The harehound, or greyhound, was considered as a very valuable present in former times,[155] and especially among the ladies, with whom it appears to have been a peculiar favourite; and therefore in another metrical romance, probably more ancient than the former, called "Sir Eglamore,"[156] a princess tells the knight, that if he was inclined to hunt, she would, as an especial mark of her favour, give him on excellent greyhound, so swift that no deer could escape from his pursuit-- Syr yf you be on huntynge founde, I shall you gyve a good greyhounde That is dunne as a doo: For as I am trewe gentylwoman, There was never deer that he at ran, That myght yscape him fro. It is evident, however, that the ladies had hunting parties by themselves. [Illustration: 4. LADIES HUNTING--XIV. CENTURY.] We find them, according to this representation, in the open fields winding the horn, rousing the game, and pursuing it, without any other assistance: this delineation, which is by no means singular, is taken from a manuscript in the Royal Library, written and illuminated early in the fourteenth century.[157] We may also observe, that, upon these occasions, the female Nimrods dispensed with the method of riding best suited to the modesty of the sex, and sat astride on the saddle like the men; but this indecorous custom, I trust, was never general, nor of long continuance, even with the heroines who were most delighted with these masculine exercises. An author of the seventeenth century speaks of another fashion, adopted by the fair huntresses of the town of Bury in Suffolk. "The Bury ladies," says he, "that used hawking and hunting, were once in a great vaine of wearing breeches" which it seems gave rise to many severe and ludicrous sarcasms. The only argument in favour of this habit, was decency in case of an accident. But it was observed that such accidents ought to be prevented, in a manner more consistent with the delicacy of the sex, that is, by refraining from those dangerous recreations.[158] Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of the chase, and the nobility who entertained her in her different progresses, made large hunting parties, which she usually joined when the weather was favourable. She very frequently indulged herself in following of the hounds. "Her majesty," says a courtier, writing to Sir Robert Sidney, "is well and excellently disposed to hunting, for every second day she is on horseback and continues the sport long."[159] At this time her majesty had just entered the seventy-seventh year of her age, and she was then at her palace at Oatlands. Often, when she was not disposed to hunt herself, she was entertained with the sight of the pastime. At Cowdrey, in Sussex, the seat of lord Montecute, A. D. 1591, one day after dinner her grace saw from a turret, "sixteen bucks all having fayre lawe, pulled downe with greyhounds in a laund or lawn."[160]