Shakespeare followed it, and as he was
removing the carcase he was caught and summoned; the case hinged on
whether he had his weapon with him or not. As that could not be proved
against him, the case was dismissed. It appears that the Law of England
is the same on that point to-day as in the time of Shakespeare, for if a
man shoots a hare on his own land, and it dies on adjoining land
belonging to some one else, he has a perfect right to remove it,
providing he does not take his gun with him, which would constitute a
punishable offence. We were sorry to leave the hotel, as we should have
been very comfortable there, and the actor, who wanted to hear of our
adventures, did his best to persuade us to stay; but our average must be
made up, and I particularly wanted to celebrate my birthday on the
following Sunday at Oxford.
It was quite dark as we crossed the river bridge on our way to Kineton,
ten miles distant, and we soon lost sight of the lights of Stratford; as
we left we could see the church being lit up for evening service. A man
on the bridge in directing us the way to Kineton told us we should pass
the park where "old Shakespeare stole the deer," and he seemed to think
he was a regular poacher there.
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