Nine and twenty knights of fame Hung their shields in Branksome Hall Nine and twenty squires of name Brought them their steeds from bower to stall. Nine and twenty yeomen tall Waited duteous on them all. They were all knights of metal true, Kinsmen to the bold Buccleuch. "Lay of the Last Minstrel."--Scott. Canto i., III. Laws of the Forest. BY EDWARD PEACOCK, F.S.A. The subject of "The Laws of the Forest" and of the wild things which have their homes therein, both in our own island and elsewhere, has been a matter of discussion for ages; but very little has been written thereon which is of much service, except to legal specialists. It is, indeed, one of those difficult subjects which is hardly possible to make interesting to those whose thoughts range in the present rather than in the past. There can be no doubt whatever, that from the birth of the human race, long ere we can trace our history back in written documents, the killing of animals has been a sport as well as a means of procuring food; both these may be considered, whatever certain dreamers may aver to the contrary, as among the necessities of human life. We cannot be quite certain whether the stone axes, hammers, and spears, of which we see such numbers in our museums, were wrought in anticipation of the delights of the chase, or whether they were simply, what may be called, the tools of the primæval butcher; but, knowing as we do, the contempt in which every man at the present hour is held, who having wealth and leisure enough to indulge in what is called "sport," abstains from amusing himself in some form of slaughter, we may well believe that our palæolithic predecessors, however empty the larder might be, would try to impose on themselves that what they did was done to amuse themselves, as a manly exercise, not a stern necessity. In confirmation of this, we must call mind that there have been found several weapons with the reindeer and other animals carved, or perhaps it would be better to say scratched, upon them with a high degree of pictorial excellence; we may therefore infer that amusement, as well as appetite, occupied the minds of those early artists, who so deftly represented the creatures on whom they waged war. Had they merely been regarded as things to be eaten, such as the tinned meats we now buy from the provision merchant, they would never have been held worthy of artistic treatment. One of the oldest proverbs that have come down to us, if indeed it be not the very oldest, is that wherein we are told something "Of Nimrod the founder Of empire and chace, Who made the woods wonder And quake for their race."