Part 19

[Sidenote: Hist. of Four-footed Beasts, &c. 1657.]

[Sidenote: Vulgar Errors. B. +i.+]

Topsel translates from Albertus an invention “to make a greyhound have a long neck,” far too ridiculous to be extracted. Indeed, this worthy Bishop of Ratisbon fully merits the character given of him by Sir Thos. Brown, “that he hath delivered most conceits, with strict enquiry into few:” and the Rector of St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate, is a close copyist of all his absurdities.

The following lines complete the accurate portrait of the Cilician poet:

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +i.+ 406.]

τὼ πρόσθεν δέ τ’ ὀλιζοτέρω πόδε ἔστων, ὀρθοτενεῖς κώλων ταναοὶ δολιχήρεες ἱστοὶ, εὐρέες ὠμοπλάται, πλευρῶν ἐπικάρσια ταρσὰ, ὀσφύες εὔσαρκοι, μὴ πίονες αὐτὰρ ὄπισθε στριφνή τ’ ἐκτάδιός τε πέλοι δολιχόσκιος οὐρή. τοῖοι μὲν ταναοῖσιν ἐφοπλίζοιντο δρόμοισι δόρκοις, ἠδ’ ἐλάφοισιν, ἀελλόποδί τε λαγωῷ.

Nemesian is brief, but highly illustrative:

[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneg. 106.]

Elige tunc cursu facilem, facilemque recursu, Seu Lacedæmonio natam, seu rure Molosso, Non humili de gente canem. Sit cruribus altis, Sit rigidis, multamque gerat sub pectore lato Costarum, sub fine decenter prona, carinam, Quæ sensim sursùs siccâ se colligat alvo, Renibus ampla satis vadis, diductaque coxas, Cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus aures.

[Sidenote: Alcon.]

Fracastorius’s canine portrait, “Sint armi lati, sint æquè pectora lata,” &c. are of doubtful application.

[Sidenote: Onomasticon. L. +v.+ c. +x.+]

Pollux adds to the perfection of the fore-legs by saying they should be μὴ προὔχοντα κατὰ τοὺς ἀγκῶνας—“not out at the elbows:” and Xenophon would have the Spartan dog straight both in the leg and at the elbow.

[Sidenote: Belisarius de Venatione.]

“Ilia sint angusta et compressa: venter exilis, nam crassus currentem gravat. Crura alta, brachia non æquè, ne leporis capturam impediant. Anteriores pedes, ut in fele, rotundi potius quàm longi.”

The terms λαγόνες and κενεῶνες are often confounded as synonymous. Arrian and the elder Xenophon use the term λαγόνες to designate (speaking anatomically) that part of the lumbar region, behind the last or short ribs, where the kidneys are situate, the upper and anterior part of the flanks: κενεῶνες, the lower and posterior part of the flanks.

[Sidenote: Aristot. Physiognom. c. +vi.+]

Aristotle observes that the best Canes Venatici are well tucked-up in the flanks ἴδοι δ’ ἄν τις καὶ τῶν κυνῶν τοὺς φιλοθηροτάτους εὐζώνους ὄντας. Such was the Ovidian Ladon,

[Sidenote: Metam. L. +iii.+]

Substricta gerens Sicyonius ilia Ladon.

[Sidenote: =Chap.= +xv.+ =fol.= 66.]

The Mayster of Game is here peculiarly illustrative of the text, fashioning the greyhound to perfection: “her shuldres as a roobuk. The for legges streght and greet ynow and nought to hie legges, the feet straught and rounde as a catte and greet clees,—the boone and the joyntes of the chyne greet and hard as the chyne of an hert. Eke be reson his chynne shuld be a litel hie, for it is better than it were flatt, &c. &c.—the thyes grete and squarred as an hare, the houghes streight and not crompyng as of an oxe, a cattes tayle makyng a ryng at eende and not to hie, the to boonys of the chyne behynd brode of a large pame or more. Also ther byne many greihoundes with longe tailles ryght swift,” &c.

[Sidenote: Book of Hawkyng, &c. 1486.]

Fotyd lyke a catte: Tayllyd lyke a ratte: Syded lyke a teme, And chynyd lyke a beme—

finishes the doggerel of the Sopewell portrait.

[Sidenote: Skinner Etymolog.]

Εὐπαγἢ—well-filleted? Fillet, “musculosior pars femoris sic dicta, quia eò loci magni et validi tendines et nervi insignes, qui propter longitudinem, filorum speciem exhibent, occurrunt.”

