Chapter XLI: Appendix (1)

ACQUILLEZ, Fr., to take, to hold at bay, to gather. "Et s'il voit que les chiens heussent acueili le change" (G. de F., p. 156)--"if he sees that the hounds have taken the change." It also denotes: "owning to the scent" (Senechal, p. 8; Roy Modus, xxix. v).

Twici says: "Les chevereaus ne sunt mie enchacez ne aquyllees," which Dryden translates, "the roebuck is not chased nor hunted up," from _enquiller_ or _aquiller_, O. Fr. a form of _accuellir_, to push, put in motion, excite. "The word in English which is nearest to it is 'to imprime,' which was afterwards used for the unharbouring of the hart" (Twici, p. 26).

In the old English translation of Twici (Vesp. B. XII.) _aquylees_ is construed "gadered," which is certainly one sense, but not the one here required (Twici, p. 53).

The "Master of Game" translates _ils accueillent_ in G. de. F., p. 112, by "they run to them" (p. 111. _See also_ Godefroy).

AFFETED, Mid. Eng., _affaiten_; O. Fr. _affaitier_, to trim, to fashion. A well-affaited or affeted head, a well-fashioned or good-shaped head. In speaking of stags' antlers, means regularly tined and well grown.

_Affeted_ also meant trained or tamed, reclaimed, made gentle, thoroughly manned. _Affaiter_ is still in use in M. Fr., as a term of falconry.

We find this word employed in this sense in the Vision of Piers Plowman (1362): "And go affayte the Fawcons, wilde fowles to kill." And in O. Fr. sporting literature one constantly reads of "Chiens bien, affaities" (well-broken dogs); "oiseaux bien affaities" (well-trained hawks). Roy Modus, lxxix.; Bormans, p. 52; _La Chace dou Cerf_, Jub. 157; T.M. vol. ii. p. 933.

ALAUNTES, _Allaunts_, _Canis Alanus_; Fr. _alans_. Also spelt _alande_, _alaunt_, _allaundes_, _Aloundys_ (MS. Brit. Mus., Egerton, 1995). _See also_ Twici, p. 56.

A strong, ferocious dog, supposed to have been brought to Western Europe by a Caucasian tribe called Alains or Alani. This tribe invaded Gaul in the fourth century, settling there awhile, and then continued their wanderings and overran Spain. It is from this country that the best _alans_ were obtained during the Middle Ages, and dogs that are used for bull-or bear-baiting there are still called _Alanos_. Gaston de Foix, living on the borders of this country, was in the best position to obtain such dogs, and to know all about them. His description, which we have here, tallies exactly with that written in a Spanish book, _Libro de la Monteria_, on hunting of the fourteenth century, written by Alphonso XI.

Alauntes were used as war dogs, and it was said that when once they seized their prey they would not loose their hold.

Cotgrave (Sherwood's App.) says that the mastiff resembles an Alan, and also Wynn in his book on the "British Mastiff" (p. 45) says that he is inclined to think that the Alan is the ancient name for mastiff, and thinks it possible that the Ph[oe]nicians brought this breed to the British Isles. He cannot have known the description given us of the Alan by the "Master of Game," nor can he have been acquainted with the work of Gaston Ph[oe]bus, for he says that the Alan is not mentioned among any of the earlier dogs of France and Germany. There is ample evidence that they existed in France from very early days. Probably they were relics left there by the Alani in their wanderings through Gaul. About the same period as our MS. we find Alans mentioned by Chaucer, who in the "Knight's Tale" describes Lycurgus seated on his throne, around which stand white _Alaunts_ as big as bulls wearing muzzles and golden collars.

The ancient Gallo-Latin name of _veltrahus_, or _veltris_, which in the first instance denoted a large greyhound used for the chase of the bear and wild boar, passed later to a different kind of dog used for the same purpose. These _veltres_, _viautres_, or _vautres_ were also known under the name of Alan, and resembled the Great Dane or the German Boarhound (De Noir., vol. ii. p. 295-7).

ANTLER, O. Fr. _auntilor_, _antoiller_, or _andoiller_, derived from a Teutonic root; Anglo-Saxon _andwlit_; Frank. _antlutt_ or _antluzze_; Goth. _andawleiz_; O. Ger. _antliz_; face. Gaston Ph[oe]bus and Roy Modus and other old French authors almost invariably use _teste_, or head, when referring to a hart's antlers, but English writers did not observe time-hallowed terms of venery so rigorously, and our author frequently uses the jarring and, from every point of view, incorrect term "horns" when speaking of the hart's attire or head. The substance of deers' antlers is true bone, the proportion of their constituents differing but very slightly from ordinary bones. The latter, when in a healthy condition, consist of about one-third of animal matter or gelatine, and two-thirds of earthy matter, about six-sevenths of which is phosphate of lime and one-seventh carbonate of lime, with an appreciable trace of magnesia. The antlers of deer consist of about thirty-nine parts of animal matter and sixty-one parts of earthy matter of the same kind and proportion as is found in common bone. Later on, a more sportsmanlike regard for terms of venery is observable, and Turbervile in one of his few original passages impresses upon his fellow-sportsmen: "Note that when you speake of a harts hornes, you must terme them the Head and not the Hornes of a hart. And likewise of a bucke; but a Rowes hornes and a Gotes hornes are tollerable termes in Venery" (1611, p. 239).

