Part 23

Having taken a summary view of the different modes of coursing amongst the Celts, and elsewhere, he now enters in detail into the treatment, initiation, &c. of young hounds.

The elder Xenophon mentions an earlier date for entering puppies—bitches at eight months, dogs at ten months old: but he does not allude to greyhounds. Pollux would introduce bitches at six months, and dogs at eight; Onomast. L. +v.+ c. +ix.+ The courser will follow the example of his Bithynian predecessor, whose instructions, indeed, are in exact accordance with modern practice.

He recommends a later period for entering dog-puppies; see the next Chapter. Nemesian makes no distinction between the dog and bitch on this point:

[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneget. vs. 186.]

Jam cum bis denos Phœbe reparaverit ortus, Incipe non longo catulos producere cursu; Sed parvæ vallis spatio, septove novali. His leporem præmitte manu, non viribus æquis, Nec cursus virtute parem; sed tarda trahentem Membra; queant jam nunc faciles ut sumere prædas. Nec semel indulge catulis moderamine cursus; Sed donec validos etiam prævertere suescant, Exerceto diu, venandi munere cogens Discere, et emeritæ laudem virtutis amare. Necnon consuetæ norint hortamina vocis, Seu cursus revocent, jubeant seu tendere cursus, Quinetiam docti victam contingere prædam, Exanimare velint tantùm, non carpere sumptam.

Less diffuse than the Carthaginian poet, the Veronese physician enters his “catulus venaticus” in the following lines of his Alcon, without specifying his age:

[Sidenote: Fracastorii Alcon.]

Illi igitur plenis ubi nondum viribus ætas Accessit, parvum cursu conscendere collem Et molli assuescant sese demittere clivo. Hinc tenerum leporem, vel crura infirma trahentem Sectari capream, et facilem præcurrere campum Incipiat, verbisque viri parere morantis.

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

[Sidenote: Ælian. de Naturâ Animal. L. +viii.+ c. 2.]

[Sidenote: Aristotelis Ethic. Nicom. L. +iii.+ c. +x.+]

[Sidenote: Plutarchi Utraque animalia, &c.]

Ἁλισκομένου δὲ τοῦ λαγῷ, says the elder Xenophon, διδόναι αὐταῖς ἀναῤῥηγνύναι. Every sportsman is fully aware of the importance of blooding young hounds: κύων ἀγρευτικὸς ἅπας αὐτὸς μὲν λαβὼν θηρίον ἥδεται, καὶ κέχρηται τῇ ἄγρᾳ, ὡς ἄθλῳ, ἐὰν αὐτὸν συγχωρήσῃ ὁ δεσπότης: and a greater than Xenophon or Ælian has declared that the curée, or quarry, is to the Spartan hound the object of his chase, οὐδὲ ταῖς ὀσμαῖς τῶν λαγωῶν αἱ κύνες χαίρουσιν, ἀλλὰ τῇ βρώσει—ὅτι βορὰν ἕξουσιν. But Plutarch tells us that they will not touch the game, nor lap the blood of it, unless they kill it themselves; while, in the other case, ἥδονται διασπῶντες, καὶ τὸ αἷμα λάπτουσι προθύμως, &c.

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. vs. 246.]

Ergo ubi plena suo rediit victoria fine In partem prædæ veniat comes, et sua norit Præmia. Sic operi juvet inservîsse benigno. Hoc ingens meritum est: hæc ultima palma trophæi.

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

Julius Pollux advises that puppies be well blooded, ἵνα προσεθίζωνται τῇ κυνηγετικῇ τροφῇ.

[Sidenote: Albi Dianæ Leporicidæ L. +iv.+]

Atque in parva secant spoliatum segmina corpus, Adduntque infectum leporino sanguine panem.

[Sidenote: MS. Twety and Giffard.]

“Ye shal gif yor. houndys the bowellis boyled wh. breed, and it is callyd reward for cause that it is etyn on the erthe and not on the skyn.”

[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xiv.+ fol. 62.]

“Goodnesse of greyhoundes cometh of ryght corage and of the good nature of her fader and modir, and also men may wel helpe to make hem good in the encharmyng of hem with other good greihoundes and feede hem wel in the beest that he taketh.”

[Sidenote: Countrey Content. B. +i.+ p. 51.]

“In coursing,” says Markham, “you shall observe two things, bloud and labour; bloud, which is a hartening and animating of your dogge to delight in the pleasure, when he findes the reward of his paines taking; for if a dog course continually, and never kill, the sport will growe yrksome to him, and therefore, now and then, give him such advantage that he may kill the hare—then labour, which is contrary to killing; for in it you must give the hare all indifferent advantage, both by lawe and otherwise, whereby she may stand long before the dogge and make him shewe his uttermost strength before he be able to reach her.”

