Chapter XLII: Appendix (2)

HORNS.--When the "Master of Game" was written hunting horns were the curved primitive shape of those made from the horns of animals, and most of them probably were still made of the horns of cattle, while those used by the richer gentry and nobles were fashioned from some rarer animals' trophy, such as the ibex, or carved of ivory, and some were made of precious metal. But whether of simple horn, ivory, or of wood, they were decorated with gold or silver ferrules, rings, and mouthpieces, and some being provided with a stopper, could be converted into drinking horns. Unfortunately the "Master of Game" does not tell us the material of which horns should be made. He simply says how they should "be dryve." They were to be two spans long (1 ft. 6 in.), slightly curved so that both ends were raised from three to four fingers' breadth above the centre; the larger end or the bell was to be as wide as possible, and the mouthpiece not too small. It was waxed thickly or thinly, whichever the huntsman thought produced the best sound. What effect the wax had can scarcely be judged, but it was evidently considered an improvement, as it is stated that for foresters "mene hornes and unwexid" are good enough for them. Besides the hunter's horn five different kinds of horns are mentioned in our MS.--the bugle, great abbots, ruets, small foresters, and mean horns. The bugle was not the trumpet we now understand by that name, but a simple curved horn, most probably deriving its name from the bugle, as the wild ox was called; although Dryden says from the German word _bugel_, a curve or bend. Ruets may have been the name for a much curved or almost circular horn, from French _rouette_, small wheel. The mean horns were probably the medium-sized, shrill-sounding horns made out of wood or bark, known as _ménuels_, _menuiaux_, _moienel_, _menuier_, &c. (Perc. 27,166 and 27,140).

A good length for a horn is mentioned as being "_une paume et demie_" (Perceval, 31,750). It is uncertain whether this length and that given by the "Master of Game" were measured round the inside of the bend or in a straight line between the two extremities. The famous Borstall horn, also known as Nigel's horn, is 2 feet 4 inches long on the convex and 23 inches on the concave bend; the inside measure of the bell end being 3 inches in diameter. The size of another noted horn, _i.e._ the Pusey horn, is 2 feet 1/2 inch long, the circumference at the widest end being 12 inches. The general length of these horns seems to have been somewhere between 18 inches and 2 feet. The above-mentioned specimens were horns of tenure, the first being a hunting-, the second a drinking-horn. The Borstall horn is said to have been given by Edward the Confessor to one Nigel, in reward for his killing an immense wild boar, and by this horn he and his successors for generations held lands of the crown.

The curved horn remained in fashion in England till about the latter half of the seventeenth century, then a straight one came into use about 1 ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. long, such as we see depicted in Blome. Of this shape, but a few inches shorter, is the hunting-horn still in use in England. The French hunting-horn was used in England in the eighteenth century, but did not remain long in fashion.

HUNTING CRIES. We can see that the hunting cries and the language used in speaking to the hounds when hunting in the days of the "Master of Game" were still those brought into Britain by the Normans, and in most instances the words can actually still be recognised as French. There are only a few examples given by him as to the manner a huntsman should speak to his hounds in the stag-hunting chapters, such as:--

_Ho moy, ho moy, hole, hole, hole_: To encourage the limer when drawing for a stag (p. 166).

_Cy va, cy va, cy va_: To call the hounds when any signs of the stag were seen (p. 167).

_Le douce mon amy, le douce_: "Softly, my friend, softly." To the hounds when they were uncoupled near to where the stag was supposed to be lying.

_Sto arere, so howe, so howe_: "Hark back," if the hounds were on a wrong scent.

_Hoo sto, ho sto, mon amy, ho sto_: To harriers drawing for a stag.

_Oyez, à Beaumont, oyez, assemble à Beaumont_: "Hark to Beaumont, hark, get to him." To the hound of that name who picks up the right line, and to bring the other hounds to him.

It is in the hare-hunting chapter that we have more of the "fayre wordis of venery," and here, if the "Master of Game" does not slavishly copy Twici, yet he employs the same cries, with a slight difference only in orthography. The "Boke of St. Albans" has also most of the following:--

_Hoo arere_: "Back there." When the hounds come too hastily out of the kennel.

_So moun amy atreyt_: Until they come into the field; these two are not given by Twici, but the following are identical in both books:--

_Hors de couple, avaunt sy avaunt_, and thrice _so howe_: When the hounds are uncoupled.

_Sa sa cy avaunt, cy sa avaunt, sa cy avaunt (avaunt, sire, avaunt_, in Twici): Forward, sir, forward.

_Here how, amy, how amy, and Swef, mon amy, swef_: "Gently, my friend, gently" (_swef_, from Latin _swavis_), when the hounds draw too fast from the huntsman.

_Oyez, à Beaumont_ (in Twici: _Oyez, a Beaumont le vaillaunt que il quide trover le coward od la courte cowe_): "Hark to Beaumont the valiant, who thinks to find the coward with the short tail."

_La douce, la il ad este sohowe_: "Softly, there--here he has been," if the place where the hare has pastured is seen.

_Illoeques, illoeques_: "Here, here," if the hounds hunt well on the line (_see_ Appendix: Illoeques).

_Ha sy toutz, cy est il venuz arere, so howe. Sa cy a este so howe. Sa cy avaunt_: "Here, he has gone back. Here he has been. Forward there." When the hare has doubled.

_La douce amy, il est venuz illoeques, sohowe_: "Softly, friend, he is here." When the hounds hunt well in fields or arable land.

