were sold to Mr. Bowes, in Yorkshire, the father of the late lady Strathmore, at an immense price. They were taken into Yorkshire by their own attendants, and, after having been viewed and much admired in their kennel, a day was fixed for making trial of them in the field, to meet at a famous hare-cover near. When the huntsman came with his hounds in the morning, he discovered a great number of sportsmen, who were riding in the cover, and whipping the furzes as for a hare; he therefore halted, and informed Mr. Bowes that he was unwilling to throw off his hounds until the gentlemen had retired, and ceased the slapping of whips, to which his hounds were not accustomed, and he would engage to find a fox in a few minutes if there was one there. The gentlemen sportsmen having obeyed the orders given by Mr. Bowes, the huntsman, taking the wind of the cover, threw off his hounds, which immediately began to feather, and soon got upon a drag into the cover, and up to the fox's kennel, which went off close before them, and, after a severe burst over a fine country, was killed, to the great satisfaction of the whole party. They then returned to the same cover, not one half of it having been drawn, and very soon found a second fox, exactly in the same manner as before, which broke cover immediately over the same fine country: but the chase was much longer; and in the course of it, the fox made its way to a nobleman's park. It had been customary to stop hounds before they could enter it, but the best-mount

ed sportsmen attempted to stay the Dorsetshire hounds in vain. The dogs topped the highest fences, dashed through herds of deer and a number of hares, without taking the least notice of them; and ran in to their fox, and killed him some miles beyond the park. It was the unanimous opinion of the whole hunt, that it was the finest run ever known in that country. A collection of field-money was made for the huntsman, much beyond his expectations; and he returned to Stepleton in better spirits than he left it.

Before this pack was raised in Dorsetshire, the hounds that hunted Cranbourn Chase, hunted all the animals promiscuously, except the deer, from which they were necessarily kept steady, otherwise they would not have been suffered to hunt in the chase at all.

Origin of Cranbourn Chase.

This royal chase, always called "The King's Chase," in the lapse of ages came into possession of an earl of Salisbury. It is certain that after one of its eight distinct walks, called Fernditch Walk, was sold to the earl of Pembroke, the entire remainder

of the chase was alienated to lord Ashley, afterwards earl of Shaftesbury. Alderholt Walk was the largest and most extensive in the whole Chase; it lies in the three counties of Hants, Wilts, and Dorset ; but the lodge and its appurtenances is in the parish of Cranbourn, and all the Chase courts are held at the manor-house there, where was also a prison for offenders against the Chase laws. Lord Shaftesbury deputed rangers in the different walks in the year 1670, and afterwards dismembering it, (though according to old records, it appears to have been dismembered long before,) by destroying Alderholt Walk; he sold the remainder to Mr. Freke, of Shroton, in Dorsetshire, from whom it lineally descended to the present possessor, lord

Rivers.

Accounts of Cranbourn Chase can be traced to the æra when king John, or some other royal personage, had a hunting-seat at Tollard Royal, n the county of Wilts. Hence the name o royal" to that parish was certainly derived. There are vestiges in and about the old palace, which clearly evince that it was once a royal habitation; and it still bears the name of " King John's House." There are large cypress trees growing before the house, the relics of grand terraces may be easily traced, and

the remains of a park to which some of them lead. A gate at the end of the park at the entrance of the Royal Chase, now called "Alarm Gate," was the place probably where the horn was blown to call the keepers to their duty in attending their lord in his sports. There is also a venerable old wych-elm tree, on the Chase side of the "Alarm Gate," under which lord Arundel, the possessor of Tollard Royal, holds a court annually, on the first Monday in the month of September. A view of the mansion in its present state, is given in the "Gentleman's Magazine" for September

1811.

Barley-break.

Mr. Strutt, the indefatigable historian of the "Sports and Pastimes of the People of England," says of Barley-break: "The excellency of this sport seems to have consisted in running well, but I know not its properties." Beyond this Mr. Strutt merely cites Dr. Johnson's quotation of two lines from sir Philip Sidney, as an authority for the word. Johnson, limited to a mere dictionary explanation, calls it " kind of rural play; a trial of swiftness." Sidney, in his description of the rural courtship of Urania by Strephon, conveys a sufficient idea of "Barley-break." shepherd seeks the society of his mistress wherever he thinks it likely to find her.

Nay ev'n unto her home he oft would go,

Where bold and hurtless many play he tries; Her parents liking well it should be so,

For simple goodness shined in his eyes: Then did he make her laugh in spite of woe So as good thoughts of him in all arise; While into none doubt of his love did sink, For not himself to be in love did think.

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This "sad shepherd" held himself towards Urania according to the usual custom and manner of lovers in such cases.