[Sidenote: Countrey Contentments. B. +i.+ p. 48.]

[Sidenote: The Countrey Farme. c. +xxii.+]

So Markham: “a straight square and flat back, short and strong fillets; a broad space between the hips; a strong stern or tail, and a round foot, and good large clefts.” Elsewhere, he says: “a long, broad, and square beame back, with high round fillets”—“hee must be deepe swine sided, with hollow bended ribs, and a full brest; he must have rush growne limbes before, and sickell houghs behind; a fine, round, full cat’s foot, with strong cleyes and tough soles, and an even growne long rat’s tail, round turning at the lower end from the leash ward; and hee must bee full set on betweene the buttockes,” &c.

The Cynosophium has the same remarks on the relative length of the fore and hind legs; see sect. +iv.+ p. 262.

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +iv.+ v. 425.]

χρειὼ δὲ σκοπέλου μὲν ἀνάντεος ἠδὲ πάγοιο σεύεσθαι προθέοντα ποδωκέα φῦλα λαγωῶν, πρὸς δὲ κάταντα σοφῇσι προμηθείῃσιν ἐλαύνειν. αὐτίκα γὰρ σκύλακάς τε καὶ ἀνέρας ἀθρήσαντες πρὸς λόφον ἰθύουσιν, ἐπεὶ μάλα γινώσκουσιν ὅττι πάροιθεν ἔασιν ὀλιζότεροι πόδες αὐτοῖς. τοὔνεκα ῥηΐδιαι πτώκεσσι πέλουσι κολῶναι, ῥηΐδιαι πτώκεσσι, δυσάντεες ἱππελάτῃσι.

[Sidenote: Lib. +xiii.+ c. 14.]

And Ælian, De Naturâ Animalium, states the advantage and disadvantage of this shape to the hare: τὰ δὲ ἀνάντη μὲν καὶ ὑψηλὰ οἱ λαγῲ ἀναθέουσι ῥᾷστα τὰ γάρ τοι κατόπιν κῶλα μακρότερα ἔχουσι τῶν ἔμπροσθεν, καὶ καταθέουσιν οὐκ ὁμοίως, λυπεῖ γὰρ αὐτοὺς τῶν ποδῶν τὸ ἐναντίον:—a circumstance well known to every courser, and not forgotten in the “Questions” of Dame Juliana’s poetical manual,

[Sidenote: The Booke of Hunting, &c. Edmund Allde. 1586.]

Tell me, maister, (quoth the man) what dooth it skill Why the hare would so faine runne against the hil? Quoth the maister, for her leggs be shorter before, And therfore she desireth to run that way evermore.

[Sidenote: De Venat. c. +iii.+]

[Sidenote: Illustrations of Gratius.]

Bad-footed hounds, however high-couraged, are unable to bear work, according to Xenophon, on account of the pain they endure in running, διὰ τὸ ἄλγος τῶν ποδῶν. No cynegeticon omits the essential feature of a well-formed foot; which, in Wase’s words, should be “round, high-knuckled, and well-clawed, with a dry hard soal.”

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. 276.]

Effuge qui latâ pandit vestigia plantâ, Mollis in officio, siccis ego dura lacertis Crura velim, et solidos hæc in certamina calces.

Fracastorius,

[Sidenote: Alcon.]

Ima pedum parvâ signent vestigia plantâ.

[Sidenote: De Venatione.]

Tardif explains the cat-like foot, “pedes parvi, digitis duris, et aptè conjunctis, ne quid terræ aut luti in vià admittant:” and Savary of Caen,

[Sidenote: Album Dianæ Leporicidæ. L. +ii.+]

——brevemque pedes glomerentur in orbem Parvaque compactis digitis vestigia forment.

Compare Xenophon de Venat. c. +iv.+ Arrian very rationally combats the notion of a greyhound’s excellence being at all dependent on so variable a distinction as colour. Oppian, more credulous on this point, reprobates white and black dogs, as impatient of heat and cold, and gives a preference to such as are red, russet, or fawn:

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +i.+ 429.]

κεῖνοι δ’ ἐν πάντεσσιν ἀριστεύουσι κύνεσσι, τοῖς ἴκελοι μορφαὶ μάλα θήρεσιν ὠμηστῇσι, μηλοφόνοισι λύκοις, ἢ τίγρεσιν ἠνεμοέσσαις, ἢ καὶ ἀλωπεκέεσσι, θοαῖσί τε πορδαλίεσσιν, ἢ ὁπόσοι δήμητρι πανείκελον εἶδος ἔχουσι σιτόχροοι μάλα γάρ τε θοοὶ κρατεροί τε πέλονται.