_La douce, amy, la est il venuz (pur lue segere sohow)_: "Softly, friend, here he has come to seat himself" (Mid. Eng., _sege_--a seat. Latin, _sedere_).

_La douce, amy, la il est venuz (pur meyndir)_: "Here he has been to feed" (_meyndir_, from Latin _manducare_, _mandere_).

The bracketed part of the last two cries are given in the MS. of Twety and Gyff., and the following are only in the "Master of Game":--

_Le valliant oyez, oyez who bo bowe_, and then, _Avaunt, assemble, assemble, war war, a ha war_, for running riot. _How assamy assamy so arere so howe bloues acoupler._

On seeing the pricking or footing of the hare: _Le voye, le voye_ ("The view, the view").

In France, _Tallyho_, or a very similar sounding word, was employed in the early days when the huntsman was sure that the right stag had gone away, whether he only knew it by his slot, &c., or whether he had viewed him.

It was also a call to bring up the hounds when the stag had gone away, and at the end of the _curée_, when the huntsman held part of the entrails of the deer on a large wooden fork, and the hounds bayed it (which was called the _forhu_), the huntsman called out _Tallyho_.

We only find _Tallyho_ in comparatively recent English hunting literature and songs--never, so far as I am aware, before the late seventeenth century, and it does not occur at all constantly until the eighteenth century. Neither Turbervile nor Blome nor Cox, in their books on the various chases, mention such a word, though we find instruction to the huntsman to say "Hark to him," "Hark forward," "Hark back," and "To him, to him"; besides the inevitable "So how sohow." Neither in Twici, "Master of Game," "Boke of St. Albans," Chaucer, or Shakespeare can we find an invigorating _Tallyho_. It would almost appear as if it were a seventeenth century importation from across the Channel, which is quite possible, for Henry IV. of France sent in that century three of his best huntsmen, Desprez, de Beaumont, and de Saint-Ravy, to the Court of King James I. to teach the royal huntsmen how to hunt the stag in the French way, English Court hunting having degenerated into coursing of stags within the park palings.

_Taïaut_ in France was used solely in the chase of red, fallow, or roe deer.

HUNTING MUSIC. In the "Master of Game," as in all the earliest hunting literature, much importance is placed on the huntsman's sounding his horn in the proper manner in order, as Twici says, that "Each man who is around you, who understands Hunting, can know in which point you are in your sport by your blowing." The author of "Master of Game" (p. 170) says he will give us "a chapter which is all of blowing," but he omitted to fulfil this promise, so that we have only such information as we can gather in his chapters on stag and hare-hunting. The differences in the signals were occasioned by the length of the sound or note, and the intervals between each. Twici expresses these notes in syllables, such as _trout_, _trout_, _trourourout_. The first of these would be single notes, with an interval between them, blown probably with a separate breath or wind for each; the latter would be three notes blown without interval and with a single breath or wind. The principal sounds on the hunting horn were named as follows:--

A _Moot_ or _Mote_, a single note, which might be sounded long or short.

A _Recheat_. To recheat, Twici says, "blow in this manner, _trourourourout, trourourourout, trourourourout_," therefore a four-syllabled sound succeeded by an interval, blown three times. In the "Master of Game" we find the recheat preceded or followed by a moot, the most constantly recurring melody. When the limer has moved the stag, and the huntsman sees him go away, he was to blow a moot and recheat. If the stag is moved but not viewed, and the huntsman knows only by the slot that it is his stag that has gone away, he is to recheat without the moot, for that was only to be blown when the stag was seen. When the hounds are at fault and any one finds the slot of the deer, he should recheat "in the rightes and blow a long moot for the lymerer," or if he thinks he sees the hunted stag, he should blow a moot and recheat, and after that blow two moots for the hounds.

The _Forlonge_. A signal that the stag had got away far ahead of the hounds or that these had distanced some or all of the huntsmen (_see_ Appendix: Forlonge).

The _Perfect_ or _Parfit_. Twici says it began by "a moot and then _trourourout, trout, trout, trourourout, trourourout, trourourout, trout, trout, trourourourout_," "and then to commence by another moot again, and so you ought to blow three times. And to commence by a moot and to finish by a moot." This was only blown when the hounds were hunting the right line (_see_ Appendix: Parfet).

The _Prise_. Twici says, blow four moots for the taking of the deer. According to the "Master of Game," "the prise or coupling up" was to be blown by the chief personage of the hunt only, after the quarry. It was only blown when the deer had been slain by strength, or hunted, and not when shot or coursed. He was to blow four moots, wait a short interval (half an Ave Maria), and blow another four notes a little longer than the first four.

The _Menée_. Twici says the _Menée_ should only be blown for the hart, the boar, the wolf, and the male wolf, but he does not give us any analysis of this melody. In the "Master of Game" we are told that the _Menée_ was blown at the hall-door on the return of the huntsmen. The Master first blew four moots alone, then at the end of the four moots the others joined him in blowing, and they all continued keeping time together (_see_ Appendix: Menée).

The _Mort_ or _Death_ was another sound of the horn, but we have no description of the notes. Perhaps it is synonymous with the _Prise_.

The _Stroke_ must have been another grouping of short and long notes, but of this we have no record.

Hardouin de Fontaines Guerin wrote a poem on the chase chiefly concerning the different manners of blowing such as obtained in his native country the provinces of Anjou and Maine. The poem was illustrated with fourteen miniatures showing the notes to be blown on as many different occasions during stag-hunting.

