CXXI. Expenses of Fox-hunting in the Thirteenth Century. MR. URBAN, MANY gentlemen fox-hunters being doubtless readers of the Gentleman's Magazine, it will, I imagine, contribute to their amusement, to apprize them of the style and expense of their favourite diversion almost five hundred years ago; and the account of the Comptroller of the Wardrobe of King Edward I. anno Domini 1299 and 1300, will afford them much information. This account, with prefatory observations, and a glossary subjoined, was printed not long since at the charge of the Society of Antiquaries; and the four ingenious and learned members, who were desired to superintend the transcribing and publishing of this curious manuscript, executed their commission with fewer mistakes than could well have been expected in so difficult a task. A translation of the articles which relate to fox-hunting is inclosed; and, to accommodate the curious, the original Latin shall be subjoined: P. 308. Paid to William de Foxhunte, the King's huntsman of foxes in divers forests and parks, for his own wages, and the wages of his two boys to take care of the dogs, from Nov. 20th to the 19th of Nov, following, for 366 days, it being leap year, to each per day twopence Paid to the same, for the keep of twelve fox-dogs belonging to the King, for the same time, each dog per day, a halfpenny * Paid to the same, the expense of a horse to carry the nets, from Nov. 20th to the last day of April, 163 days, three-pence per day £9 3 0 9 3 0 2 0 9 * In the Observations, p. xlv. it is suggested that the allowance was a halfpenny for the keep of each for; and it is one of the very few errors that can be imputed to the respectable quartetto above-mentioned. They may have fallen into it from being in the habit of hunting a bag fox; but it is apprehended that, in the year referred to, foxes were so numerous in England, that (in order to be sure of a chase) it was not requisite to use this precaution, or that of Sir Roger de Coverley, who owned to his confi dential friends his having turned foxes about the country, that he might signalize himself in their destruction. Paid to the same, the expense of a horse from September 1st, on which day the huntingseason began, after the dead-season, to the 19th of November, 80 days, at three pence per day P. 103. Paid to William de Blatherwyck, huntsman of the King's fox-dogs, for wintershoes for himself and his two boys, to each of them two shillings and four-pence P. 317. Paid to the same, for his habit during the present year Paid to the same for habits for his two boys, ten shillings each Total £1 0 0 0 7 0 0 13 4 1 0 0 £23 7 1 If these sums are multiplied by fifteen, there will be nearly the due allowance made for the difference in the value of money between that time and the present*; and consequently the whole of the King's annual expense under this article amounted to somewhat more than three hundred and fifty pounds six shillings and three-pence of our money. Nor was this by any means a trivial charge, if it be considered upon how small a scale this part of his Majesty's establishment was formed; for it consisted of only the huntsman, two boys, twelve dogs†, and one horse to carry the toils. Such a hunt, though honoured by the title of royal, would be ridiculed by the subscribers to a modern fox-hunt. The cry of a dozen dogs (qu. terriers?) could make but a slight impression upon the ears of persons accustomed to the burst of twenty-five couple, and more, of hounds, which is apt to *This calculation is made without taking into the account the last article, amounting to 11. 4s. Od. which appears in the original Latin statement. E. + Besides these dogs, there is no other mentioned in the MS. except the hare-greyhound, leporar' gruar, at p. 96.-Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, derives the term greyhound from grig hund, (Saxon,) canis veuaticus; though a hunting-hound seems to be an addition too general. May it not rather be a corruption of the French gruier, in Latin gruarius, a principal officer noticed in the forest laws; thus distinguishing a dog that must have been in high estimation for its fleetness in coursing in an uninclosed country. The allowance for fetching this greyhound by the king's command, and keeping it, was 14. 4s. Od. It is obvious that it could not be, according to the notion of Chambers, with respect to the colour of the dogs, that they were styled grey, or gray; but green, with allusiou to the kind of ground over which they generally ran, would not have been un-apposite, for the like reason that verdurers of forests are thus denominated. "Gruier, Gallis, apud quos idem, secundum locorum discrimina, qui verdier, forestier, &c. ex quibus pronun est vocis etymon, ex Germanico nempe gruen, vel groen, viridis; unde nostris viridarius, idem quod gruarius." Du Fresue, ad verbum. excite so great an ebullition of joy, as seems for a time to deprive them of their senses, and stimulate them to "o'er the hedge high-bound,-into the perilous flood bear fearless, and of the rapid instinct full, rush down the dangerous steep."