[Sidenote: Sect. +iv.+ p. 262.]

The Cynosophium recommends such as are παραπλήσιοι λέουσι, πάρδοις, λύκοις: and adds to its Materia Medica (p. 275.) amongst other ridiculous nostrums, a formula by which the colour of the hair may be changed from white to black—credat Judæus!

In accordance with the general prejudice which bestowed superior virtue on parti-coloured, (for such was Xenophon’s opinion,) Pan confers on the Goddess of the Chase pie-bald and mottled hounds:

[Sidenote: II. in Dian. vs. 90.]

τὶν δ’ ὁ γενείητης δύο μὲν κύνας ἥμισυ πηγοὺς, τρεῖς δὲ πόρ’ οὐατίους, ἕνα δ’ αἰόλον.

[Sidenote: Onomast. L. +v.+ c. +xi.+]

Pollux would mix a little variety of colour, ἑκάστῳ παραμεμίχθω τι καὶ ἑτέρας χρόας.

The modern Cynegetica are as fickle and capricious as to colour as their ancient models:

[Sidenote: Nat. Comes de Venat.]

——color est deterrimus albo, Nec placeat niveis maculis signatus et atris; Aut longis nimium villis, fuscove colore—

[Sidenote: Album Dianæ, &c.]

[Sidenote: La Vénerie de Fouilloux. p. 4.]

according to the canine canons of Natalis Comes:—whereas Savary gives the preference to a white hound, “nunc est in pretio et reliquos supereminet albus;” and is supported by Fouilloux and his copyist Turbervile, who praise those of one homogeneous colour—white, fallow, dun, and black; the latter being the valued breed of St. Hubert, (les chiens courans,) “qui estoit veneur avec S. Eustache, dont est à conjecturer, que les bons veneurs les ensuysront en Paradis avec la grace de Dieu.”

[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xv.+ fol. 66.]

“Of alle manere of greihoundes there byn,” says De Langley, “both good and evel. Natheless the best hewe is rede falow with a blak moselle.”

[Sidenote: The Countrey Farme. c. +xxii.+]

After citing so many, and such conflicting opinions, I leave the reader to draw his own conclusion on this most unimportant point; bidding him remember that Markham supports our author, that “colours have (as touching any particular goodnesse) no preheminence one above the other, but are all equal—many good and famous dogs having been of all the several colours; onely the white is esteemed the most beautifull and best for the eie, the black and fallow hardest to endure labour, and the dunne and brended best for the poachers and nightmen, who delight to have all their pleasures performed in darknesse.” Backed by the compiler of “The Countrey Farme,” let him give to Arrian the weight he is entitled to, as a practical courser. My own conviction accords with that of Tardif, “ex colore nihil certi ferè pronunciatur: sæpius enim turpi colore canes, pulchrioribus præstant:” and with the poet of Caen,

[Sidenote: Album Dianæ, &c.]

——nullus virtutibus obstat, Aut prodest color: hunc habeas quicunque placebit;

[Sidenote: Sir Tristrem Fytte +iii.+ 10.]

I object to no dog merely on account of his colour, though he may rival in variety of tint the renowned Triamour’s marvellous Peticrewe.

εἴτε οὖν τοῦ δασέος γένους, εἴτε τοῦ ψιλοῦ τύχοιεν οἱ κύνες. These two varieties still exist; but the rough, or wire-haired variety of greyhound is banished from the kennel of modern coursers; for though this δασὺ γένος may show some fire and speed in a short course in an enclosed country, it is always beaten by the ψιλὸν γένος over a champaign country, where the duration of the contest defies ignoble competition.

[Sidenote: Hist. Natur. tom. v. 241.]

Buffon derives the wiry hair from commixture with the spaniel, “le poil long de certains lévriers vient du mélange des espagneuls:” but if such be its origin, the text proves it to have been of remote antiquity.

[Sidenote: De Canibus Britannicis Libellus.]

[Sidenote: De Quad. Digit. Vivip. L. +iii.+]

“Est strigosum genus,” says Caius, “in quo alii majores sunt, alii minores; alii pilo sessili, alii hirto.” And Ulysses Aldrovandus has left us rude sketches of the two varieties under the titles of “C. leporarius hirsutus albus,” and “C. leporarius alter ferruginei coloris.” See also “The Countrey Farme,” c. +xxii.+ Schneider quotes Synesius Laud. Calvit. p. 67. ἐκεῖναι σοφώταται τῶν κυνῶν, κ. τ. λ.: see the passage in his note on the Greek text. It does not appear to what variety of dog the author alludes.