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

So Xenophon: ἔστι δὲ καὶ, ἄνευ τοῦ εὑρίσκειν τὸν λαγῶ, ἀγαθὸν, ἄγειν τὰς κύνας εἰς τὰ τραχέα καὶ γὰρ εὔποδες γίγνονται, καὶ τὰ σώματα διαπονοῦσαι ἐν τόποις τοιούτοις ὠφελοῦνται.

[Sidenote: Natalis Comes de Venatione. L. +i.+]

Nec nulla hinc merces sequitur te digna laborum In loca dura canes si duxeris, aspera montis Per juga sylvestri populo vix pervia sæpe. Scilicet hinc ungues solidæ, corpusque labori Aptius est parvo, magnum quod pertulit ante!

[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xiii.+ fol. 59.]

“Whan thei be at sojourne, men shuld lede hem out every day a myle or ij upon gravel, or upon right an hard pathe, bi a revere syde, bicause that her feet may be harder.”

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

Περὶ τῶν εἰς ἰχνείαν ἀσκουμένων κυνῶν—Spartan hounds, Castorians and Foxites—with regard to which, Xenophon recommends that the hare should be out of sight before they be allowed to follow her; lest, from being too near their game, such as are high-couraged and swift of foot might be injured by too much exertion in pursuit. It is unnecessary to observe that the elder Athenian’s remarks are inapplicable to the courser’s hound, who runs entirely by the eye; and the nearer he is slipped to the hare, if he be only just entered, the better. A hare will always beat a puppy in his noviciate, unaided by an old and experienced hound.

Μαινομένῃ ἔοικεν.

[Sidenote: Apollon. Rhod. L. +iv.+ vs. 1393.]

Λυσσαλέοις δ’ ἤπειτ’ ἴκελοι κυσὶν ἀΐσσοντες.

He now gives in detail his instructions for entering greyhound puppies to their appointed game, in opposition to those of Xenophon’s seventh chapter; nor can the most experienced courser add to them any thing worth knowing, nor the most ignorant complain of their insufficiency.

Πονούμενος ὁ λαγὼς ὑποκάμψας ἥξει. To the same point sings the poet of Barga:

[Sidenote: P. Ang. Bargæi Cyneg. L. +v.+]

Quæque adeo multo jamdudum tarda labore Genua trahat, primæve annis incauta juventæ Continuò sese facili det cæde vorandam, Namque animum, si spes olim frustrentur inanes, Ipse suæ sibi virtutis malè conscius acrem Abjicit, et dubiæ, desperat præmia palmæ.

Οὐκ ἐπειδὴ τὰ κρέα ἄρα περὶ πολλοῦ ποιητέον ἀνδρὶ ἐς κάλλος κυνηγετοῦντι. And yet we find that the hare’s flesh was in high estimation with epicures of old; and a coursed hare is particularly lauded by Martial among the luxuries of a country table,

[Sidenote: L. +iii.+ Epigram. 47.]

Leporemque læsum Gallici canis dente.

In our own country, the sportsman was as attentive to supply the hall of banquet with its due portion of the delicate little animal, as the kennel with its appointed halow.

[Sidenote: Booke of St. Alban’s.]

Thenne the loynes of the haare loke ye not forgete; But brynge theym to the kechyn for the lordes mete—

says the dignified Prioress of Sopewell, in her metrical canons of hunting.

See also “The Venery de Twety and of Mayster John Giffarde.” Fouilloux, p. 69. Turberville, p. 174. and Gervase Markham, C. C. p. 33.

Πονηρὸν μάθημα. It certainly is wrong to allow a greyhound to gorge himself with his game, after he has been sufficiently instructed in the art of killing; but no puppy should be hastily checked, when he has caught his hare, even though, in the words of old Gervase, “he may breake her.”

Few coursers wait till the period specified before they enter their dog-puppies: but it occasionally happens that dogs entered at fifteen months old, if they are large and unset in their limbs, break down under severe work, and are rendered subsequently useless; while others, again, more neat and compact of shape, will run as well at eighteen months as at any later period.

[Sidenote: =Mayster of Game.= c. +xiii.+ fol. 52.]

“Men shuld late renne no houndes,” says Duke Edmund, “of what condicions that thei be of, ne nat hunte with hem in to the tyme that thei were a +xii+ mounthis olde and passed, and also thei may hunt but +ix+ yeer at the moost.”

Φυλάττειν δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ ὀχείας.

[Sidenote: Lucret. L. +v.+ vs. 1016.]

Venus imminuit vires!

[Sidenote: Virgil. Georg. +iii.+ 209.]

——non ulla magis vires industria firmat, Quàm Venerem et cæci stimulos avertere amoris.

