[7] See Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, who also gives an illustration, “taken from a manuscriptal painting of the 9th century in the Cotton Library,” representing “a Saxon chieftain, attended by his huntsman and a couple of hounds, pursuing the wild swine in a forest.”
[8] See Lappenberg, Hist. of England under the Anglo-Saxon Kings (ii. 361, Thorpe’s trans.).
[9] Le Art de venerie, translated with preface and notes by Sir Henry Dryden (1893), new edition by Miss A. Dryden (1909), including The Craft of Venerie from a 15th-century MS. and a 13th-century poem La Chasse d’on cerf.
HUNTING DOG (Lycaon pictus), an African wild dog, differing from the rest of the family in having only four toes on each foot, and its blotched coloration of ochery yellow, black and white. The species is nearly as large as a mastiff, with long limbs, broad flat head, short muzzle and large erect ears, and presents a superficial resemblance to the spotted hyena on which account it is sometimes called the hyena-dog. “Mimicry” has been suggested as an explanation of this likeness; but it is difficult to see what advantage a strong animal hunting in packs like the present species can gain by being mistaken for a hyena, as it is in every respect fully qualified to take care of itself. These wild dogs are found in nearly the whole of Africa south and east of the Sahara. The statement of Gordon Cumming that a pack “could run into the swiftest or overcome the largest and most powerful antelope,” is abundantly confirmed, and these dogs do great damage to sheep flocks. Several local races of the species have been named.
| Cape Hunting Dog (Lycaon pictus). |
HUNTINGDON, EARLS OF. George Hastings, 1st earl of Huntingdon[1] (c. 1488-1545), was the son and successor of Edward, 2nd Baron Hastings (d. 1506), and the grandson of William, Baron Hastings, who was put to death by Richard III. in 1483. Being in high favour with Henry VIII., he was created earl of Huntingdon in 1529, and he was one of the royalist leaders during the suppression of the rising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. His eldest son Francis, the 2nd earl (c. 1514-1561), was a close friend and political ally of John Dudley, duke of Northumberland, sharing the duke’s fall and imprisonment after the death of Edward VI. in 1553; but he was quickly released, and was employed on public business by Mary. His brother Edward (c. 1520-1572) was one of Mary’s most valuable servants; a stout Roman Catholic, he was master of the horse and then lord chamberlain to the queen, and was created Baron Hastings of Loughborough in 1558, this title becoming extinct when he died.
The 2nd earl’s eldest son Henry, the 3rd earl (c. 1535-1595), married Northumberland’s daughter Catherine. His mother was Catherine Pole (d. 1576), a descendant of George, duke of Clarence; and, asserting that he was thus entitled to succeed Elizabeth on the English throne, Huntingdon won a certain amount of support, especially from the Protestants and the enemies of Mary, queen of Scots. In 1572 he was appointed president of the council of the north, and during the troubled period between the flight of Mary to England in 1568 and the defeat of the Spanish armada twenty years later he was frequently employed in the north of England. It was doubtless felt that the earl’s own title to the crown was a pledge that he would show scant sympathy with the advocates of Mary’s claim. He assisted George Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury, to remove the Scottish queen from Wingfield to Tutbury, and for a short time in 1569 he was one of her custodians. Huntingdon was responsible for the compilation of an elaborate history of the Hastings family, a manuscript copy of which is now in the British Museum. As he died childless, his earldom passed to his brother George. Another brother, Sir Francis Hastings (d. 1610), was a member of parliament and a prominent puritan during Elizabeth’s reign, but is perhaps more celebrated as a writer. George, the 4th earl (c. 1540-1604), was the grandfather of Henry, the 5th earl (1586-1643), and the father of Henry Hastings (c. 1560-1650), a famous sportsman, whose character has been delineated by the 1st earl of Shaftesbury (see L. Howard, A Collection of Letters, &c., 1753). The 6th earl was the 5th earl’s son Ferdinando (c. 1608-1656). His brother Henry, Baron Loughborough (c. 1610-1667), won fame as a royalist during the Civil War, and was created a baron in 1643.
Theophilus, the 7th earl (1650-1701), was the only surviving son of the 6th earl. In early life he showed some animus against the Roman Catholics and a certain sympathy for the duke of Monmouth; afterwards, however, he was a firm supporter of James II., who appointed him to several official positions. He remained in England after the king’s flight and was imprisoned, but after his release he continued to show his hostility to William III. One of his daughters, Lady Elizabeth Hastings (1682-1739), gained celebrity for her charities and her piety. Her beauty drew encomiums from Congreve and from Steele in the pages of the Tatler, and her other qualities were praised by William Law. She was a benefactor to Queen’s College, Oxford.