Henry Neville, Merry Wives of Windsor, and the Gift of Venison

Major Update to this Post:

I've found a 1606 letter from Neville that mentions a gift of deer as well as venison pasty:

I am very sorry that it lies not in my power to send you half a buck; my keepers tell me that there is none in my walk; sure I am that I have not seen a a pasty of venison of this year.

The key implication of this letter is that venison pasty is the type of thing he eats all the time... See the passage below from Merry Wives of Windsor: "Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome. Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner"

Neville makes mention of a gift of venison in this letter from 18 July 1600, written from Boulogne where he was engaged in treaty negotiations with Spain:

Since I sent the Ambassador Venison, he hath sent my Wife and my Sister some Spanish Gloves and Perfumes. (WW, 1.230)

I found another reference to Neville giving venison as a gift. A list of Christmas presents received by Sir James Whitelock in 1613 includes “Sir Henry Nevill of Pillingbear, a side of a doe” (Liber Famelicus of James Whitelock, Page 32).

Of special interest is the mention in Merry Wives of Windsor, where venison is also offered as a gift:

PAGE. I am glad to see your worships well.
I thank you for my venison, Master Shallow.

ROBERT SHALLOW. Master Page, I am glad to see you: much good do it
your good heart! I wished your venison better; it
was ill killed. (Merry Wives of Windsor, 1.1)

Wife, bid these gentlemen welcome. Come, we have a 

hot venison pasty to dinner: come, gentlemen, I hope
we shall drink down all unkindness  (Merry Wives of Windsor, 1.1)

Come, shall we go and kill us venison?  (As You Like It, 2.1) 

          

This is not hunters' language: he that strikes
The venison first shall be the lord o' the feast; (Cymbeline, 3.3)

Did see man die! scarce ever look'd on blood,
But that of coward hares, hot goats, and venison! (Cymbeline, 4.4)

In summary, we have two examples of Neville giving a gift of deer meat, including Neville using the word “venison” to describe the gift. Merry Wives of Windsor, probably written around the same time, includes a scene that revolves around the gift of “venison.”  As the keeper of royal forests in Windsor, he was very very involved with deer hunting with the Queen (and later King James). Many sources attest to this, I will do a blog post on this later.