Mr. Chr. Wroughton guesses not lesse than an hundred
horses. [In the notice of William, first Earl of Pembroke, in Aubrey's
"Lives of Eminent Men," he says, "This present Earl (1680) has at
Wilton 52 mastives and 30 greyhounds, some beares, and a lyon, and a
matter of 60 fellowes more bestiall than they." - J. B.]
OF HIS LORDSHIP'S HOUNDS, GREYHOUNDS, AND HAWKES. His Lordship had all
sorts of hounds, for severall disports: sc. harbourers (great hounds)
to harbour the stagges, and also small bull-dogges to break the bayes
of the stagge; fox-hounds, finders, harriers, and others. His
Lordship had the choicest tumblers that were in England, and the same
tumblers that rode behind him he made use of to retrieve the
partridges. The setting-doggs for supper-flights for his hawkes.
Grayhounds for his hare warren, as good as any were in England. When
they returned from hawking the ladies would come out to see the hawkes
at the highest flying, and then they made use of their setting dogges
to be sure of a flight. His Lordship had two hawkes, one a falcon
called Shrewsbury, which he had of the Earle of Shrewsbury, and
another called the little tercel, which would fly quite out of sight,
that they knew not how to shew the fowler till they found the head
stood right. They had not little telescopes in those dayes; those
would have been of great use for the discovery which way the hawke's
head stood.
TILTING. Tilting was much used at Wilton in the times of Henry Earle
of Pembroke and Sir Philip Sydney.
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