[Sidenote: Sect. +iv.+ p. 262.]

So also the Cynosophium of Demetrius of Constantinople, καλὸν εἰ τῷ μεγέθει τοῦ σώματος ἡ θήλη προσήκειται ἄῤῥενι. But I do not remember to have seen these remarks of Arrian on the dog partaking of the bitch’s form, and the bitch of the dog’s, in any of the more ancient Cynegetica of Greece and Rome. The Byzantine physician doubtless derived the hint from our author.

[Sidenote: Aristotelis Physiognom.]

Aristotle admits the possibility of distinguishing by outward manifestations the innate qualities and tempers of animals; such discrimination is the result of particular experience: τῶν ἄλλων ζώων οἱ περὶ ἕκαστον ἐπιστήμονες ἐκ τῆς ἰδίας διαθέσεως δύνανται θεωρεῖν, ἱππικοί τε ἵππους, καὶ κυνηγέται κύνας.

τῷ δὲ ἀνατρέφοντι προσφιλεῖς. Oppian would have hounds friendly to all men alike:

[Sidenote: Oppian. Cyneg. +i.+ v. 445.]

ἵπποισι κρατεροῖσι δ’ ὁμήθεες ἀγρευτῆρες ἐξέτι νηπιάχων ἔστων, μερόπεσσί τε πᾶσιν ἠθάδιοι φίλιοί τε, μόνοισι δὲ θήρεσιν ἐχθροί.

κράτισται δὲ αἱ φιλανθρωπόταται—the best greyhounds are the most kindly-affectioned. Martial’s Lydia was gentle at home, but savage in the wood,

[Sidenote: Epigram. L. +ii.+]

Venatrix sylvis aspera, blanda domi:

[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xv.+ fol. 66.]

and De Langley’s greyhound, “curtaise and nought to felle, wel folowyng his maister and doyng whatever he hym commaundeth. He shuld be good and kyndly and clene, glad and joyful and playeing wel willyng, and goodly to alle maner folkes, save to wilde beestis, upon whom he shuld be felle spitous and egre.”

Ὑπὸ ψόφου ἐκπλήττονται.

[Sidenote: Tickell’s Fragment on Hunting.]

Start at the starting prey or rustling wind.

[Sidenote: Xenophon. Memorabil. L. +iv.+ c. +i.+]

All these particulars are, for the most part, matters of education and discipline; but are partially dependent on innate disposition. Education, however, is very important, operating on a good subject. Τῶν κυνῶν, says Socrates, τῶν εὐφυεστάτων, φιλοπόνων τε οὐσῶν, καὶ ἐπιθετικῶν τοῖς θηρίοις, τὰς μὲν καλῶς ἀχθείσας, ἀρίστας γίγνεσθαι πρὸς τὰς θήρας, καὶ χρησιμωτάτας ἀναγώγους δὲ γιγνομένας, ματαίους τε καὶ μανίωδεις καὶ δυσπειθεστάτας.

The canes Gallici should resemble the Gallic mules of Claudian’s epigram,

[Sidenote: De Mulabus Gallicis.]

Exutæ laqueis, sub ditione tamen.

Ὑποκατακλίνονται, μὴ ὑπὸ δέους, ἀλλὰ φιλοφρονούμεναι, &c.

[Sidenote: Paradise Lost. B. +viii.+ 351.]

Cowering low With blandishment.

The greyhound’s posture is peculiarly graceful, when fondly crouching before his master or keeper; and may be well likened to the ταπεινότης (Arr. Exped. Alex. L. +iv.+ c. +xi.+) of the Persian, performing his salaam to the King of kings.

[Sidenote: Spelman’s Translation of Xenophon’s Anabasis. Note.]

Οἱ προσκυνοῦντες. From what Callisthenes says to Alexander (Arrian. Exped. Alexand. L. +iv.+ c. +xi.+) it appears that Cyrus, the founder of the Persian empire, was the first person to whom adoration was paid on earth by his fellow-men; and it was continued and enjoined to his successors, as a political homage. The ordinary compliments of the modern Greeks are called προσκυνήματα. See Arrian’s account of the προσκυνήσις, loco citato; and Xenophon, Cyropædia, L. +viii.+ for the first occasion of it, πρόσθεν δὲ Περσῶν οὐδεὶς Κῦρον προσεκύνει.

