Recreation for All
IN his introduction to this new reprint of The Gentleman's Recreation, which was first published in 1674, Mr. E. D. Cuming tells us that little is known of the author's early life except that he was a chorister at New College, Oxford, was a manciple at St. Edmund's Hall, and also carried on a bookselling business in the High Street. In 1674, when he was twenty- four years old, he moved to London and there combined hookselling with publishing. At some time or other he certainly hunted, but where, when, or how is unknown. There is evidence that he retired to Oxford in his old age and that he died at Hole in the Wall—a suitable resting-place for a sportsman who admitted that "there is not much pastime or pleasure in the Hunting of a Fox under-ground."
The first section of the " recreation " is devoted to an explanation of hunters' terms, many of which are now obsolete, and an account of the various hounds and dogs employed by sportsmen of the period. "There is," he says, "not any creature more irrational, more loving to his Master, more serviceable than a Dog, using no other means to pacific his displeasure than Humiliation and prostration, and after beating turneth a Revenge into a more fervent love."
From the ritual and equipments of the chase, Cox turns to a description of the prey and to that most royal of sports— the hunting of the hart, "who, when spent, will run stiff, high and lompering," and who is yet so deceitful that he will close his mouth in order that spectators may not see the blackness of his tongue and so guess his condition. There are only four pages on fox-hunting, and these are not par- ticularly interesting, as it was not fashionable in Cox's day, when foxes were frequently lured into the open by a " train " made out of the sperm and kidneys of a vixen, and then killed with gun or cross-bow.
Squirrel-hunting was in vogue during the latter part of the seventeenth century, and Cox's remarks on the little beast with the "lofty mind" are most amusing. He says that when driven by hunger, she will take a piece of tree-bark or rind down to the water and set herself in it. Then, "holding up her tail like a sail, letteth the wind drive her to the other side ; and carry meat in their mouths, to prevent famine whatsoever should befall them." It will be noticed that our author's grammar lapses in the last sentence. He is often delightfully inconsequent, as in these observations on a dead otter, "the flesh of this beast is both cold and filthy, because it feedeth on stinking fish and therefore not fit to be eaten, yet it is eaten in Germany, and the Carthusian Fryers, who are forbidden to eat all manner of flesh of other four-footed Beasts, yet they are not prohibited the eating of Otters. There are those in England, who have lately highly valued an Otter-pie, much good may it do them with it."
The last chapter tells of the diseases of dogs and of remedies compiled according to the descriptions of ancient and modern huntsmen. Most of the medicines are so drastic that it is not surprising that Cox recommends that they should be given "by fair means or foul."
For the most part the book deals only with those beasts Which were commonly hunted in England, though there is a Short discourse on goat-hunting, which was practised in Wales, and also an account of an amorous bear of Savoy, who took a maiden into his den, and "daily went forth and brought her the best fruits he could get, presenting them to her as food, as courtly as he could do it ; but always when he went to forrage, he rowled a very great stone to the mouth of his den, that the Virgin should not make her escape from him." It is consoling to hear that the parents at last rescued their daughter.
All those who are in search of mental recreation should be grateful to the Cresset Press for their exquisite reproduction of Nicholas Cox's classic, and to Mr. Cuining for his illuminating preface. It is interesting to note that the latter refers to an essay on a day with Sir Roger de Coverley's stop-hounds, which was written by Eustace Budgell the cousin of Addison, and which appeared in the Spectator of July 12th, 1711.
It seems fitting to conclude with Cox's warning to sportsmen : "There is great danger lest we be transported with this Pastime and so our selves grow Wild, haunting the Woods till we resemble the Beasts which are Citizens of them ; and by continual conversation with Dogs, become altogether addicted to Slaughter and Carnage, which is wholly dishonourable, being a servile employment." B. E. T.
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