Up to the end of the seventeenth century it was customary when speaking of a stag's head to refer only to the tines "on top," or the "croches" or "troches," leaving unconsidered the brow, bez and trez tines, which were called the stag's "rights," and which every warrantable hart was supposed as a matter of course to possess. When referring to the number of tines a head bore, it was invariably the rule to use only even numbers, and to double the number of tines borne by the antler which had most. Thus, a stag with three on each top was a head of "twelve of the less" (or "lasse"); "twelve of the greater" when he had three and four on top, or, counting the rights, six and seven tines, or, as a modern Scotch stalker would call it, a thirteen-pointer. The extreme number of tines a hart was supposed to bear was thirty-two.

BERCELET, barcelette, bercelette, is a corruption of the O. Fr. _berseret_, a hunting dog, dim. of _bersier_, a huntsman; in Latin, _bersarius_, French, _berser_, _bercer_, to hunt especially with the bow. _Bercel_, _biercel_, meant a butt or target. Italian, _bersaglio_, an archer's butt, whence _bersagliere_, archer or sharpshooter (Oxford, and Godefroy Dict.).

Given the above derivation, it may be fairly accepted that _bercelet_ was a dog fitted to accompany a hunter who was going to shoot his game--a shooting dog. The "Master of Game's" allusion also points to this. He says some mastiffs (_see_ Mastiff) become "_berslettis_, and also to bring well and fast a wanlace about." We might translate this sentence: "There are nevertheless some (mastiffs) that become shooting dogs, and retrieve well and put up the game quickly" (_see_ Appendix: Wanlace).

Jesse conceives _bracelettas_ and _bercelettus_ to come from _brache_, but that can scarcely be so, as we see the two words used together, as the following quotations will show:

"Parler m'orez d'un buen brachet.
Qens ne rois n'ont tel berseret."

T. M. i. 14404.

When the fair Ysolt is parting from her lover Tristan she asks him to leave her this same brachet, and says that no huntsman's shooting dog will be kept with more honour:

"Husdent me lesse, ton brachet.
Ainz berseret à vénéor
N'ert gardeé à tel honor
Comme cist sera."

_Ibid._ i. 2660.

Jesse quotes Blount's "Antient Tenures": "In the 6th of John, Joan, late wife of John King, held a serjeantry in Stanhow, in the county of Norfolk, by the service of keeping 'Bracelettum deymerettum of our Lord the King,'" and Jesse thinks these might have been a bitch pack of deerhounds, overlooking the fact that it was only in later days that the words _brache_ and _rache_ were used for bitch hounds. As _deymerettum_ meant fallow deer, the _bracelettum_ or _bercelettum deymerettum_ may be taken, I think, to mean those hounds that were used for buck-shooting (Jesse, ii. 21).

BERNER, bernar; O. Fr. _bernier_, _brenier_, a man who has the charge of hounds, a huntsman, or, perhaps, would be more accurately described as a kennelman. The word seems to have been derived from the French _brenier_ or _bernier_, one who paid his dues to his feudal lord in bran of which bread was made for the lord's hounds. _Brenage_, _brennage_, or _bernage_ was the tenure on which land was held by the payment of bran, and the refuse of all grains, for the feeding of hounds. Berner in its first sense meant finder of bran, then feeder of hounds. This word seems to have remained in use in England long after it had disappeared from the language of French venery. Gaston no longer uses the word _berner_, but has _valet de chiens_.

BISSHUNTERS, furhunters. Our MS. (p. 74) declares that no one would hunt conies unless they were bisshunters, that is to say rabbits would not be hunted for the sake of sport, but only for the sake of their skins. Bisse, bys, byse was a fur much in vogue at the period of our MS., as its frequent mention in contemporaneous records testifies.

BLENCHES, trick, deceit; O. N. _blekkja_ (Strat.). Blanch, or blench, to head back the deer in its flight. Blancher or blencher, a person or thing placed to turn the deer in a particular direction.

BOCE, from the French _bosse_, O. Fr. _boce_, boss, hump or swelling. Cotgrave says: "Boss, the first putting out of a Deere's head, formerly cast, which our woodmen call, if it bee a red Deere's, the burle, or seale, and, if a fallow Deeres, the button."

BOUGHS, bowes (_brisées_). When the huntsman went to harbour the deer he broke little branches or twigs to mark the place where he noticed any signs of a stag. Also, at times during the chase he was instructed to do the same, placing the twigs pointing towards the direction the stag had gone, so that if the hounds lost the scent he could bring them back to his last markings, and put them on the line again. In harbouring the stag a twig was broken off and placed in front of the slot with the end pointing in the direction in which the stag was going; each time the harbourer turned in another direction a twig was to be broken and placed so as to show which way he took; sometimes the twig was merely bent and left hanging on the tree, sometimes broken off and put into the ground (in French this was called making _brisées hautes_ or _brisées basses_). When making his ring-walks round the covert the harbourer was told to put a mark to every slot he came across; the slot of a stag was to be marked by scraping a line behind the heel, of a hind by making a line in front of the toe. If it was a fresh footing a branch or twig should be placed as well as the marking, for a hind one twig, for a stag two. If it be a stale trace no twig must be placed. Thus, if he returned later, the hunter would know if any beast had broken from or taken to covert since he harboured his stag in the morning. When the harbourer went to "move" the stag with his limer he was to make marks with boughs and branches so that the berners with their hounds should know which way to go should they be some distance from the limer (Roy Modus, x. v; xii. r; xiii. r; Du Fouilloux, 32 r). Blemish is the word used by Turbervile for _brisées_ (Turbervile, 1611, p. 95, 104, 114).

