The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-02-02
THE ROYAL BUCKHOUNDs.

THE ROYAL BUCKHOUNDS.
Hunting In Old England In tho Days OF
King George III.
But, though the royal buck
hounds as an institution can trace
their descent back to bluff King
Harry, the present fashion of hunt
ing their game began with good
King George. The date cannot be
fixed precisely, but it is certain that
the carted deer was first used in
George Ills reign, when inclosure
acts and the spread of agriculture
had made the chase of the wild stag
impossible in the settled districts Of
Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
His majesty was no thruster (Which,
seeing that he rode 10 stone, is not
surprisingly, and the hounds had
frequently to be stopped for him.
He rode to pilot, but, as the follow
ing little anecdote shows, reserved
to himself an ample discretion:
"On one occasion they came to a
place which the king did not quite
fancy. He hung a little. John has
gone over, your majesty, said one
of the equerries, hoping, no doubt,
that hole might be made for him.
Then you may go after him, said
the king and logged off to find Il
nicer place. -
Most of the household seem to
have taken their cue from their royal
master, but one Of the equerries,
Colonel Gwyn. who married Gold
smiths Jessamy Bride, wcntso we'll
in a famous run in the autumn of
1892 that he was complimented-by
the nimrod of the Gay, we presume
upon displaying more of the gen
uine, unadulterated sportsman than
the effeminate courtier. %
The hounds were from "a to &c
inches, lemon pyes and black and
white. They could so very fast, we
are told, for half an hour, giving
tongue the while like Big Ben, but
they must soon have sobered down.
for some of the runs seem to have
covered a portentous tract of coun-
try. Perhaps none was quite SO long
as that famous one in Charles lis
reign, when Il Swinley deer ran for
20 miles before it was taken near
Lord Petres, in Essex, and the Duke
of York, with the master, Colonel
Graham, was among the few who
lived to the end, but they must have
been long enough, to judge by the
names earned by two of the stays,
Moonshine and Starlight.
The deer were housed in tho same
paddocks in Swinley as tho deer of
today, and close to them stood the
masters hunting lodge, when high
jinks used to go on in the old roy
STEERING, three bottle time. On June
4, the kings birthday, as Eton boys
know well, the master used to give
dinner to the farmers and forest
ers, and sometimes the king would
drive over from Windsor and watch
the lads and lasses footing it on the
green in front of the houses. The
building was dismantlrd and pulled
down in 1891, but the grounds may
still be family traced.
The king rode in light blue coat
with black velvet cuffs, top boots
buckled behind and, after 1885, a
hunting cap. The master wore the
familiar gold belt and couples, but
apparently green coat faced with
red, something like the hunting coat
of the second empire. The yeoman
prickers wore the same heavy gold
laced scarlet coats as now and car
ried French horns, which they
wound Justify on every conceivable
occasion.
Later on q less noisy but more ef-
fcient instrument was added to the
horns. After Mr.. Mellish, master of
the Epping forest hounds. had been
robbed and murdered by highway
man on his return from hunting
couple of boys were added to the es-
tablishment, each armed with
brace of horse pistols. When the
run was ended, these pistols were
handed to two of tho yeoman prick
ers, whose duty it was to escort his
majesty back to Windsor -Macmil-
lan's Magazine.