62 EPPING FOREST
hounds were not foxhounds entered to deer, but the old-
fashioned staghounds, such as King George III. used
for the purpose. The servants were dressed in Lincoln
green. There were constant hunt breakfasts at the
Eagle, at Snaresbrook (then in the midst of the open
waste), where all were bidden at Mr. Long Wellesley's
. expense. Everything was done with the most reck-
less extravagance ; and he would scatter sovereigns to
countrymen in the hunting field as readily as other
liberal sportsmen would give shillings or sixpences.
The pace was too great to last; and when the establish-
ment at Wanstead was broken up, Tommy Rounding
managed to secure a few couples of the hounds, which
he kept in a rough sort of a way at the back of his
house, the Horse and Groom, at Woodford Wells. It
may seem passing strange to the present generation that
a publican, living within nine miles of the London
stones, should have kept hounds to hunt the wild red-
deer ; but there are those living who can vouch for the
fact. Rounding was a capital sportsman, and so were
all the family; his brother Richard, who had died pre-
viously, and his brother Robert, who only died last year.
We must borrow from Mr. Thomas Hood, who knew
him well, a description of the man himself:—
A snow-white head, a merry eye,
A cheek of jolly blush ;
A claret tint laid on by health
With Master Reynard's brush !
And so the game was kept alive until an order came
that the red-deer were to be caught up and taken to
Windsor Park. This was carried out as far as practic-
able ; the few that had escaped the toils of the yeomen
prickers gradually fell victims to poachers and pot-
hunters, until of the whole herd only one old stag
remained. This stag was hunted by Tommy Rounding,
and, after a great run, was killed at West Ham ; and
so ended the chase of the wild red-deer in Epping
Forest. For years afterwards, at the festive gatherings
at the Horse and Groom, a handsome silver cup used
to be handed round, with the inscription—' From Long
Wellesley abroad to Tommy Rounding at Home!' "
The staghounds came to an end in 1797, but occasional
hunts seem to have continued to be held, until early in
the 19th century the red-deer were suffered, from the in-
difference of the authorities, to diminish; and the re-
mainder of the herd were finally caught some twenty
years later, and were transported to Windsor. A stag
and two hinds were recently enlarged on the Forest
in the hope of restoring the ancient breed, but they
proved to be so mischievous that they had to be de-
stroyed.
Roe-Deer. These beautiful little animals—the smallest of
the deer tribe of Great Britain—roamed throughout the
forest regions of Great Britain in primeval times, and
doubtless Epping Forest formed no exception. Until
quite recently, although they are very numerous in the