e Countess of Exeter formed one of the chief
ornaments of the hawking party, Lord Roos had not joined it; his absence
being occasioned by a summons from the Conde de Gondomar, with some of
whose political intrigues he was secretly mixed up. Whether the Countess
missed him or not, we pretend not to say. All we are able to declare is,
she was in high spirits, and seemed in no mood to check the advances of
other aspirants to her favour. Her beautiful and expressive features
beamed with constant smiles, and her lustrous black eyes seemed to
create a flame wherever their beams alighted.

But we must quit this enchantress and her spells, and proceed with the
description of the royal party. In the rear of those on horseback walked
the falconers, in liveries of green cloth, with bugles hanging from the
shoulder; each man having a hawk upon his fist, completely 'tired in its
hood, bells, varvels, and jesses. At the heels of the falconers, and
accompanied by a throng of varlets, in russet jerkins, carrying staves,
came two packs of hounds,--one used for what was termed, in the language
of falconry, the Flight at the River,--these were all water-spaniels;
and the other, for the Flight at the Field. Nice music they made, in
spite of the efforts of the varlets in russet to keep them quiet.

Hawking, in those days, was what shooting is in the present;
fowling-pieces being scarcely used, if at all. Thus the varieties of the
hawk-tribe were not merely employed in the capture of pheasants,
partridges, grouse, rails, quails, and other game, besides water-fowl,
but in the chase of hares; and in all of these pursuits the falconers
were assisted by dogs. Game, of course, could only be killed at
particular seasons of the year; and wild-geese, wild-ducks, woodcocks,
and snipes in the winter; but spring and summer pastime was afforded by
the crane, the bustard, the heron, the rook, and the kite; while, at
the same periods, some of the smaller description of water-fowl offered
excellent sport on lake or river.

A striking and picturesque sight that cavalcade presented, with its
nodding plumes of many colours, its glittering silks and velvets, its
proud array of horsemen, and its still prouder array of lovely women,
whose personal graces and charms baffle description, while they invite
it. Pleasant were the sounds that accompanied the progress of the train:
the jocund laugh, the musical voices of women, the jingling of bridles,
the snorting an