Nice music they made, in
spite of the efforts of the varlets in russet to keep them quiet.
Hawking, in those days, was what shooting is in the present;
fowling-pieces being scarcely used, if at all. Thus the varieties of the
hawk-tribe were not merely employed in the capture of pheasants,
partridges, grouse, rails, quails, and other game, besides water-fowl,
but in the chase of hares; and in all of these pursuits the falconers
were assisted by dogs. Game, of course, could only be killed at
particular seasons of the year; and wild-geese, wild-ducks, woodcocks,
and snipes in the winter; but spring and summer pastime was afforded by
the crane, the bustard, the heron, the rook, and the kite; while, at
the same periods, some of the smaller description of water-fowl offered
excellent sport on lake or river.
A striking and picturesque sight that cavalcade presented, with its
nodding plumes of many colours, its glittering silks and velvets, its
proud array of horsemen, and its still prouder array of lovely women,
whose personal graces and charms baffle description, while they invite
it. Pleasant were the sounds that accompanied the progress of the train:
the jocund laugh, the musical voices of women, the jingling of bridles,
the snorting and trampling of steeds, the baying of hounds, the shouts
of the varlets, and the winding of horns.
But having, as yet, omitted the principal figure, we must hasten to
describe him by whom the party was headed.
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