CHANGE. The change, in the language of stag hunting, was the substitution of one deer for another in the chase. After the hounds have started chasing a stag, the hunted animal will often find another stag or a hind, and pushing it up with its horns or feet will oblige it to get up and take his place, lying down himself in the spot where he found the other, and keeping quiet, with his antlers close over his back, so that the hounds will, if care is not taken, go off in chase of the substitute. Sometimes a stag will go into a herd of deer and try to keep with them, trying to shake off his pursuers, and thus give them the change.

A hound that sticks to the first stag hunted, and refuses to be satisfied with the scent of another deer, is called a staunch hound, one who will not take the change, which was considered one of the most desirable qualities in a staghound. G. de F., in speaking of the different kinds of running hounds, says that there were some that, when they came to the change, they would leave off speaking to the scent, and would run silently until they found the scent of their stag again (G. de F., p. 109).

CURÉE, Kyrre, Quyrreye, or Quarry. The ceremony of giving the hounds their reward was thus called because it was originally given to the hounds on the hide or _cuir_ of the stag.

Twici, the huntsman of Edward II., says that after the stag is taken the hounds should be rewarded with the neck and bowels and the liver. ("Et il se serra mange sur le quir. E pur ceo est il apelee quyrreye.") When the hounds receive their reward after a hare-hunt he calls it the hallow. In the "Boke of St. Albans" we find the quarry given on the skin, and it is only in the "Master of Game" that it is expressly stated that a nice piece of grass was to be found on which the hounds' mess was to be put, and the hide placed over it, hair-side upwards, the head being left on it and held up by the antlers, and thus drawn away as the hounds rush up to get their share. According to Turbervile, in his day the reward was placed _on_ the hide; at least he does not in his original chapter on the breaking up of the deer notice any such difference between the French and English customs. In France, it is as well to expressly state, the _curée_ was always given on the hide until the seventeenth century, but after that it seems the hide was placed over it just as described in our text (De Noirmont, vol. ii., p. 458). Preceding the quarry came the ceremonial breaking up of the deer. The stag was laid on its back with feet in the air, slit open, and skinned by one of the chief huntsmen, who took a pride in doing it according to laws of woodmanscraft. They took a pride in not turning up their sleeves and performing everything so daintily that their garments should show no bloodstains; nobles, and princes themselves, made it a point of honour to be well versed in this art. After the skinning was done, it was customary to give the huntsman who was "undoing" the deer a drink of wine; "and he must drinke a good harty draught: for if he should break up the dear before he drinke the Venison would stink and putrifie" (Turb., 1611, p. 128).

In the "Master of Game" the limers were rewarded after the other hounds, but they were never allowed to take their share with the pack.

The bowels or guts were often reserved, and put on a large wooden fork, and the hounds were allowed to have this as a sort of dessert after they had finished their portion. They were halloaed to by the huntsman whilst he held the fork high in the air with cries of _Tally ho!_ or _Tiel haut!_ or _Lau, lau!_ This tit-bit was then thrown to them. This was called giving them the _forhu_, from the word _forthuer_, to whoop or holloa loudly. Probably our term of giving the hounds the holloa was derived from this. It was done to accustom the hounds to rally round the huntsman when excited by a similar halloaing when they were hunting, and had lost the line of the hunted beast.

In some instances the daintiest morsels were reserved for the King or chief personage, and for this purpose placed on a large wooden fork as they were taken from the deer. The vein of the heart and the small fillets attached to the loins (Turbervile says also the haunches, part of the nombles and sides) should also be kept for the lord, but these were generally recognised as the perquisites of the huntsmen, kennelmen, foresters, or parkers.

EXCREMENTS, fumes, fewmets, obs. term for the droppings of deer. From the Fr. _fumées_. G. de F. says that the droppings of all deer, including fallow and roe deer, are to be called _fumées_. The "Master of Game," no doubt following the custom then prevalent in England, says the droppings of the hart only are to be called fumes, and of the buck and the roebuck croties. The following names are given to droppings by--

GASTON DE FOIX AND MASTER OF GAME

Of the hart } Of the hart--Fumes.
" buck } Fumées " buck }
" roebuck } " roebuck } Croteys.
" bear } " wild boar }
" wild boar } Laisses. " black beasts } Lesses.
" wolf } " wolves }
" hare and conies--Crotes. " hare and Conies--Croties.
" fox, badger, and } " fox--The wagging.
stinking beasts } Fiantes. " grey or badger--The Wardrobe.
" otter--Spraintes. " stinking beasts--The Drit.
" otter--Spraintes.

Other forms of this term are: fewmets, fewmishing, crotels, crotisings, freyn, fuants, billetings, and spraits.

FENCE MONTH. The month so called began, according to Manwood, fifteen days before and ended fifteen days after midsummer. During this time great care was taken that no men or stray dogs should be allowed to wander in the forest, and no swine or cattle were allowed to feed within the precincts, so that the deer should be absolutely undisturbed during three or four weeks after the fawning season. He tells us that because in this month there must be watch and ward kept with men and weapons for the fence and defence of wild beasts, for that reason the same is called fence or defence month (Man., p. 76, ed. 1598).

FEWTE, fuite, fute (M. E.), O. Fr. fuite (_voie de cerf qui fuit_), track, trace, foot. Gawaine: feute. Will of Palerne (90): foute. Some beasts were called of the sweet _fute_, and some of the stinking _fute_. The lists of the beasts which should come under either heading vary somewhat; some that are placed by the "Boke of St. Albans" under "Swete fewte" coming under the other category in the MS. Harl., 2340.

IN "BOKE OF ST. ALBANS." IN HARL. MS. 2340, FOL. 50B.

_Beasts of "Swete fewte."_

The Buck, the Doo, the Beere, the The Buke, the Doo, the Ber,
Reynd, the Elke, the Spycard, the the Reyne der, the Elke,
Otre, and the Martwn. the Spycard.