For glad desire, his late embosom'd guest,

Yet but a babe, with milk of sight he nurst:
Desire the more he suckt, more sought the breast
Like dropsy-folk, still drink to be athirst;
Till one fair ev'n an hour ere sun did rest,
Who then in Lion's cave did enter first,
By neighbors pray'd, she went abroad thereby
At Barley-break her sweet swift foot to try.
Never the earth on his round shoulders bare
A maid train'd up from high or low degree,
That in her dcings better could compare
Mirth with respect, few words with courtesie,
A careless comeliness with comely care,
Self-guard with mildness, sport with majesty;

Which made her yield to deck this shepherd's band:
And still, believe me, Strephon was at hand.
Then couples three be straight allotted there,
They of both ends the middle two do fly;
The two that in mid-place, Hell, called were,
Must strive with waiting foot, and watching eye,
To catch of them, and them to Hell to bear,

That they, as well as they, Hell may supply
Like some which seek to salve their blotted name
With other's blot, till all do taste of shame.

There you may see, soon as the middle two
Do coupled towards either couple make,

They false and fearful do their hands undo,

Brother his brother, friend doth his friend forsake, Heeding himself, cares not how fellow do,

But of a stranger mutual help doth take: As perjured cowards in adversity, With sight of fear, from friends to fremb'dt doth fly,

adventurers The game being played out with divers

All to second Barley-break again are bent.

During the second game, Strephon was chased by Urania.

Strephon so chased did seem in milk to swim;
He ran, but ran with eye o'er shoulder cast,
More marking her, than how himself did go,
Like Numid's lions by the hunters chased,

Though they do fly, yet backwardly do glow

With proud aspect, disdaining greater haste: What rage in them, that love in him did show; But God gives them instinct the man to shun, And he by law of Barley-break must run.

Urania caught Strephon, and he was sent by the rules of the sport to the condemned place, with a shepherdess, named Nous, who affirmed

it was no right, for his default,

Who would be caught, that she should goBut so she must. And now the third assault Of Barley-break.

Strephon, in this third game, pursues Urania; Klaius, his rival suitor, suddenly interposed.

For with pretence from Strephon her to guard,
He met her full, but full of warefulness,
With in-bow'd bosom well for her prepared,
When Strephon cursing his own backwardness
Came to her back, and so, with double ward,
Imprison'd her, who both them did possess
As heart-bound slaves.

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Her race did not her beauty's beams augment,

For they were ever in the best degree, But yet a setting forth it some way lent,

As rubies lustre when they rubbed be⚫ The dainty dew on face and body went,

As on sweet flowers, when morning's drops we see : Her breath then short, seem'd loth from home to pass,

Which more it moved, the more it sweeter was.

Happy, O happy! if they so might bide

To see their eyes, with how true humbleness, They looked down to triumph over pride;

With how sweet blame she chid their sauciness-
Till she brake from their arms-

And farewelling the flock, did homeward wend,
And so, that even, the Barley-break did end.

This game is mentioned by Burton, in his "Anatomy of Melancholy," as one of our rural sports, and by several of the poets, with more or less of description, though by none so fully as Sidney, in' the first eclogue of the "Arcadia," from whence the preceding passages are taken.

The late Mr, Gifford, in a note on Massinger, chiefly from the " Arcadia," describes Barley-break thus: "It was played by six people, (three of each sex,) who were coupled by lot. A piece of ground was then chosen, and divided into three compartments, of which the middle one was called hell. It was the object of the couple

condemned to this division to catch the others, who advanced from the two extremities; in which case a change of situation took place, and hell was filled by the couple who were excluded by preoccupation from the other places: in this catching, however, there was some difficulty, as, by the regulations of the game, the middle couple were not to separate before they had succeeded, while the others might break hands whenever they found themselves hard pressed. When all had been taken in turn, the last couple were said to be in hell, and the game ended."

Within memory, a game called Barleybreak has been played among stacks of corn, in Yorkshire, with some variation from the Scottish game mentioned presently. In Yorkshire, also, there was another form of it, more resembling that in the "Arcadia," which was played in open ground. The childish game of "Tag" seems derived from it. There was a "tig," or tag, whose touch made a prisoner, in the Yorkshire game.

BARLA-BREIKIS.

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though differently played. It is termed "Barla-breikis," or "Barley-bracks." Dr. Jamieson says it is generally played by young people, in a corn-yard about the stacks; and hence called Barla-bracks, "One stack is fixed as the dule or goal; and one person is appointed to catch the rest of the company, who run out from the dule. He does not leave it till they are all out of his sight. Then he sets out to catch them. Any one who is taken, cannot run out again with his former associates, being accounted a prisoner, but is obliged to assist his captor in pursuing the rest. When all are taken, the game is finished; and he who is first taken, is bound to act as catcher in the next game. This innocent sport seems to be almost entirely forgotten in the south of Scotland. It is also falling into desuetude in the north.”*

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* Mr. Archdeacon Nares's Glossary.

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To the Editor.

A chairman late 's a chairman dead,
And to his grave, by chairman sped,
They wake him, as they march him through
The streets of Bath, to public view.