The king of Persia was called μέγας βασιλεὺς, according to Suidas, διὰ τὸ πλείονι δυνάμει χρῆσθαι τῇ Περσικῇ τοῖς δὲ ἄλλοις προσετίθεσαν καὶ τῶν ἀρχομένων ὀνόματα, οἷον Λακεδαιμονίων, Μακεδόνων. The title still exists in “Le Grand Seigneur.”

Οὐδὲ τὸ ἵστασθαι δὲ ἐν πεδίῳ λυθεῖσαν ἀγαθόν. Constant confinement with chain and collar, made the youthful Celtic hound start from couples with fire, when taken into the field for sport or exercise; not so, however, the aged, whose privileged rest is beautifully touched by our classic poet of the chase, and readily yielded by Arrian as no blemish to his character:

[Sidenote: Somerville. B. +i.+]

Now grown stiff with age, And many a painful chase, the wise old hound, Regardless of the frolic pack, attends His master’s side, &c.

Ἐπισκύνιον—supercilii ruga, frontis ruga: very prominent in our highland breed:

[Sidenote: Iliad. p. 136.]

πᾶν δέ τ’ ἐπισκύνιον κάτω ἕλκεται ὄσσε καλύπτων.

[Sidenote: Systema Naturæ. Canis.]

Ἄκρον. So the Paris and Amsterdam editions, quasi ἐπ’ ἄκρων ὀνύχων. Schneider reads ἁβρὸν, a delicate tread, a light tread; but the signification is nearly the same. Linnæus’s definition corresponds with Arrian’s as to the dog’s gait: “obliquè currit, incedit supra digitos,” μεταβάλλουσι τὰς πλευρὰς, “tranversis incedunt lateribus.”

Λαμπρύνωσιν. “De equo altiùs progrediente,” Zeune. See Xen. de Re Equestri, c. +x.+

[Sidenote: Appollon. Rhod.]

κυδιόων ὀρθοῖσιν ἐπ’ οὔασιν αὐχέν’ ἀείρει.

Xenophon uses the term γαυριᾶσθαι, perhaps, with the same meaning. I take λαμπρύνω (magnificè me ostento) to signify the artificial posture in which the horse is placed by a skilful rider, with the aid of rein, whip, spur, &c. as described by Xenophon in the chapter referred to. To this graceful attitude of the well-disciplined war-horse, we may suppose our author to liken that of the Celtic hound in the strictest propriety:

[Sidenote: Gay’s Rural Sports.]

Now I behold the steed curvet and bound, And paw with restless hoof the smoking ground.

[Sidenote: Ælian. de Naturâ Animal. L. +vii.+ c. 19.]

The watchful eye of the Veltrarius is required at the time of feeding: indeed it is best for each hound to have his separate allotment of food; so difficult is it to check the voracious, and encourage the delicate, when placed at the same trough. Τροφῆς δὲ τὴν κοινωνίαν ἥκιστα ἐνδέχονται κύνες πολλάκις γοῦν καὶ ὑπὲρ ὀστέου ἀλλήλους σπαράττουσιν ὡσπεροῦν ὁ Μενέλεως καὶ ὁ Πάρις ὑπὲρ τῆς Ἑλένης.

Τὸ κόσμιον γενναιότερον τοῦ ἀκόσμου. I never knew a very gross-feeding dog to possess any excellence.

[Sidenote: Cynosophium. p. 270.]

Ἄρτῳ. Demetrius devotes a few sections to the subject of feeding, recommending “milk to be gradually added to bread (the dog’s usual diet) when it is wished to raise him in flesh, until it becomes his only nutriment, morning and evening. From this he is to be again weaned, by the gradual abstraction of the milk, when we desire to reduce him. In the former case, he is not to have his liberty; in the latter, he is to be daily exercised. A second kind of nutritious food consists of oatmeal gruel with fat; and a third, of bean flour, oil, and fat bacon.” Wheaten bread or biscuit, with gruel made from the farina of oats, is the best nutriment for all hounds.

[Sidenote: Markham’s Countrey Contentments. B. +i.+ p. 49. See also pp. 50, 51.]