_Beasts of the "Stinking fewte."_

The Roobucke, the Roo, the The Fulmard, the Fechewe,
Fulmard, the Fyches, the Bauw, the Catt, the Gray, the
the Gray, the Fox, the Squirrel, Fox, the Wesyll, the
the Whitecat, the Otyr, the Stot, Marteron, the Squirrel, the
the Pulcatt. Whyterache, the Otyr, the
Stote, the Polcatte.

In Roy Modus the beasts are also divided into _bestes doulces_ and _bestes puans_. The reasons for doing so are also given (fol. lxii.): "_Les bestes doulces sont: le cerf, la biche, le dain, le chevreul et le lièvre. Et sont appelées doulces pour trois causes: La première si est que d'elles ne vient nulle mauvais senteur; la seconde, elles ont poil de couleur aimable, lequel est blond ou fauve; la tierce cause, ce ne sont mie bestes mordans comme les autres cincq, car elles n'ont nulz dens dessus; et pour ces raisons puent bien estre nommées bestes doulces._" Under the _bestes puans_ are classed the wild boar, the wild sow, the wolf, the fox, and the otter.

FEWTERER, the man that lets loose the greyhounds (Blome, p. 27); from _veltraria_, a dog leader or courser; originally one who led the dogs called _veltres_, _viautres_ (_see_ Veltres). In Gallo-Latin, Veltrahus. It has been asserted that the word fewterer is a corruption of _vautre_ or _viautre_, a boarhound, but although both evidently owe their origin to the same parent-word, fewterer can scarcely be derived from _vautre_, a boarhound. It was only in the Middle Ages in France that the word _vautre_, from originally meaning a powerful greyhound, was applied to a large boarhound. Fewterers in England appear invariably as attendants on greyhounds, not boarhounds. Another derivation has been also given from fewte, foot or track, a fewterer being, according to this, a huntsman who followed the track of the beast. But _venator_ was the contemporary designation for a huntsman, and as far as we can ascertain the fewterer was always merely a dog-leader.

FORLONGE, forloyng, forlogne, from the Fr. _fort loin_. G. de F. says, "flies far from the hounds," _i.e._ having well distanced them ("_Fuit de fort longe aux chiens, c'est a dire que il les ait bien esloinhes_"). Hounds are said to be hunting the forlonge when the deer is some way in front of them, or when some of the hounds have got away with the deer and have outpaced the rest. As our MS. (p. 173) says, the forlogne should be blown if the stag has run out of hearing of hound and horn, but it should not be blown in a park. In old French hunting literature it is an expression one constantly comes across.

Twici, writing almost a hundred years earlier than the Duke of York, says: "The hart is moved and I do not know where the hart is gone, nor the gentlefolk, and for this I blow in that manner. What chase do we call this? We call that chase The chase of the forloyng."

Forloyneth: "When a hound meeteth a chase and goeth away with it far before the rest then we say he forloyneth" (Turber., ed 1611, p. 245).

FOX. According to the laws of Canute the fox was neither reckoned as a beast of venery nor of the forest. In Manwood's Forest Laws he is classed as the third beast of chase (p. 161), as he is also in Twety and Gyfford, and the "Boke of St. Albans."

Although early records show that the English Kings kept their foxhounds, we hear nothing of their having participated in this sport, but they seem to have sent their hounds and huntsmen about the country to kill foxes, probably as much for the value of the pelt as for relieving the inhabitants of a thievish neighbour.

In Edward's I.'s Wardrobe Accounts, 1299-1300, appear some interesting items of payments made to the huntsman for his wages and the keep of the hounds and his _one horse_ for carrying the nets. These allusions to nets throw an interesting light on the fox-hunting of those days. William de Blatherwyke, or, as he is also called, _William de Foxhunte_, and _William Fox-dog-keeper_, had besides their wages an allowance made to them for clothes and winter and summer shoes (_see_ Appendix: Hunt Officials). As only one horse was provided, and that to carry the nets, the huntsman, we must presume, had to hunt on foot, not such an arduous undertaking when we remember that the country was so much more thickly wooded than at present, and that every possible precaution was taken to prevent Reynard's breaking covert.

We see by our text (p. 65) that it was usual to course foxes with greyhounds, and although the passages referring to this are translated from G. de F. we know from many old records that this fox-coursing was as usual in England at this time as in France.

In the earlier days hounds used for the chase of the fox one day, probably hunted hare, or even buck or stag, on another--such as the harriers, which, if we can believe Dr. Caius, were entered to any animal from stag to stoat (_see_ Appendix: Harriers). The first real pack of foxhounds is said to be the one established by Thomas Fownes, Esq., of Stepleton, in Dorsetshire (1730). They were purchased at an immense price by Mr. Bowes, of Yorkshire. A very amusing description is given in "Cranbourne Chase" of the first day's hunting with them in their new country. There must have been several packs entered to fox only about the end of the eighteenth century, for an erstwhile Master of the Cheshire Foxhounds had in his possession a horn with the following inscription: "Thomas Boothby Esqre. Tooley Park Leicester. With this horn he hunted the first pack of foxhounds then in England 5 years: born in 1677 died 1752." This pack, which was purchased by "the great Mr. Meynell" in 1782, had been hunted both in Hampshire and in Wiltshire previously by the ancestors of Lord Arundel (Bad. Lib., "Hunting," p. 29).

FRAYING-POST, the tree a stag has rubbed his antlers or frayed against.

By the fraying-post the huntsman used to be able to judge if the stag he wished to harbour was a warrantable stag or not. The greater the _fraying-post_ the larger the deer (Stuart, vol. ii. p. 551).

