PALCONRY.

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u mento tamen tam ridiculum argumentum fore, desiderata“ a<l res venereas marina obscoeua, quam si dicas marinum“ pectinem comendo capillo quaesitum, vel aucupandis vo-“ lantibus piscem accipitrem, aut venandis apris piscem“ apriculum, aut eliciendis mortuis marina calvaria.” Whichapology he made from his having been accused of collectingsea-animals with indecent names for obscene purposes.

It cannot be said this art was ever forgotten, although ithas assuredly, since the invention of guns and gunpowder,fallen into disuse, at least in Europe . Like other inventions,though at first much admired, when once its novelty hadceased to attract, it is natural to presume it was somewhat neg-lected, especially among civilized nations, where were otherresources to supply natural wants. Certain it is, that at oneperiod it was perfected. The Romans laws ,fc of the latterperiod recognise it, as do many writers of the fourth andfifth centuries.

Julius Firmicus Maternus, who wrote in the time of Con-stantine the Great , anno 336', says, in his Astronomicon, inwhich he teaches the art of casting nativities, assures hisreaders that those born under the influence of certain signs,will become great sportsmen and keep hounds and falcons.Caius Sollius Apollinaris Sidonius , who was contemporarywith the Emperor Avitus , celebrates his wife's brother, Her-dicius, because he first practised in. his territories huntingand fowling with dogs and hawks. The same author, inother parts of his work, mentions hawking.

Hunting, and all its concomitant arts, at first wereemployed for purposes of utility: those arts, however, insubsequent ages, when the necessities of man were curtailedby the superior arts of civilization, became disused; what hadat first been useful, now became an article of luxury: accord-ingly, we discover it was monopolized by the powerful and opu-lent, and princes and feudal lords claimed the chase as theirexclusive prerogative; therefore, whilst it was so engrossed,it received every improvement that superior art could sug-gest. During the dark ages, and even in our own time,‘ r

16 The words here alluded to are in Digest, lib. xliii. tit. 24, 22. ** Ne is, quiduntaxat iter per fundum nicuiu fecerit, ant avcm egerit, vcnatusve fuerit, sineullo opere, hoc interdicto feneatur.”

*7 The abbey church of Great Malvern, in the county of Worcester , which hasbeen for ages eminent for the finest specimens of stained glass, in die quantity andquality of its workmanship, not to be surpassed by any known example in Eng-land, was, through the wilful negligence of a former incumbent, a huntsman,brought in his time into a state of ruin and decay.

A gentleman, who viewed this fiibrlc in 1788, has left the following picture of it* *desolation. “ On the north side of the church was a play-ground for * school'-