-This choice of glorious perils was not, however, indulged to their ancestors; since it appears from the entries, that they were pedestrian hunters. Mortua seisona, as here used, are words that merit our attention. To the generality of people, the warm and fertile months of May, June, July, and August, are enlivening and cheerful; though by fox-hunters of former days it was deemed a dead-season of the year. And from some expressions that have occasionally dropped from sportsmen of this class, with whom I have the pleasure of conversing, I am inclined to suspect that the epithet dead, when prefixed to summer, is, in their opinion, pertinent and emphatic. But it is a lucky circumstance, that the late revival of the play with bows and arrows has somewhat lessened the torpidity of the hunter's vacation. The same phrase brings to my mind a glaring anachronism advanced by Mr. Addison in one of the entertaining papers he is supposed to have written whilst he was visiting Sir Roger de Coverley; who, we are told, hunted almost every day in the first fortnight in July: an idea surely as incongruous, and to a farmer as horrid, as Sterling's hot buttered rolls for breakfast in that month was to Lord Ogleby! The conclusion I draw from this lapse of the pen is, that Coverley-hall was situated at either Chelsea or Islington; and that Mr. Spectator was not ambling upon the chaplain's easy pad, but walking over the Five Fields, or the Spa Fields, when he had in view the imaginary doubles of the Hare *. And perhaps in this my trailing I may have been so often at a fault, as to betray my having no right to the signature of W. DE FOXHUNTE. P. 308. Will'o de Foxhunte, venatori regis vulper' venanti in diversis forestis et parcis ad vulpes, pro vadiis suis, et duorum garcionum custod' canes Regis vulper', a 20 die Novembr', anno præsenti 28, incipiente usque 19 diem ejusdem mensis anno revoluto, per * See Spectator, No 116; in which is the following passage. "Sir Roger being at present too old for fox-hunting, to keep himself in action has dis posed of his beagles, and got a pack of stop-hounds.”—Qu. In Addison's days was it the practice to hunt foxes with beagles, and a hare with stop-hounds? 366 dies, quia annus bissextilis, cuilibet per diem 2d. Eidem pro putura 12 canum Regis vulper' per idem tempus, pro quolibet per diem ob. Eidem pro expens' unius equi portantis retia sua, a 20 die Novemb', anno presenti 28, incipiente usque ultimum diem Aprilis, utroque computato, per 163 dies, per diem 3d. Eidem pro expens' ejusdem equi portantis retia modo predicto, a primo die Septembr', quo die incipit seisona ad venand' ad vulpes post seisonam mortuam anni presentis usque 19 diem Novembr' anno presente finiente, utroque computato, per 80 dies, per diem 3d. P. 103. Will'mo de Blatherwyk, venatori Regis ad vulpes, pro calciamentis hiemalibus anni presentis, pro se et garcionibus suis, cuilibet eorum 2s. 4d. P. 317. Eidem, pro roba sua totius anni presentis Eidem, pro robis duorum garcionum suorum, pro quolibet 10s. P. 96. Henrico de Blakeburn, eunti per preceptum Regis pro quodam leporar' gruar' ad opus Regis querend' pro expensis suis eundo, morando, et redeundo, et pro putura ejusdem leporar' teniendo ad Regem; per manus proprias apud Berewycum, 28 die Decembris. 1790, Sept. £9 3 0 9 3 0 209 1 0 0 070 0 13 4 1 0.0 140 CXXII. Description of several Barrows opened in Dorsetshire. Winchester, Oct. 1. MR. URBAN, IF the life of man be short, as it is termed in Scripture, it is a wish congenial to his heart, that his memory at least. should be of long continuance. This sentiment accounts for the universal practice of raising sepulchral monuments, and is finely illustrated by the plaintive Gray: For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, The most simple and natural kind of sepulchral monuments, and therefore the most ancient and universal, consists in a mound of earth, or a heap of stones, raised over the remains of the deceased. Of such monuments, mention is made in the book of Joshua, and in the poems of Homer, Virgil, and Horace; and of such, instances occur in every part of this kingdom; especially in those elevated and sequestered situations where they have neither been defaced by agriculture nor inundations. It has often been a subject of surprise to me, that, in an age marked by its taste for antiquarian researches, greater attention should not have been paid to these most ancient and genuine records of past ages, so far, at least, as to ascertain to which of the successive inhabitants of this island they are to be ascribed, or whether, in fact, they are the work of more than one people. This can only be done by an examination of the contents of several of them in different counties, and in different situations, by persons whose learning, ingenuity, and attention, qualify them for the task. In searching, however, into these rude memorials of our forefathers, the true antiquary will ever respect their remains; and, whilst he enters into their views by endeavouring to revive their memory, he will also as far as possible consult their wishes, in leaving to their bones their ancient place of sepulture. Having been lately on a visit to a gentleman in Dorsetshire, on whose estate an incredible number of these barrows are found, he kindly complied with my wishes in causing several of them to be opened. I shall first describe, in the most accurate manner I am able, the contents of the several barrows; and then give such conjectures as occur to me, concerning the people to whom they belonged: not without a view, however, that greater light may hereafter be thrown on the subject by persons whose experience and information, in this branch of antiquarian study, are superior to my own. We began with two barrows of no great dimensions opposite to East Lullworth, on a level piece of ground that is met with in the ascent up of a steep and lofty mountain, the top of which is crowned with a bold double intrenchment, of Roman or Barbaric workmanship, and which is known by the name of Flower's barrow. If we pay any regard to the conjecture of Hutchins, in his History of Dorsetshire, who derives the name of Flower's barrow from a supposed Roman general of the name of Florus, the question will be solved at once what people raised this strong intrenchment; and it will afford some kind of presumptive proof that the barrows below contained Roman remains. But we are to observe, |