[16.] Nichols’ “Progresses, Processions, and Magnificent Festivities of Queen Elizabeth,” vol. iii. p. 90. (1788–1805.)
[17.] “A forester is an officer of the forest sworn to preserve the vert and venison therein, and to attend the wild beasts within his bailiwick, and to watch and endeavour to keep them safe, by day and night. He is likewise to apprehend all offenders in vert and venison, and to present them to the Courts of the Forest, to the end they may be punished according to their offences.”—The Gentleman’s Recreation. 1686.
[18.] “We say the deer is ‘broken up,’ the fox and hare are ‘cased.’”—The Gentleman’s Recreation. 1686.
From this ancient practice, too, is derived the phrase, “to eat humble pie,” more correctly written “umble pie.” This was a venison pasty, made of the umbles (heart, liver, and lungs), and always given to inferiors, and placed low down on the table when the squire feasted publicly in the hall.
[19.] “The coney is called the first year ‘a rabbet,’ and afterwards ‘an old coney.’ He is a beast of the warren, and not a beast of venery.”—The Gentleman’s Recreation. 1686.
[20.] Brock is the old name for badger, and we still find the word occurring in many names of places, possibly thereby indicating localities where the badger was formerly common. Of these may be mentioned, Brockhurst in Shropshire, Brockenhurst in Kent, Brockenborough in Wiltshire, Brockford in Suffolk, Brockhall in Northampton, Brockhampton in Oxford, Dorset, Gloucester, and Herefordshire, Brockham Green in Surrey, Brockholes in Lancashire and Yorkshire, Brock-le-bank in Cumberland, Brocklesby in Lincolnshire, Brockley in Somersetshire, Brockley in Suffolk, Brockley Hill in Kent, Brockley Hill in Hertfordshire, Brockmoor in Staffordshire, Brockworth in Gloucestershire.
[21.] See also Winter’s Tale, Act iv. Sc. 3.
[22.] In the Midland Counties, the bat is often called leathern-wings. Compare the high German “leder-maus.”
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