FUES, "not find his fues," not to find his line of flight, his scent; Gaston says: "Ne puissent deffaire ses esteurses": literally, "cannot unravel his turnings."

_Fues_, flight, fuite, track. Gaston calls these sometimes _voyes_. _Voyes_ was written later _Foyes_ (Fouilloux).

FUE. "Se mettre a la fue" (var. _fuie_), (to take flight) (Borman, p. 89).

GLADNESS, glade. The original sense is a smooth, bare place, or perhaps a bright, clear place in a wood.

GREASE. One of the important technical terms of venery, related to the fat of game; for in the Middle Ages, when game was hunted to replenish the larder as much as for sport, it entered largely into the economy of even the highest households. The fat of the red deer and fallow deer was called _suet_, occasionally _tallow_. That of the roebuck was bevy-grease. Between that of the hare, boar, wolf, fox, marten, otter, badger, and coney no difference was made--it was called grease; and in one sense this general term was also used for deer: "a deer of high grease," or "a hart in the pride of grease," were phrases used for the season of the year when the stag and the buck were fattest (_see_ Appendix: Seasons of Hunting).

GREASE TIME, not _Grace Time_ or _Grass Time_, as Strutt and others have it. It did not include the whole season when the hart or buck could be killed, but meant to indicate the time when they were fat and fittest for killing. As pointed out already by Dryden (p. 25), the _Excerpta Historica_ (Lond. 1831) contains an interesting example of the use of this word. This is a letter written (p. 356) about 1480 by Thomas Stonor, Steward of the Manor of Thame. He was in Fleet Prison at the time he writes to his brother in the country concerning some property of his own in his brother's neighbourhood. "No more to you^e at thys tyme but ... more ov^r I entende to kepe my gresse tyme in yat countre, where fore I woll^e yat no man^e huntte tyll^e I have bene ther."

In the privy-purse expenses of Henry VIII. (1532) is an entry of a payment for attendance on the king during the last _grece-time_. Cavendish in his Life of Wolsey says: "My lord continued at Southwell until the latter end of _grease time_." Both these passages refer to the month of June. In the laws of Howel the Good, King of Wales, a fine of 12 kine was imposed on whoever kills a hart in grease time (_kylleic_) of the kings.

Confusion arose occasionally owing to the similarity of the words as formerly spelt, grass being sometimes spelt "grysse" (Dryden, p. 25). Manwood, also, misinterprets Grease time. In the agreement between the Earl of Winchester and the Baron of Dudley of 1247, in which their respective rights of hunting in Charnwood Forest and Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, were defined, and which agreement Shirley has given (in a translation) in his "English Deer Parks," the time of the fallow buck season (_tempus pinguedinis_) or grease time or the fat season, is fixed between the Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula (August 1) and the Exaltation of Holy Cross (September 6, 14), while the time of the doe season (_tempus firmationis_) was fixed between the Feast of St. Martin (November 11) and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin (February 2).

GREYHOUND, Fr. _levrier_, Lat. _leporarius_. Under this name a whole group of dogs were included, that were used for the chase of big and small game. They were swift hounds, hunting chiefly and in most cases by sight only. For in the Middle Ages the name greyhound, or _levrier_, denoted such seemingly different dogs as the immense Irish wolfhound, the Scotch deerhound, and the smaller, smooth-coated, elegant Italian greyhound. The powerful greyhound used for the chase of stag, wolf, and wild boar were known in France as _levrier d'attache_, and the smaller, nervous harehound as _petit levrier pour lievre_. In our illustrations we can see what are intended to be portraits of both the larger and the smaller kinds, some being smooth- and some rough-coated. The bigger hounds were considered capable of defending their masters against their armed enemies, as is shown by numerous legends of the Middle Ages, which, although they may not be strictly historical facts, showed the reputation these dogs enjoyed in those days (Jesse, p. 19).

Greyhounds were the constant companions of their masters during journeys and wars, and at home. In the houses they were allowed the greatest liberty, and seem to have ranged at will in both living- and bed-rooms; one sees them at the board when their owners are at meals, at the fireside, and they even accompanied their masters as good Christians to mass.

No hound seems to belong so peculiarly to the epoch of chivalry as the greyhound, and indeed one can scarcely picture a knight without one. A Welsh proverb declared that a gentleman might be known "by his hawk, his horse, and his greyhound." By a law of Canute, a greyhound was not to be kept by any person inferior to a gentleman ("Greyhounds," by a Sportsman, p. 28; and Dalziel, vol. i. p. 25).

_Canis Gallicus_ was the name used by the Gauls for their coursing dogs, which were most probably greyhounds, and Arian says they were called _Vertragia_, from a Celtic word denoting swiftness. In Gallo-Latin the name for a large greyhound was _Veltrahus_ or _veltris_ (De Noir., ii. 295). They were also called _Veltres leporarii_ (Blane, p. 46). There is some difference of opinion as to the derivation of our word greyhound. In the early Anglo-Norman days they retained their French name of _levrier_, or Latin _leporarius_. When our MS. was penned the English word _grei_, _gre_, or _grewhound_ was in general use; it is thought by some to be derived from Grew hound or Greek hound, as they were supposed to have been originally brought from Greece. Others, again, consider that the name was simply taken from the prevalent colour of the common greyhound. Jesse gives the most likely origin of the name. "Originally it was most likely _grehund_, and meant the noble, great, choice, or prize hound" (Jesse, ii. 71; and Dalziel, i. 23). Probably the Celtic denomination for a dog, _grech_ or _greg_, stands in close connection with our word greyhound (Cupples, p. 230). White seems to have been the favourite colour, and to say one had _i levrier plus blanc que flors de lis_ (_Heruis de Mes_, 107a, 44; Bangert, p. 172) would be the greatest tribute to the beauty of one's hound. _Co si sunt deus leveres nurit en ma meisun, cume cisne sunt blauns_ (Horn, 613 f.).