The notes are written in little squares: [**white] denoting a long note; [**black] a short note; [**white][**white] a note of two long syllables; [**black][**black] a note of two short syllables; [**black][**white][**white] a note of one short and two long syllables; and [**black][**white][**white][**black][**black] a note of one short, two long, and two short syllables. Of these six notes combinations were made for all the signals to be blown.

ILLOEQUES, "here in this place," from the L. _illo loco_. Sometimes it is spelt _illecques_, _iluec_, _illosques_, &c. It is constantly met with in Anglo-Norman, and the Provence dialects (Botman, pp. 90, 242; T. M., pp. 31, 93, 142; Roy Modus, lxix.; and in the will of the Duke of York, Nichols). It has been suggested that it is the origin of the familiar _yoicks_. In the "Boke of St. Albans" in the verses on hare-hunting it also occurs.

JOPEYE, synonymous with _jupper_, which, according to Cotgrave, is an old word signifying "to whoot, showt, crie out alowd." The French word _juper_, _jupper_, also spelt _joppeir_, had the same meaning, and we find it employed in the "Chace dou cerf" for a halloa in hunting in a similar way to _jopeye_ in our text:

"_Et puis juppe ou corne i. lonc mot
Chaucuns en a joie qui l'ot._"

In the sense it is used in our "Master of Game" (p. 185) it means to halloa to the hounds, to encourage them with the voice.

KENETTES, small hounds. Kenet is a diminutive form of the Norman-French _kenet_, and the O. F. _chen_, _cienetes_, _chenet_, a dog: _i veneour a ii cienetes, Ne mie grans mais petitetes, Et plus blans que n'est flors d'espine_ (Percival, 22,895). Derived from the Latin _canis_ (_see_ Appendix: Harriers).

LIGGING, a bed, a resting-place, a lair. From O. Eng. _licgan_, _licgean_, Goth. _ligan_, lie, lie down. The ligging of the hart was what we now call his lair, spelt also layer. In our MS. it is used for the dwelling of a wild cat (p. 71).

This old expression is not entirely obsolete, but can be heard still among the country people of the northern counties of England.

LIMER, lymer; the name given to a scenting-hound which was held in a liam or leash whilst tracking the game. Limers never were any distinct breed of hounds, but, of course, some breeds produced better limers than others (De Noirmont, vol. ii. p. 350).

A dog used as a limer had to be keen on the scent, staunch on the line, not too fast, and was taught to run mute, for if the exact whereabouts of any game had to be discovered, it would have been impossible, if the hound gave tongue or challenged while on the scent. A likely hound was chosen from the kennel at an early age, G. de F. says at a year old (p. 157), and from that time accompanied his master, sleeping in his room, and being taught to obey him. He was continually taken out by his master with collar and liam and encouraged to follow the scent of hinds and of stags and other beasts, and punished should he venture to acknowledge the scent of any animal he was not being entered to, or should he open on finding or following the line.

In England as well as on the Continent the huntsman went out in the early morning to track the game to be hunted to its lair, or den, before the pack and huntsmen came into the field. Deer, wild boar, bear and wolves were thus harboured by means of a limer. Twici makes the apprentice huntsman ask: "Now I wish to know how many of the beasts are moved by the lymer, and how many of the beasts are found by braches?--Sir, all those which are chased are moved by a lymer, and all those which are hunted up (_enquillez_) are found by the braches" (Twici, p. 12; _see_ Appendix: Acquillez).

Limers were not only employed when a warrantable stag was to be hunted by hounds, but a huntsman going out with his bow or cross-bow would have his brachet on a liam and let him hunt up the quarry he wished to shoot (_see_ Appendix: Bercelet). Also, the day before one of the large battues for big game, the limers would be taken out to ascertain what game there was in the district to be driven.

A liam, _lyome_, or _lyame_, was a rope made of silk or leather by which hounds were led, from O. F. _liamen_, a strap or line, Latin _ligamen_. This strap was fastened to the collar by a swivel, and both collar and liams were often very gorgeous. We read of "A lyame of white silk with collar of white vellat embrawdered with perles, the swivell of silver." "Dog collors of crymson vellat with VI lyhams of white leather." "A lieme of grene and white silke." "Three lyames and colors with tirrett of silver and quilt" (Madden, "Expenses of Princess Mary").

A hound was said to carry his liam well when he just kept it at proper tension, not straining it, for that would show that he was of too eager temperament, and likely to overshoot the line; if he trailed his liam on the ground, it showed that he was slack or unwilling (D'Yauville).

As soon as the stag was "moved" the limer's work was over, but only for the time being; his master led him away, the other hounds were uncoupled, and the harbourer, mounting his horse and keeping his limer with him, rode as close to the chase as he could, skirting below the wind and being careful not to cross the line, but managing to be at hand in case the stag should run in company or give the hounds the change. In this case the huntsman had to check the hounds, and wait for the harbourer and limer to come up and unravel the change, and put the pack on the right scent once more.

The method of starting the stag with a limer was not done away with in France until the eighteenth century, although in Normandy a change had been made previously, and probably in England also. For our author says that some sportsmen even in his time, when impatient, would uncouple a few of the hounds in the covert, before the stag had been properly started by the limer, which practice he, however, was not in favour of except under the conditions he mentions.

This uncoupling of a few older hounds in covert to start the deer, coupling them again as soon as the deer was on foot, was later called _tufting_, and is still customary in Devon and Somerset.

The limer was not rewarded with the other hounds; he received his reward from the hands of his master before or after the other hounds, and after he had bayed the head of the stag.

When not quoting or translating the old text the more modern spelling of _li_mer has been used.

