King Edward VIIas a sportsman . from theWindsor deer of Whitelockes day to the red-deerin New Zealand. It is, and yet it is not. White-locke apologised for the prospect of a poor dayssport on the ground that all the best stags had beendestroyed ; and indeed it would seem that the Eng-lish poacher enjoyed a regular carnival during theGreat Rebellion. The love which the Normans hadtaught the English kings for the tall red-deer hadclothed the poor animals with an unfortunate anda precarious sanctity. For their sake the militaryefficiency of England had twice been seriously im-paired—first, when K
King Edward VIIas a sportsman . from theWindsor deer of Whitelockes day to the red-deerin New Zealand. It is, and yet it is not. White-locke apologised for the prospect of a poor dayssport on the ground that all the best stags had beendestroyed ; and indeed it would seem that the Eng-lish poacher enjoyed a regular carnival during theGreat Rebellion. The love which the Normans hadtaught the English kings for the tall red-deer hadclothed the poor animals with an unfortunate anda precarious sanctity. For their sake the militaryefficiency of England had twice been seriously im-paired—first, when King Edward the First forbadeto his lieges in the forest the use of the cloth-yard shaft ; and next, when King Henry the Eighthdiscountenanced the newly-invented hand-guns infavour of the old-fashioned bow. When, therefore,the confusion of the Civil War opened the doorto lawlessness, the onslaught on the deer seems tohave been universal. There is in the State Papers 84 DEER IN WINDSOR PARKFrom a Painting by ARCHIBALD Thorburn. Windsor a pathetic appeal from King Charles the Second tothe gentlemen living round his forests to allow hissadly-thinned herds to recover themselves, so as toafford him some little sport. Windsor, from what-ever cause, seems especially to have suffered in thisrespect. The English soldier has always requiredgood feeding, and it is quite possible that there werecunning poachers in the ranks of the new ModelArmy who kept it well provided with venison. Bethat as it may, the herd of deer was so far reducedthat the King was fain to restock the forest byimporting deer from Germany. Thus then the German deer first, so far as weknow, found his way to England ; and if any one issurprised to find the stags at Windsor larger and finerthan any that he has seen in Scotland or on Exmoor,this is the explanation. The German deer is a muchgrander animal to the eye than the English ; and ifany Englishman or Scotchman boasts himself of a finecollection of native antlers, h
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