When Froissart went home from Scotland he is depicted as riding a grey horse and leading _un blanc levrier_, perhaps one of the four he took from these isles and presented to the Comte de Foix at Orthéz, whose names have been preserved to us as Tristan, Hector, Brun, and Rolland (La Curne de la Palaye).

Greyhounds were used, as has already been mentioned, for all kind of hunting and every kind of game, in conjunction with limers who started the game for them. They were let slip as relays to a pack of running or scenting hounds, and they were used by themselves for coursing game in an open country, or were placed at the passes where game was likely to run and were slipped to turn the game back to the archer or to chase and pull down the wounded deer (_see_ Appendix: Stables). In our illustrations we see them in the pictures of stag-, hare-, roe- and boar-hunting, to say nothing of badger-hunting, for which one would have thought any other dog more suitable.

They seem always to have been held in couples except when following their master and he not bent upon the chase. The collars to which these couplings were attached were often wonderful gems of the goldsmith's and silversmith's art. Such an item appears in the Q. R. Wardrobe Acc. for 1400 (Wylie, iv. p. 196): "2 collars for greyhounds (_leverer_) le tissue white and green with letters and silver turrets." Another one of "soy chekerey vert et noir avec le tret (? turret) letters and bells of silver gilt."

The ancient doggerel in the Book of St. Albans, "Heded like a snake, and necked like a drake. Foted like a cat. Tayled like a Rat, Syded lyke a Teme. Chyned like a Beme" ("Boke of St. Albans," f. iv.), was preceded by a very similar one written some time previously by Gace de la Buigne. Of these verses G. de F. gives, twenty-eight years later, a prose version, which our Master of Game has rendered into English.

HARDEL, hardeyl, to tie couples of hounds together. From the French word _harder_, which has the same meaning: _Harder les chiens_, and _harde_, the rope with which they are tied. It is derived from _hart_, _hard_, _art_, a binder of willow or other pliable wood used for fastening fagots together (Lit. and God.). The primitive way of tying hounds together was by passing such a small flexible branch through the couplings which bent back on itself, both ends being held. "_Les chiens ... seront enhardez par les couples à genoivres ou à autre josne bois tors_" (Roy Modus, f. xlvii. recto). In France there used to be two hardes to each relay and not more than eight hounds in every harde (D'Yauville). In England there used to be about the same number. The term was still used in Blome's time (1686), for he writes in his "Gentleman's Recreation": "The huntsman on foot that hath the charge of the coupled hounds, and before that must have _hardled_ them, that is, with a slip, for the purpose ready secured three or four couple together, that they may not break in from him, to run into the cry of the Finders" (p. 88).

_Harling_ was a word used in Devonshire, and as it meant tying the hound together by means of a rope passed through the rings of the couples, it is undoubtedly a corruption of the word _hardeling_. "Until comparatively recent times the hounds in Devonshire were taken to the meet and held in this manner until the time came to lay the pack on" (Collyns).

_Hardel_, the technical O. E. term for binding together the four legs of the roebuck, the head having been placed between the two forelegs, in order to carry him whole into the kitchen.

HARE. Pliny records the fable that hares "are of many and various sexes." Topsell remarks that "the Hebrews call the hare 'arnebet,' in the feminine gender," which word gave occasion to an opinion that all hares were females (pp. 264, 266).

"In the Gwentian code of Welch laws supposed to be of the eleventh century, the hare is said not to be capable of any legal valuation, being in one month male and in another female" (Twici, p. 22).

Certainly in many of the older writings on hares the pronouns "her" and "him" are used indiscriminately in the same sentence. Sir Thomas Browne in his treatise on vulgar errors asserts from his own observation that the sex of the hare is changeable, and that the buck hare will sometimes give birth to young. Up to the end of the eighteenth century there was a widespread and firm belief in this fable (Brehm, ii. p. 626). Buffon describes it as one of the animal's peculiar properties, and from the structure of their parts of generation he argues that the notion has arisen of hermaphrodite hares, that the males sometimes bring forth young, and that some are alternately males and females and perform the functions of either sex.

"Master of Game" (copying G. de F.) states that the hare carries her young for a period of two months, but in reality the period of gestation is only thirty days. Harting says that the adult hare will breed twice or thrice in the year, but Brehm declares they breed as many as four times, and but seldom five times (Encyclop. of Sport, vol. ii. p. 504; Brehm, vol. ii. p. 626; G. de F. p. 47).

G. de F. (p. 43) says of a hare, "_Elle oït bien, mais elle voit mal._" "Master of Game" translates this simply as _She hath evil sight_; but does not say she hears well. The sense of hearing is most highly developed in the hare, and every lightly breaking twig or falling leaf will disturb her. It is said that of old when warreners wished to prepare hares for the market they filled their ears with wax, so that, not being continually disturbed by noises, they did not move about much, and grew sleek and fat (Blome, p. 95). G. de F.'s assertion that the hare "has evil sight" is also confirmed by Brehm, who, however, says that they are endowed with a keen sense of smell, whereas G. de F. says _elle sent pou_.