MADNESS. Old Eng. and Mid. Eng. _Woodness_, _wodnesse_, and _wodnyss_; mad, _wode_. The seven different sorts of madnesses spoken of by the "Master of Game" are also mentioned in nearly all subsequent works on old hunting dealing with "sicknesses of hounds." They are the hot burning madness, running madness, dumb madness, lank madness, rheumatic madness or slavering madness, falling madness, sleeping madness.

These are mentioned in Roy Modus, and the cure for rabies, of taking the afflicted dog to the sea and letting nine waves wash over him, as well as the cock cure mentioned in our English MS., were both taken by Gaston from Roy Modus, or both derived them from some common source (Roy Modus, fol. xlv. r).

The water cure is mentioned also by Albertus Magnus (Alb. Mag., 215, a 27).

It seems likely to have been to try the efficacy of this cure that King Edward I. sent some of his hounds to Dover to bathe in the sea, the following account for which is entered in his Wardrobe Accounts:

"To John le Berner, going to Dover to bathe six braches by the King's order and for staying there for 21 days for his expense 3. 6d" (6 Edward I. Quoted from MS. Philipps, 8676).

The means of recognising rabies by a cock is also mentioned in the recipe of the eleventh century given by Avicenna (957-1037), and it appears again in Vincentius Bellovacensis and is also to be found in Alexander Neckham. Although the manner of using the cock for this purpose varies, we see by the fact of its being mentioned in different works preceding our MS. that the cock enjoyed some legendary renown for at least a couple of centuries before Gaston (Werth, p. 55).

Nowadays only two varieties of rabies are recognised: furious and dumb rabies. The numerous divisions of the old authors were based on different stages of the disease and slight variations in the symptoms.

When a dog is attacked with rabies its owner often supposes that the dog has a bone in its throat, so that a report of this condition is regarded by veterinary surgeons with suspicion. This corresponds with the description in our text of dogs, with their mouths "somewhat gaping, as if they were _enosed_ in their throat."

MASTIFF, from F. _metif_, O. F. _mestif_, M. E. _mastyf_, _mestiv_, mixed breed, a mongrel dog (Cent. Dict., Murray). Some etymologists have suggested that the word mastiff was derived from _masethieves_, as these dogs protected their master's houses and cattle from thieves (Manwood, p. 113). Others again give _mastinus_, i.e. _maison tenant_, house-dog, as the origin, but the first derivation given of _mestif_, mongrel, is the one now generally recognised.

Although it will be quite evident to any one comparing the mastiff depicted in our Plate, p. 122, with any picture of the British mastiff that the two are very different types, we must not therefore conclude that the artist was at fault, but that the French _matin_, which is what our MS. describes and depicts, was by no means identical with our present English breed of mastiffs, nor even with the old British mastiff or bandog. The French _matins_ were generally big, hardy dogs, somewhat light in the body, with long heads, pointed muzzles, flattened forehead, and semi-pendant ears; some were rough and others smooth coated.

_Matins_ were often used for tackling the wild boar when run by other hounds, so as to save the more valuable ones when the boar turned to bay.

In this chase, as well as when they were used to protect their master's flocks against wolves, huge iron spiked collars were fastened round the dog's neck. These spiked collars were very formidable affairs; one of very ancient make which I have measures inside nearly eight inches in diameter, and the forty-eight spikes are an inch long, the whole weighing without the padlock that fastened it together about two pounds.

In England the name Mastiff was not in general use till a much later date, even as late as the end of the eighteenth century, Osbaldiston in his Dictionary ignoring the term mastiff, and using, like a true Saxon, the old term bandog (Wynn, p. 72). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the terms were generally synonymous, and it seems quite possible that the mastiff of the ancient forest laws was not our bandog, but denoted, as in France, any large house-dog capable of defending his master and his master's goods, watching his cattle, and, as frequently necessary, powerful enough to attack the depredatory wolf or the wild boar. These would in all likelihood be a very mixed breed, and thoroughly justify the name _mestif_ or mongrel.

Cotgrave in his French-English Dictionary gives the following:--

"_Mastin_, a mastiue or bandog; a great country curre; also a rude, filthie, currish or cruell fellow."

We find the word _matin_ in France used as a term of opprobrium, or a name of contempt for any ugly or distorted body or a coarse person: "_C'es un matin, un vilain matin._" Many interesting facts about the mastiff have been collected by Jesse in his "History of the British Dog," but he also makes the mistake of considering that the "Master of Game" and Turbervile give us the description of the dogs then existing in England, whereas these descriptions really relate only to French breeds, although the characteristics may in many cases have tallied sufficiently; but in others a dire confusion has resulted from blindly copying from one another.

MENÉE, from Latin _minare_, something which is led, a following. This word frequently occurs in the mediæval romances, and usually denoted pursuit, either in battle or in the hunting field (Borman, p. 37).

There are various meanings attached to _menée_:--

1. The line of flight the stag or other game has taken, and _Chacier la menée_ seems to have meant hunting with horn and hound by scent on the line of flight, in contradiction to the chase with the bow or crossbow, which was called _berser_ (_Le Roman des Loherains_, 106, c. 30). In G. de F. (p. 157) it is used in the same sense. The meaning in which Gaston de Foix uses the word menée is explained by him: _Et puis se metre après, et chevauchier menée: c'est à dire par où les chiens et le cerf vont_ (G. de F., pp. 43, 44, 171, 179). See also _Chace dou Cerf_ and Hard. de Font. Guer. Edit. Pichon.

