Hunting was also in ancient times a Royal and noble
sport: Alfred the Great hunted at twelve years of age; Athelstan, Edward
the Confessor, Harold, William the Conqueror, William Rufus, and John
were all good huntsmen; Edward II. reduced hunting to a science, and
established rules for its practice; Henry IV. appointed a master of the
game; Edward III. hunted with sixty couples of stag-hounds; Elizabeth
was a famous huntswoman; and James I. preferred hunting to hawking or
shooting. The Bishops and Abbots of the middle ages hunted with great
state. Ladies also joined in the chase from the earliest times; and a
lady's hunting-dress in the fifteenth century scarcely differed from the
riding-habit of the present day.
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
[Illustration: THE DEER-STALKER'S RETURN.]
* * * * *
JOHN BUNYAN AND HIS WIFE.
[Illustration: Letter E.]
Elizabeth his wife, actuated by his undaunted spirit, applied to the
House of Lords for his release; and, according to her relation, she was
told, "they could do nothing; but that his releasement was committed to
the Judges at the next assizes." The Judges were Sir Matthew Hale and
Mr. Justice Twisden; and a remarkable contrast appeared between the
well-known meekness of the one, and fury of the other.
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