The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-02-02
THE ROYAL BucKHouNps.
Huhting In OLD England In the Days OF
King George III.

Huhting In OLD England In the Days OF
King Georsc 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 thcir game began with good
King George. The date cannot be-
fixed precisely, but it is certain that
the carted deor 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
surprising), and the hounds had
frequently to be stopped for him.
be rode toa pilot, but, as the follow
ing little anecdote shows, reserved
10 himself mn ample discretion:
"On one occasion they cams 10 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 g iioio might DC nude for him.
Then You may go after him., said
the king and logged off to find II
nicer place"
Most of the household seem to
have taken their cue from their royal
master, but one of the eauerries,
Colonel Gwyn, who married Gold
smiths Jessamy Bride, went so we'll
in famous run in the autumn of
1892 that he was complimentary
the nimrod of the day, 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 go very fast, we
are told. for half an hour, giving
tongue tho while like Big Ben, but
they must soon have sobered down.
for some of the runs seem to have
covered 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
40 miles before it was taken near
Lord Petres, n 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 stags,
Moonehine AMI Starlight.
The deer were housed il tho sumo
paddooks in Swinley as tho deer Of
today, and close to them stood the
masters hunting lodge, when high
iinks used to go on in the old roy
stering, three bottle time. On June
4, the kings birthday, as Eton boys
know we'll, 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 dismantled 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 1886, a
hunting cap. The master wore the
familiar gold belt and couples, but
apparently a green coat faced with
red, something like the hunting coat
of the second empire. The yeoman
prickers wore the same heavy gold
3ecel scarlet coats rs new and car
ried French horns, which they
wound Justify on every conceivable
occasion.
Later on less noisy bu; more ef-
ficient instrument was added to the
horns. After Mr.. Mellish, master of
the Epping forest hounds. had been
robbed and murdered by a highway
man on his return from hunting q
couple Of boys were added to the es-
tablishment, each armed with a
brace of l.orse 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. r.-Macmil-
lan's Magazine.