2. The challenge of the hound when on the line. Page 171, we read that a hunter should know whether the hounds have retrieved their stag by the doubling of their menée, _i.e._ the hounds would make more noise as soon as they found the scent or line of flight of the stag they were chasing. _Menée_ evidently meant the sound made by the hound when actually following the scent, not when baying the game. Later the sense seems to have been widened, and a musical hound was said to have _la menée belle_ (Salnove, p. 246).

3. A note sounded on a horn (_see_ Appendix: Hunting Music). It was the signal that the deer was in full flight. It appears to be used in Twici to signify the horn-signal blown when the hounds are on the scent of hart, boar or wolf, to press the hounds onwards (Twici, p. 23). This author says one cannot blow the menée for the hare, because it is at one time female and another male, and to this Dryden in his notes remarks that Twici is perfectly right in saying a man ought not to blow the menée for a hare; for as every one knows, it is but a rare occurrence for a hare to go straight on end like a fox, for they commonly double and run rings, in which case if the hounds were pressed, they would over-run the scent and probably lose the hare. But he does not explain why Twici says if it were always male the menée could be blown at it as at other beasts, such as the hart, the boar, and the wolf. Is it that a male hare will occasionally run a long, straight course of several miles, but that the female runs smaller rings and more constantly retraces her steps, and therefore the menée could never be blown at her?

4. Menée was also used in the sense of a signal on a horn.

The "Master of Game" says the _menées_ should be sounded on the return of the huntsman at the hall or cellar door (p. 179). There was a curious old custom which occasioned the blowing of the horn in Westminster Abbey. Two _menées_ were blown at the high altar of the Abbey on the delivery there of eight fallow deer which Henry III. had by charter granted as a yearly gift to the Abbot of Westminster and his successors.

METYNGE, here evidently means meating or feeding. As the "Master of Game" says: "or pasturing" as if the two words were synonymous, as _metinge_ also was Mid. Eng. for _measure_, it might have been a deer of "high measure and pasturing." But anyhow the two were practically identical, for as Twici says: "Harts which are of good pasture. For the head grows according to the pasture; good or otherwise." See below: MEUTE.

MEUTE had several meanings in Old French venery.

1. The "Master of Game" translated G. de F.'s "grant cerf" as a hart of high feeding or pasture. But he omitted to render the following passage: "_Et s'il est de bonne meute, allons le laisser courre._" The "_bonne meute_" is not translated by "high meating." It was an expression in use to indicate whether the stag was in good company or not. If a warrantable stag was accompanied by one or two large stags he was termed "_Un cerf de bonne mute_" (or _meute_), but if hinds and young stags (rascal) were with him he was designated as a "_cerf de mauvaise mute_." In Roy Modus we read: "_La première est de savoir s'il est de bonne mute._"

Perhaps _meute_ when used in this sense was derived from the old Norman word _moeta_, _m[=a][=e]ta_, from _m[=o]t_, meet, come together. There was also an Old Eng. word _metta_ or _gemetta,_ companion.

2. Meute was also used in another sense which is translated by the "Master of Game" as _haunts_, probably the place the deer usually moves in. G. says: "_Il prendra congé de sa meute_," and the "Master of Game" has: "he leaves his haunts." If a deer was harboured in a good country for hunting he was also called "_En belle meute_" (D'Yauville, voc. _Meute_).

It was in this sense that the "Sénéschal de Normandye" answers the question of his royal mistress about the stag he himself had harboured that morning; he tells her the stag was _En belle meute et pays fort_.

3. MEUTE, MUTE, a number of hounds, now called a pack or kennel of hounds or a cry of hounds.

MEW, _Mue_, to shed, cast, or change. "The hart mews his horns," the deer casts his head, or sheds his antlers. From the French _muer_, and the Latin _mutare_, to change, of hawks to moult.

MOVE, MEU, Meue, mewe, meeve, old forms of move. To start a hart signified to unharbour him, to start him from his lair.

G. de F. says: _Allons le laisser courre_; but the word _meu_ or _meve_ was also used in Old French in the same way as in English.

Twici says: _Ore vodroi ioe savoir quantez des betes sunt meuz de lymer, e quanz des bestes sunt trouez des brachez.... Sire, touz ceaus qe sunt enchaces; sunt meuz de lymer. E tous ceaus enquillez sunt trovez de brachez._ (Now I would wish to know how many beasts are moved by a lymer and how many beasts are found by the braches.--Sir, all those which are chased are moved by a lymer. And all those which are hunted up are found by braches.) (Line 18; Tristan., i. 4337; Partonopeus de Blois, 607.)

MUSE, _Meuse_. An opening in a fence through which a hare or other animal is accustomed to pass. An old proverb says: "'Tis as hard to find a hare without a muse, as a woman without scuse."

"A hare will pass by the same muses until her death or escape" (Blome, p. 92).

NUMBLES. M. E. _nombles_, _noumbles_; O. F. _nombles_. The parts of a deer between the thighs, that is to say, the liver and kidneys and entrails. Part, and sometimes the whole of the numbles were considered the right of the huntsman; sometimes the huntsman only got the kidneys, and the rest was put aside with the tit-bits reserved for the King or chief personage (Turb., pp. 128-129). Numbles by loss of the initial letter became umbles (Harrison, vol. i. p. 309), and was sometimes written humbles, whence came "humble pie," now only associated with the word humble. Humble pie was a pie made of the umbles or numbles of the deer, and formerly at hunting feasts was set before the huntsman and his followers.

