Note 387 — Chapter XXIII · HORSE-RACING, HUNTING, SHOOTING, &C.

It was not every person that might shoot game: 'The first of them, says he, that has a Spaniel by his Side, is a Yeoman of about an hundred Pounds a Year, an honest Man; He is just within the Game Act and qualified to kill an Hare or a Pheasant; he knocks down a Dinner with his Gun twice or thrice a week; and by that means lives much cheaper than those who have not so good an Estate as himself. He would be a good Neighbour if he did not destroy so many Partridges; in short he is a very sensible man; shoots flying; and has been several times foreman of the Petty Jury.'[387] This Game Act, which he was just within, was the 3rd James I. cap. 14, clause 5, which says that no one not having forty pounds per annum, or 200l. worth of goods and chattels, may shoot game; and should they do so, 'then any person having lands, tenements or hereditaments, of the clear yearly value of one hundred pounds a year, may take from the person or possession of such malefactor or malefactors, and to his own use for ever keep, such guns, bows, cross-bows, &c. &c.' and this Act was in force till 1827, when it was repealed.