Bath. Sir, I beg leave to transmit for your use the following attempt at description of an old and singular custom, performed by the chairman of this my native city, which perhaps you are not altogether a stranger to, and which is still kept up among them as often as an opportunity permits for its performance. Its origin I have not been able to trace, but its authenticity you may rely on, as it is too often seen to be forgotten by your Bath readers. I have also accompanied it with the above imperfect sketch, as a further illustration of their manner of burying the "dead," alias, ex

posing a drunkard of their fraternity. The following is the manner in which the "obsequies" to the intoxicated are performed

If a chairman, known to have been "dead" drunk over night, does not appear on his station before ten o'clock on the succeeding morning, the "undertaker," Anglice, his partner, proceeds, with such a number of attendants as will suffice for the ceremony, to the house of the late unfortunate. If he is found in bed, as is usually the case, from the effects of his sacrifice to the "jolly God," they pull him out of his nest, hardly permitting him to dress, and place him on the "bier,"-a chairman's horse,-and, throwing a coat over him,

which they designate a "pall," they perambulate the circuit of his station in the following order :—

1. The sexton-a man tolling a small

hand-bell.

2. Two mutes—each with a black stocking on a stick.

3. The torch bearer-a man carrying a lighted lantern.

4. The "corpse" borne on the "hearse," carried by two chairmen, covered with the aforesaid pall.

The procession is closed by the "mourners" following after, two and two; as many joining as choose, from the station to which the drunkard belongs.

After exposing him in this manner to the gaze of the admiring crowd that throng about, they proceed to the public-house he has been in the habit of using, where his "wake" is celebrated in joviality and mirth, with a gallon of ale at his expense. It often happens that each will contribute a trifle towards a further prolongation of the carousal, to entrap others into the same deadly snare; and the day is spent in baiting for the chances of the next morning, as none are exempt who are not at their post before the prescribed hour.

I am, &c.

W. G.

William Gifford, Esq. On Sunday morning, the 31st of December, 1826, at twenty minutes before one o'clock, died," at his house in Jamesstreet, Buckingham-gate, in the seventyfirst year of his age, William Gifford, Esq., author of the Baviad and Mæviad,' translator of Juvenal and Persius,' and editor of the Quarterly Review,' from its commencement down to the beginning of the year just past. To the translation of Juvenal' is prefixed a memoir of himself, which is perhaps as modest and pleasant a piece of autobiography as ever was written."-The Times, January 1, 1827.

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INTERESTING

Memoir of Mr. Gifford.

BY HIMSELF-VERBATIM.

I am about to enter on a very uninteresting subject but all my friends tell me that it is necessary to account for the long delay of the following work; and I can only do it by adverting to the circumstances of my life. Will this be accepted as an apology?

I know but little of my family and that little

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He was probably a native of Devonshire, for there he spent the last years of his life; spent them, too, in some sort of consideration, for Mr. T. (a very respectable surgeon of Ashburton) loved to repeat to me, when I first grew into notice, that he had frequently hunted with his hounds.*

My grandfather was on ill terms with him: I believe, not without sufficient reason, for he was extravagant and dissipated. My father never mentioned his name, but my mother would That he spent much, I know; but I am inclined sometimes tell me that he had ruined the family.

to think, that his undutiful conduct occasioned my great-grandfather to bequeath a considerable part of his property from him.

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My father, I fear, revenged in some measure the cause of my great-grandfather. He was, as I have heard my mother say, a very wild young man, who could be kept to nothing." He was sent to the grammar-school at Exeter; from which he made his escape, and entered on board a man of war. He was reclaimed from

this situation by my grandfather, and left his school a second time, to wander in some vagabond society. He was now probably given up; for he was, on his return from this notable adventure, reduced to article himself to a plumber and glazier, with whom he luckily staid long enough to learn the business. I suppose his father was now dead, for he became possessed of two small estates, married my mother, (the daughter of a carpenter at Ashburton, and self; which he did, with some credit, at South thought himself rich enough to set up for himMolton. Why he chose to fix there, quired; but I learned from my mother, that after a residence of four or five years, he thoughtlessly engaged in a dangerous frolic, which drove him once more to sea: this was an attempt to excite a riot in a Methodist chapel; for which his companions were prosecuted, and he fled.

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My father was a good seaman, and was soon made second in command in the Lyon, a large armed transport in the service of government: while my mother (then with child of me) returned to her native place, Ashburton, where I was born, in April, 1756.

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The matter is of no consequence-no, not even to myself. From my family I derived nothing but a name, which is more, perhaps, than I shall leave but (to check the sneers of rude vulgarity) that family was among the most ancient and respectable of this part of the country, and, not more than three generations from the present, was counted among the wealthiest.-Breas evap!

† He had gone with Bamfylde Moor Carew, then an old man.

Her maiden name was Elizabeth Cain. My father's christian name was Edward.

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