OTTER. The Duke of York does not tell us anything of the chase of the Otter, but merely refers one at the end of the chapter on "The Nature of the Otter" to Milbourne, the King's Otter-hunter, for more information and says, "as of all other vermin I speak not" (p. 73). The Otter was evidently beneath his notice, as being neither regarded as a beast of venery nor of the chase (Twety and Gyfford, Brit. Mus. MS. Vesp. B. XII.). But the very fact that the King had an Otter-hunter shows that it was a beast not altogether despised, although probably hunted more for the value of its skin and for the protection of the fish than for the sport.

The Milbourne referred to by the Duke of York can scarcely be any other than the William Melbourne we find mentioned in Henry IV.'s reign as "Valet of our Otter-hounds" (Privy Seal, 674/6456, Feb. 18, 1410).

PARFET, _the perfect_. Twici says: _Une autre chasce il y ad qe homme appele le parfet. Dunkes covient il qe vous corneez en autre maneree.... E isse chescun homme qest en tour vous, que siet de venerie puet conustre en quel point vous estes en vostre dedut par vostre corneer_ (line 111).

From comparing the various places where the word _parfait_ is employed in connection with hunting, it may be concluded that to hunt the "_Parfet_" was when the hounds were on the line of the right stag, to sound the "_Parfet_" was to blow the notes that indicated the hounds were hunting the right line. Dryden in his notes to Twici suggests that the chase of the _parfet_ was "in opposition to the chase of the _Forloyng_," that is, when the pack run well together "jostling in close array" (Twici, p. 43). But Perfect in the O. F. works seems to us to invariably be used, as already said, to indicate that the hounds have not taken the change, but are staunch to the right scent. Jacques de Brézé says the stag he is hunting joins two great stags, but although some of the hounds ran silent for awhile, they still continued staunch to their line, and here he uses the word "_parfait_" (Sen. de Nor., p. 13).

Modus also uses it in this sense: _Les chiens qui viennent chaçant après le parfait_ (fol. xix. v). And what is most conclusive is the sense given to it in our text: "Should blow to him again the parfyt so that he were in his rightes and ellys nought," _i.e._ the parfyt should only be blown if the hound was on the right line (p. 174).

PARFYTIERES, the name given in the "Master of Game" to the last relay of hounds uncoupled during the chase of the stag. First came the "_vaunt chase_," and then the "_midel_," and then the "_parfytieres_." They may have been so called from being the last hounds to be uncoupled, being those that completed or perfected the pack--_i.e._ perfecters, or this relay may have derived its name from being composed of some of the staunchest hounds from the kennel, those not likely to follow any but the right line or the _parfyt_. It was customary in the old days to keep some of the slower and staunchest hounds in the last relay, and to cast them only when a stag nearing its end rused and foiled, and sought by every means to shake off his persecutors (_see_ Appendix: Relays). G. de F. gives the names of the three relays simply as _La première bataille_, _la seconde_, and _la tierce_ (p. 175).

POMELED; spotted, from O. F. _pomelé_, spotted like an apple. The young of the roedeer are born with a reddish brown coat with white spots, which the "Master of Game" calls _pomeled_. This term was also frequently used in Ang.-N., O. F., and in the dog-Latin of our ancient records to describe a flea-bitten or dappled horse. "_His hakenei that was all pomeli gris_" (Strat.). "_Pommeli liardus, gris pommele, Uno equo liardo pomele_" (Obs. Ward. Acc. 28, Ed. I.). G. de F. does not use this word in describing the young of the roedeer, but says they are born "_eschaquettes_" (p. 40).

RACHES; _ratches_ or _racches_, a dog that hunts by scent. A.-S. _raecc_, a hound, and O. F. and Ang.-N. _brache_, _brachet_, _bracon_, _braquet_; Ger. _bracken_. Ang.-Lat., _brachetus_, _bracketus_.

Raches were scenting hounds hunting in a pack, later called "running hounds," and then simply hounds. Although raches or brachets are frequently mentioned in the O. F. and Ang.-N. metrical romances, and in various early documents, we have never found any description of them, but can only gather what they were from the uses they were put to. We find that the bracco was used by the early German tribes to track criminals, therefore they were scenting hounds. There is plenty of evidence that they were used for stag, wild boar, and buck hunting during the Middle Ages. They were coupled together and led by a _berner_ or _bracennier_ or _braconnier. Braconnier_ now means poacher, but this is only the later meaning; originally braconnier was the leader of the bracos, or huntsman (Daurel, p. 337; Bangert, p. 173; Dol. 9188).

We gather that these brachets of the early Middle Ages were small hounds, sometimes entirely white, but generally white with black markings. Sometimes they were mottled (_bracet mautré_). One description of a _braces corant_ says this hound was as white as a nut, with black ears, a black mark on the right flank, and flecked with black (Blancadin, 1271; Perc. 17,555, 22,585; Tristan M., 1475, 2261; Tyolet, 332).

In the early days in England we find that braches were used to hunt up such smaller game as was not unharboured or dislodged by the limer. Twici says: "_Sire, touz ceaus qe sunt enchaces, sunt meuz de lymer. E tous ceaus enquillez sunt trovez de brachez_" (_see_ Appendix: Acquillez), _i.e._ All beasts that are enchased are moved by a limer, and all those that are hunted up are found by braches (Twici, pp. 2, 12). Raches are mentioned in the "Boke of St. Albans" among the "_Dyvers manere of houndes_," and the apprentice to venery is told he should speak of "A mute of houndes, a kenell of rachys." He is also informed that the hart, the buck, and the boar should be started by a limer, and that all "other bestes that huntyd shall be sought for and found by Ratches so free." John Hardyng in his Chronicle, speaking of an inroad into Scotland by Edward IV., in whose reign he was yet living, said, "And take Kennetes and Ratches with you and seeke oute all the forest with houndes and hornes as Kynge Edwarde with the long shanks dide." In the "Squyer of Low degree" we read that the huntsman came with his bugles "and seven score raches at his rechase."

