Because the natural pastures being then unimproved, and few kinds of fodder for cattle discovered, it was impossible to maintain the summer stock during the cold season. Hence a portion of it was regularly slaughtered and salted for winter provision. We may suppose, therefore, that when no alternative was offered but these salt meats, even the leanest venison was devoured with relish.--_Hallam's Hist. Middle Ages._ Why were all the great forests pierced by those long rectilinear alleys which appear in old prints, and are mentioned in old books? Because the avenues were particularly necessary for those large parties, resembling our modern _battues_, where the honoured guests being stationed in fit _standings_, had an opportunity of displaying their skill in venery by selecting the buck which was in season, and their dexterity at bringing him down with the cross-bow or long-bow. Why should a deer-park exhibit but little artificial arrangement in its disposal? Because the stag, by nature one of the freest denizens of the forest, can only be kept even under comparative restraint, by taking care that all around him intimates a complete state of forest and wilderness. Thus, there ought to be a variety of broken ground, of copse-wood, and of growing timber--of land, and of water. The soil and herbage must be left in its natural state; the long fern, amongst which the fawns delight to repose, must not be destroyed. Why did the common people formerly call the forest "good," and the greenwood "merry?" Because of the pleasure they took in the scenes themselves, as well as in the pastimes which they afforded. Why is a short gallop called a canter? Because of its abbreviation from Canterbury, the name of the pace used by the monks in going to that city. Why was a certain noise called the "hunt's-up?" Because it was made to rouse a person in a morning; originally a tune played to wake the sportsmen, and call them together, the purport of which was, _The hunt is up!_ which was the subject of hunting ballads also. This expression is common among the older poets. One Gray, it is said, grew into good estimation with Henry VIII. and the Duke of Somerset, "for making certaine merry ballades, whereof one chiefly was, _the hunte is up! the hunte is up!_" Shakspeare has-- Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, Hunting thee hence with _hunts-up_ to the day. _Romeo and Juliet._ Again, in Drayton's _Polyolbion_-- No sooner doth the earth her flow'ry bosom brave, At such time as the year brings on the pleasant spring, But _hunts-up_ to the morn the feather'd sylvans sing. Why is a small hunting horn called a bugle? Because of its origin from _bugill_, which means a buffalo, or perhaps any horned cattle. In the Scottish dialect it was _bogle_, or _bowgill_. _Buffe_, _bugle_, and _buffalo_, are all given by Barrett, as synonimous for the wild ox.--_Nares' Glossary_. Why is the stirrup so called?