Attention has already been called to the Duke of York's statement that "the hare hath great fear to run." This arose probably from the similarity of the words _peur_ and _pouvoir_ in the MSS., for it should read "hath great power to run," the principal MSS. which we have examined showing _pouvoir_. Verard in his first edition of G. de F. also has the same rendering as the Duke of York, to which Lavallée draws attention as being one of the many ludicrous mistakes in this edition (G. de F., xli.).

Our text calls the hare the most marvellous beast (p. 181), the reasons given being because she "fumeth or croteth and rowngeth and beareth tallow and grease." By "rowngeth" (Fr. _ronger_) it was meant that the hare chewed the cud, as by the ancients it was generally supposed that the hare was a ruminant. Although this is not the case, and the hare has not a compound stomach, nevertheless this belief showed a close observation of nature, for when a hare is seated she can bring up parts of her food and give it a second mastication.

The hare and rabbit have little or no fat, but what they do possess is called grease. Twici says: _Il porte gresce_ (pp. 1 and 21).

"She has teeth above in the same wise as beneath" (p. 181) is another of the peculiarities noticed in our text, which shows that the difference in dentition that distinguishes the hare from all other rodents had been remarked. Instead of two incisors in the upper jaw, the hare has four, having two small rudimentary incisor teeth behind the two large front ones, and five or six molars in the upper jaw, with two incisors and five molars in the lower jaw (Brehm, ii. p. 627; Cornish, "Shooting," ii. p. 153).

It is difficult to know why the hare was considered a "melancholy" beast, and how this curious reputation was kept up during the whole of the Middle Ages. It was thought that eating the flesh of the hare rendered one also subject to melancholy. G. de F. does not mention this, and altogether his book is comparatively free of such superstitions, but he says the flesh of the hare should not be given to the hounds after a day's hunting, as it is indigestible: _quar elle est fastieuse viande et les fet vomir_ (p. 210). Therefore, when rewarding the hounds, they should only have the tongue and the kidneys, with some bread soaked in the blood of the hare.

In our MS., at the end of the chapter on the nature of the hare (p. 22), the Duke of York says that he "trows no good hunter would slee them so," alluding to pockets, pursenets, and other poaching devices; and although G. de F. gives six ways of taking the hare, he does not approve of such methods for the true sportsman, but enters an amusing protest: "I would that they who take hares thus should have them [the cords] round their own necks" (p. 171). Snaring hares was never considered legitimate sport. In hare-hunting proper, the hounds were taken into the fields to find the hare, as at present; or hare-finders were sent out early in the morning, and the tufts of grass or plants where the hare was likely to be seated were beaten, and the hounds uncoupled only when the hare was started. One of the chief differences in the sport between then and now was that often, when the hare was once on foot, greyhounds were also uncoupled, and our Plate, p. 182, shows greyhounds and running-hounds hunting seemingly happily together. It must have been rather discouraging for the old-fashioned, slow scenting-hound to have the hare he has been diligently hunting suddenly "bitten" in front of him by the swifter greyhound. Trencher-fed packs also existed as early as the fourteenth century, and we read in Gace de la Buigne that the small farmers would assemble together, bringing all told some forty hounds of different breeds and sizes, immensely enjoying their sport, and accounting for many hares.

HARNESS means in our text "paraphernalia where-with animals can be caught or taken." It is frequently used in this sense by Gaston--_Hayes et autres Harnoys_ (p. 126). In Julien's note to this same sentence occurring in _Le bon Varlet_, he says, _autres harnois, autres engins, instruments, procédés_.

HARRIER, spelt in early documents with many variations--_eirere_, _heyreres_, _heyrer_, _hayrers_. A hound which is described in modern dictionaries as "resembling a foxhound but smaller, used for hare-hunting" (Murray). This explanation would not have been a correct one for our harriers of the fourteenth century, for as far as we can gather they were used to hunt all kinds of game and by no means only the hare. They were evidently a smaller kind of running hound, for as our MS. says, there are some small and some large running hounds, "and the small are called Kenettis (or small dogs--_see_ Kenet), and these hounds run well to all manner of game and they that serve for all game men call them heirers" (p. III). And in chapter 36 we see that _heyrers_ were used to hunt up the deer in the forest, the herthounds and greyhounds meanwhile being held in leash till a warrantable deer was on foot, or till "the heyrer have well run and well made the rascal void" (made the smaller deer clear out of that part of the forest) (p. 191). Then the herthounds were to be uncoupled where the most likely "ligging is for an hert, and seek." The herthounds then put up the wary old stag and hunted him till he came to the tryst where the King would be with his long bow or cross-bow, or till the hert was pulled down by them or the greyhounds which had been slipped at him.

In the chapter on hare-hunting in our MS. the word harrier does not occur; only hounds, greyhounds, and raches are mentioned. So when Henry IV. paid for "_La garde de nos chiens appelez hayrers_" (Privy Seal, 20 Aug. 9th Henry, 1408, No. 5874), or Henry V. for the "_Custodiam Canum nostrum vocatorum hayreres_" (Rot. Pat. I Henry V. 1413), it was not because they were especially addicted to hare-hunting, but because they kept these useful hounds to "harry" game.

In 1407 we find one Hugh Malgrave "_servienti venatori' vocat' hayters p' c'vo (cervo)_," which we may accept as another proof that their office was to hunt the stag. The Duke of York also repeatedly says that "_heirers_" run at all game (see pp. III, 196, 197). In 1423 Hugh Malgrave still held the "office of the hayrers" by grant from Henry IV. In the curious legal Latin of the thirteenth century, we find the word _canes heirettes_, and _heyrettor_ (Wardrobe Accounts, 34 Ed. I.).

There are a great number of early records which show us that these hounds were used then for hunting red and fallow deer, sometimes in conjunction with greyhounds and sometimes without their aid.