“When you have a perfect and well-shapt greyhound, your next rule is to apply yourselfe to the dyetting and ordering of him, for the pleasure to which you keepe him, that bringing him to the uttermost height or strength of winde, you may know the uttermost goodnesse that is within him, which disorderly and foule keeping will conceale, and you lose a jewell, for want of knowledge of the value. Dyetting then of greyhounds consisteth in four especiall things, viz. foode, exercise, ayring, and kennelling; the first nourishing the body, the second the limbes, the third the winde, and the last the spirits.”

Ἄμεινον δὲ εἰ καὶ ξηρᾷ τῇ τροφῇ χαίροιεν. Hounds readily support themselves with dry oat or wheat meal. Maza is variously interpreted—flour mixed with oil and water, and flour beat up with milk:

[Sidenote: Savary Alb. Dianæ Leporicid. L. +iii.+ p. 31.]

Hordea quotidiana illis sint pabula; avenam Si mediam addideris, sic sponte resolvitur alvus. In panem coquit ille, cavo hic in robore caldâ Digerit in pultem, lambendaque cœna paratur. Nec durum sit sæpe tibi, quâ luce quietem Artemidi debes, illos recreare calenti Jure, minutatim scissis è vilibus extis: Currentem, ilignisve bibant in vasibus undam.

Καμούσῃ δὲ ἐμβάλλειν ἢ ὕδωρ, &c. Arrian says nothing on the treatment of canine disease beyond this hint on diet.

The Cynosophium substitutes the lungs for the liver of a bullock, as nutriment for puppies, when deprived of milk—εἰ γάλα μὴ ἔχεις. See Cynosoph. p. 271.

On the feeding of puppies Nemesian observes, that it should be regulated by the season of the year, atmospheric temperature, &c.

[Sidenote: Cynegeticus v. 161.]

Interdumque cibo Cererem cum lacte ministra, Fortibus ut succis teneras complere medullas Possint, et validas jam tunc promittere vires:

but during the intense heat of summer the puppies are to be kept on lighter food, and then again on meal and whey,

[Sidenote: Ejusdem v. 182.]

Tunc rursus miscere sero Cerealia dona Conveniet, fortemque dari de frugibus escam.

[Sidenote: Cynosoph. p. 267.]

Ἀγαθὸν δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀσιτία καμνούσῃ. Arrian probably wrote τῇ ἀσιτίᾳ καμνούσῃ: “prodest etiam lac quando cibi fastidio laborat canis.” The remedy suggested by Demetrius of Constantinople for anorexis, “bad feeding,” I should consider more likely to increase, than cure the disease; ἐὰν ἀνορεκτῇ κύων, κόπριαν ἀνθρωπίαν δίδου φαγεῖν, κ. τ. λ.

[Sidenote: Cynosoph. p. 263.]

A short section of the Cynosophium is given to kennel management—κύνας μετὰ ἀνθρώπων κοιμᾶσθαι καλόν πραεῖς γὰρ ἐκ τούτου γίνονται, καὶ φιλάνθρωποι, καὶ εὐκόλως καλοῦνται—a practical allurement of canine affection heretofore more common than at present. Modern refinement would ill bear the intimate association recommended by Arrian and Demetrius, and practised by James V. of Scotland, with his favourite Bagsche, who was wont

[Sidenote: Sir D. Lyndsay’s Complaynt of Bagsche.]

To lap upon the king is bed, With claith of gold thoch it were spred.

Indeed, we rarely see the high-bred and elegant Celtic hound within the vestibule of a modern dwelling; though heretofore, in the hall of banquet,

[Sidenote: Lay of the Last Minstrel.]

The stag-hounds, weary of the chase, Lay stretch’d upon the rushy floor, And urged in dreams the forest race From Teviot-stone to Eskdale-moor.

[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xx.+ fol. 71.]

Whether the Duke of York’s “childe” lay with the hounds, I know not; but it seems that he did, though not with the intention specified by our author: “alway bi nyght and bi day I wil that some childe lye or be in the kenel with the houndes for to kepe hem from fyghteng,” &c.

[Sidenote: Encyc. Méthod. Les chasses. p. 434.]

I no where find the close cutaneous contact of man and dog, enjoined in the text, recommended in the ancient Cynegetica; but Xenophon advises an intimate acquaintance between the parties in the kennel at the hours of feeding, &c.: if the hounds be fed by the huntsman, they become attached to his person, τὸν διδόντα στέργουσιν, &c. (c. +vi.+): and so if the Veltrarii (“les valets de lévriers, qui exercent les lévriers, et qui les lâchent à la courre”) superintend the feeding their charge, the attachment thereby produced will render actual cohabitation unnecessary.