RESEEYUOUR; the word the most approaching this to be found in any dictionary is under the head of receiver, M. E. _receyvour_, one who, or that which receives. The _reseeyuours_ were most likely those greyhounds who received the game, _i.e._ pulled it down after it had been chased. We see in our text that _teasers_ and _reseeyuours_ are mentioned together (p. 198). The former were light, swift greyhounds; these were probably slipped first; and the latter (Shirley MS. spells _resteynours_) were the heavy greyhounds slipped last, and capable of pulling down a big stag. De Noirmont tells us: _Ces derniers étaient surnommés receveours ou receveurs_ (ii. p. 426, and G. de F., p. 177).

RELAYS. In the early days of venery the whole pack was not allowed to hunt at the commencement of the chase. After the stag had been started from his lair by a limer, some hounds were uncoupled and laid on, the rest being divided off into relays, which were posted in charge of one or more _berners_ along the probable line of the stag, and were uncoupled when the hunted stag and the hounds already chasing him had passed. There were usually three relays, and two to four couples the usual number in each relay, though the number of couples depended, of course, on the size of the hunting establishment and the number of hounds in the kennel. G. de F. calls these relays simply, première, seconde, and tierce. The "Master of Game" calls the first lot of hounds uncoupled the "finders" (p. 165), though this seems rather a misnomer, as the harbourer with his limer (_see_ Limer) found and started the deer. The _vauntchase_ for the first relay, and the _midel_ speak for themselves, but we have little clue to the origin of _parfitieres_ for the third relay. Were they so called because they perfected or completed the chase, or because they were some of the staunchest hounds who could be depended upon to follow the _parfit, i.e._ the right line of the stag or animal hunted? (_see_ Appendix: Parfet). Old authorities seem to have differed in opinion as to whether the staunchest and slowest hounds should have been put in the first cry or in the last (Roy Modus, fol. xvi.; G. de F., p. 178; Lav., Chasse à Courre, pp. 297-8).

In the "Boke of St. Albans" we read of the _vauntlay_, _relay_, and _allay_. The first was the name given to hounds if they were uncoupled and thrown off between the pack and the beast pursued, the relay were the hounds uncoupled after the hounds already hunting had passed by; the _allay_ is held:

"Till all the houndes that be behynd be cum therto
Than let thyn houndes all to geder goo
That is called an _allay_."

Instructions concerning when relays should be given always warn the _berner_ not to let slip the couples till some of the surest hounds have passed on the scent, and till he be sure that the stag they are hunting is the right one and not a substitute, _i.e._ one frightened and put up by the hunted stag. The "Master of Game" is careful also to say: "Take care that thou _vauntlay_ not" (p. 169).

The discontinuing of relays seemed to have been begun first in Normandy and probably about the same time in England.

In France the three relays of greyhounds which were used were called _Levriers d'estric--i.e._ those which were first let slip; _levriers de flanc_, those that attacked from the side; and _levriers de tête_, those that bar the passage in front of the game or head it, terms that correspond with our vauntlay, allay, and relay. In the "Master of Game's" chapter on the wolf these relays of greyhounds are indicated (p. 59).

RIOT. The "Master of Game's" statement on p. 74 that no other wild beast in England is called ryott save the coney only has called forth many suggestions as to the origin of this name being applied to the rabbit, and the connection between riot, a noise or brawl, and the rabbit. The word riot is represented in M. E. and O. F. by _riote_, in Prov. _riota_, Ital. _riotta_, and in all these languages it had the same signification, _i.e._ a brawl, a dispute, an uproar, a quarrel (Skeat).

Diez conjectures the F. _riote_ to stand for _rivote_, and refers to O. H. G. _riben_, G. _reiben_, to grate, to rub (orig. perhaps to rive, to rend). From German, _sich an einem reiben_, to mock, to attack, to provoke one; lit. to rub oneself against one.

Rabbit, which is in O. Dutch robbe, has probably the same origin from _reiben_.

The etymology and connection, if any, between the two words rabbit and riot is difficult to determine. It is very probable that the rabbit was called _riot_ from producing a brawling when the hounds came across one. The term "running _riot_" may well be derived from a hunting phrase.

ROE. The error regarding the October rut into which G. de F. and the Duke of York fell was one to which the naturalists of much later times subscribed, for it was left to Dr. Ziegler and to Dr. Bischoff, the Professor of Physiology at Heidelberg, to demonstrate in 1843 the true history of the gestation of the roe, which for more than a century had been a hotly disputed problem. On that occasion it was shown with scientific positiveness that the true rut of the roe takes place about the end of July or first week in August, and that the ovum does not reach the uterus for several months, so that the first development of the embryo does not commence before the middle of December.

RUNNING HOUNDS AND RACHES (F. _chiens courants_). Under this heading we include all such dogs as hunted by scent in packs, whatever the game they pursued might be. They appear in the early records of our kings as _Canes de Mota_, _Canes currentes_, and as _Sousos_ (scenting hounds) (Close Rolls 7 John; Mag. Rot. 4, John Rot. 10; 4 Henry III.), and are mentioned specifically as _cervericiis_, _deimericiis_, as _Heyrectorum_ (harriers) or _canes heirettes_, and foxhounds as _gupillerettis_ or _wulpericiis_ (Close Rolls, 15 John).