Harriers were sometimes taken with buckhounds on hunting expeditions as well as with greyhounds. In some of the documents harriers are simply alluded to as _canes currentes_. As they were not a distinct breed, but were included under the designation "raches," or running hounds, a separate chapter is not given to them in our text, and neither Twici nor the Dame of St. Albans mentions these hounds. Gradually we find the spelling, although presenting still countless variations, bringing the _a_ more constantly than the _e_; the "_heirers_" become _hayrers_, _hareres_, _hariers_, and after the sixteenth century harriers. It is also probable that the word was originally derived from the Anglo-Saxon _Hergian_, _herian_, to harry, to disturb, to worry; O. Fr. _harrier_, _herrier_, _herier_, to harry; F. _hare_ and _harer_, to set a dog on to attack. The harrier, in fact, was a dog to "hare" the game. Although now obsolete, we find this word used late in the seventeenth century.

"Let the hounds kill the fox themselves and worry and _hare_ him as much as they please" (Cox, "Gent. Rec.," p. 110). It is also in the sixteenth century that one comes across the first allusions to their use in hunting the hare.

HART. It is not necessary to dwell here at length upon the great esteem in which the hart was held by all devotees to sport in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was royal game, and belonged to the Prince or ruler of the country, and the chase was their prerogative. Few unconnected with the court were ever able to enjoy the chase of the stag unless in attendance on or by special licence granted by the sovereign. Those who had extensive property of their own and had permission to erect a fence could, of course, keep deer on it, but this did not enable them to enjoy the sport of real wild deer hunting, or _La chasse Royale_ as the French called it.

The stag was one of the five beasts of venery, and was, according to the ancient French regulations, a beast of the sweet foot, although in the list of beasts of sweet and stinking foot given in the "Boke of St. Albans" the hart is included in neither category (_see_ Appendix: Fewte).

One of the first essentials for a huntsman in the Middle Ages was to learn to know the different _signs_ of a stag (according to German venery there were seventy-two signs), so as to be able to "judge well." These signs were those of the _slot_, the _gait_, the _fraying-post_, the _rack_ or _entry_ (_i.e._ the place where the stag entered covert), and the _fumes_. By recognising differences in these signs made by a young stag, a hind, and a warrantable stag, he was enabled to find out where the latter was harbouring, and by the slot and gait he could recognise when the chased stag was approaching his end.

There were many things that the huntsman of old had to learn regarding the stag before he could be considered as more than an apprentice--for instance, how to speak of a hart in terms of venery. The terms used were considered of the greatest importance, even to the manner in which the colour of the stag was spoken of, brown, yellow, or dun being the only permissible terms to distinguish the shade of colour. Special terms are given for every kind of head, or antlers, a stag might bear.

The huntsman spoke of the stag's _blenches_ and _ruses_ when alluding to the tricks of a deer when trying to rid himself of the hounds, of his _doubling_ and _rusing to and fro upon himself_ when he retraced his steps, of his _beating up the river_ when he swam up-stream, and of _foiling down_, when he went down-stream, or of _going to soil_ when he stood in water. When the deer lay down he was _quat_, when he stood still in covert he was _stalling_. When he was tired he "_cast his chaule" i.e._ drooped his head, a well-known sign when the deer is done, as was his closed mouth when dead beat.

The hart was _meved_ or moved, when he was started from his resting-place; he was _quested_ or hunted for, and _sued_ or chased; his resting-place was called his _ligging_ or _lair_, his scent of line of flight, his _fues_. He was spoken of as _soule_ or _soile_ (F. _seule_) if unaccompanied by other deer, and in "_herd with rascal and folly_" if keeping company with lesser deer.

Besides many other quaint terms of venery the following were the designations given to the hart according to his age by:--

Twici, "Boke of St. Blome; Cox's
"Master of Game." Albans," Manwood, "Gentleman's
Turbervile. Recreations."

1st yr. A calf. A calf. A hinde-calf or calf.
2nd " A bullock. A brocket. A knobler or knobber.
3rd " A brocket. A spayer, spayard, or A brocket or brocke.
spayd.
4th " A staggart. A staggart or stag. A staggard.
5th " A hart of ten. A hart. A hart.

Until he was a hart of ten our text tells us he was not considered a chaseable or warrantable deer. By the above one will see that the "Master of Game" is exceptional in calling a deer of the second year a bullock, brocket being the usual term.

In old French literature we occasionally find the word _broches_ used for the tines of a deer's antlers; brochet would be the diminutive, _i.e._ a small tine, and hence perhaps brocket, a young stag bearing small tines. Any stag of ten or over if hunted by the king became a Hart Royal, and if hunted and not taken, but driven out of the forest, a proclamation was made to warn every one that no person should chase or kill the said hart, and he was then a "Hart Royal proclaimed" (Man., p. 180).

All stags not chaseable, such as young or lean stags and hinds, were classed as folly or rascal.

A young stag accompanying an old one was called his squire (F. _escuyer_).

Hinds also were called by different names from the first to the third year, but the "Master of Game" does not give these, nor do any of the earliest works. Manwood, Blome, and Cox give the following terms: first year, a calf; second year, a Hearse or brocket's sister; third year and ever after, a hind. A somewhat similar term was employed in France to denote a young stag between six months and a year old. _Haire_, also spelt _her_ (G. de Champgrand Baudrillard), and _Harpaille_, was the term for a herd of young stags and hinds.

_Hart's Age._--The fable that a stag can live a hundred years which the "Master of Game" repeats (p. 34) after G. de F. was not of the latter's invention, but one that had been current for many centuries before their day.