The Anglo-Saxon word _Hundas_, hound, was a general name for any dog; the dog for the chase in Anglo-Saxon times being distinguished by the prefix _Ren_, making _ren hund_.

Gradually the word dog superseded the word hound, and the latter was only retained to designate a "scenting" dog. Dr. Caius, writing to Dr. Gesner, remarks in his book: "Thus much also understand, that as in your language _Hunde_ is the common word, so in our naturall tounge dogge is the universall, but _Hunde_ is perticular and a speciall, for it signifieth such a dogge onely as serveth to hunt" (Caius, p. 40). (_See_ Appendix: Raches.) Running hounds was a very literal translation of the French _chiens courants_, and as the descriptive chapter given in our text is as literal a rendering from G. de F. there is no information that helps us to piece together the ancestry of the modern English hound. We do not know what breed were in the royal kennels in the reign of Henry IV., but probably some descendants of those brought to this country by the Normans, about the origin of which breed nothing seems known.

_Keep of Hounds._ The usual cost of the keep of a hound at the time of our MS. was a halfpenny a day, of a greyhound three farthings, and of a limer or bloodhound one penny a day.

However for the royal harthounds an allowance of three farthings a day was made for each hound (Q. R. Acc. 1407), and we also find occasionally that only a halfpenny a day was made for the keep of a greyhound. In Edward I.'s reign a halfpenny a day was the allowance made for fox- and otter-hounds (14, 15, 31, 32, 34, Edward I. Ward. Acc.), and sometimes three farthings and sometimes a halfpenny a day for a greyhound. The Master of Buckhounds was allowed a halfpenny a day each for his hounds and greyhounds.

In the reign of Richard III. the Master of Harthounds was allowed 3s. 3d. a day "for the mete of forty dogs and twelve greyhounds and threepence a day for three limers" (Rolls of Parl., vol. v. p. 16).

The "Boke of Curtasye" (fourteenth century, Percy Society, iv. p. 26), gives us information which quite agrees with the payments entered in the Wardrobe and other accounts of the King's hunting establishment. And under the head of _De Pistore_ we find the baker is told to make loaves for the hounds:

"Manchet and chet to make brom bred hard
ffor chaundeler and grehoundes and huntes reward."

Chet, a word not in use since the seventeenth century, meant wheaten bread of the second quality, made of flour more coarsely sifted than that used for manchet, which was the finest quality.

Brom bread was oaten bread, and probably was very much the same as a modern dog biscuit.

One of the ancient feudal rights was that of obtaining bran from the vassals for the hounds' bread, known as the right of brennage, from bren, bran.

Although bread was the staple food given to hounds, yet they were also provided with meat. At the end of a day's hunting they received a portion of the game killed (_see_ Curée), and if this was not sufficient or it was not the hunting season game was expressly killed for them. In a decree from King John to William Pratell and the Bailiffs of Falke de Breaut of the Isle of Ely, the latter are commanded to find bread and paste for the hounds as they may require, "and to let them hunt sometimes in the Bishops chase for the flesh upon which they are fed" (Close Roll, 17 John). In an extract from the Wardrobe Accounts of 6 Edward I. we find a payment was made of 40s. by the King to one Bernard King for his quarry for two years past on which the King's dogs had been fed (MS. Phillipps, 8676).

We find also that "Pantryes, Chippinges and broken bread" were given to the hounds, _Chippings_ being frequently mentioned in the royal accounts as well as meat for the hounds (Liber Niger Domus Ed. IV.; Collection of Ordinances of the Royal Households; Jesse, ii. 125; Privy Purse Expenses Henry VIII. 1529-1532).

The cost of the keep of some of the King's hounds were paid for out of the exchequer, others were paid from the revenues and outgoings of various counties, and an immense number were kept by subjects who held land from the crown _by serjeantry_ or _in capite_ of keeping a stated number of running hounds, greyhounds, and brachets, &c., for the King's use (Blount's Ancient Tenures, Plac. Chron. 12, 13 Ed. I.; Issue Roll 25 Henry VI.; Domesday, tom. i. fol. 57 v).

We see by the early records of our kings that a pack of hounds did not always remain stationary and hunt within easy reach of their kennels, but were sent from one part of the kingdom to another to hunt where game was most plentiful or where there was most vermin to be destroyed. As early as Edward I.'s reign we find conveyances were sometimes provided for hounds when they went on long journeys. Thomas de Candore or Candovere and Robert le Sanser (also called Salsar), huntsmen of the stag and buckhounds (Close Rolls 49 Henry III.; 6, 8 Ed. I.), were paid for a horse-litter for fifty-nine days for the use of their sixty-six hounds and five limers (Ward. Acc. 14, 15 Ed. I.). And as late as Henry VIII.'s time the hounds seemed to travel about considerable distances, as in the Privy Purse expenses of that King the cart covered with canvas for the use of his hounds is a frequently recurring item.

SCANTILON, O. F. _eschantillon_, Mid. Eng. _Scantilon_, Mod. Eng. scantling, mason's rule, a measure; the huntsman is continually told to take a _scantilon_, that is, a measure, of the slot or footprint of the deer, so as to be able to show it at the meet, that with this measure and the examination of the droppings which the huntsman was also to bring with him the Master of the Game could judge if the man had harboured a warrantable deer (_see_ Appendix: Slot and Trace).

SEASONS OF HUNTING. In mediæval times the consideration for the larder played a far more important part in fixing the seasons for hunting wild beasts than it did in later times, the object being to kill the game when in the primest condition. Beginning with the--