[Sidenote: De Re Rust. L. +vii.+ c. +xii.+]

Columella, who admits the dog and bitch to copulate much earlier than Arrian, is still aware of the mischievous consequences of the practice; “si teneris conceditur,” says he, “carpit et corpus et vires, animosque degenerat.”

[Sidenote: Vanierii Præd. Rust. L. +iv.+]

Blanda Venus canibus non permittenda tenellis.

[Sidenote: Pollux. L. +v.+ c. +vii.+]

As to the exact period at which the εὐνῆς ἔργα of Oppian (Hal. i. 532.) should commence, and their probable duration, without risk of breeding from animals too far advanced in years, there is some difference of opinion. According to Pollux, ὥρα ἀρίστη κυνῶν πρὸς πλήρωσίν τε καὶ γένεσιν, τῷ μὲν ἄῤῥενι τετάρτου ἔτους ἀρξαμένου, τελευταῖον τὸ ὄγδοον ἡ δὲ θήλεια τριετὶς, μέχρι ἑξαετίδος συνδυαζέσθω.

[Sidenote: Columella De Re Rust. L. +vii.+ c. +xii.+]

[Sidenote: Plin. Hist. Nat. L. +viii.+ c. 40.]

“Mares juveniliter usque in annos decem progenerant: post id tempus ineundis fœminis non videntur habiles, quoniam seniorum pigra soboles existit. Fœminæ concipiunt usque in annos novem, nec sunt utiles post decimum,” according to Columella: while Pliny admits both dog and bitch at a year old—“canum generibus annui partus, justa ad pariendum annua ætas.”

[Sidenote: Hist. Quadrup. L. +i.+ De Cane.]

Conrad Gesner cites an ancient, nameless authority, to the following effect: “Mares quarto anno gignere incipiant, (operâ scilicet hominum admittentium tunc primùm robustioris generandæ sobolis gratiâ,) fœminæ tertio usque in nonum.”

If a courser follow Virgil’s rule as to milch kine, in limiting the age of his brood bitch for the purposes alluded to, he will find it perfectly applicable:

[Sidenote: Georg. +iii.+ 60.]

Ætas Lucinam justosque pati hymenæos Desinit ante decem, post quatuor incipit annos.

After the fourth year, no greyhound can be depended on for fair running, and therefore may be well spared, to keep up the kennel stock, when no longer useful in the field:

[Sidenote: Fracastorii Alcon.]

——ut generosa canum tibi copia nunquam Desit.

[Sidenote: Countrey Contentments. B. +i.+ p. 47.]

[Sidenote: Virg. Georg. +iii.+ 96.]

Ἀπὸ τρίτου μὲν ἔτους ἐφίεσθαι—“You shall observe,” says Markham, “to have your dogges and bitches of equal and indifferent ages, as about three or foure years old at the most. But in case of need, your bitch will endure a great deale longer than your dogge, and to breed with a young dogge on an old bitch, may bring forth an excellent whelpe.” “Frigidus in Venerem senior—.”

After describing a good-shaped bitch, Nemesian adds:

[Sidenote: Nemesian. Cyneg. vs. 114.]

Huic parilem submitte marem, sic omnia magnum, Dum superant vires, dum læto flore juventus, Corporis et venis primævi sanguis abundat. Namque graves morbi subeunt, segnisque senectus: Invalidamque dabunt non firmo robore prolem. Sed diversa magis fœturæ convenit ætas. Tu bis vicenis plenum jam mensibus acrem In Venerem permitte marem: sit fœmina, binos Quæ tulerit soles. Hæc optima cura jugandis.

Gratius would have a general parity of character in both male and female,

[Sidenote: Cyneg. vs. 263.]

Junge pares ergo, et majorum pignore signa Fœturam.

And Bargæus agrees with him that the similarity should extend to the essential points of age, shape, and bodily powers:

[Sidenote: P. Angelii Bargæi Cyneg. L. +v.+]

——conjunge unà qui corpore, quique Sint ætate pares, atque iisdem viribus, ut mox Ipsa tuis votis similis fœtura sequatur.

[Sidenote: De Re Rust. L. +vii.+ c. 9.]

[Sidenote: C. C. Booke +i.+ and Countrey Farme, c. +xxii.+]

Columella is mistaken if he intends his observations on breeding in general, (delivered in his chapter on swine-breeding), to apply to the canine race. “In omni genere quadrupedum,” says he, “species maris diligenter eligitur, quoniam frequenter patri similior est progenies quàm matri.” Markham’s comparative view of the merits of the male and female in breeding for the Celtic kennel will be found more practically correct. See Countrey Contentments, B. +i.+ The dam should be selected with the greatest attention to shape, pedigree, and character in the field; nor should the same points be disregarded in the sire, but they are not so important in the latter. The chances, however, of producing a good litter are greater in the ratio of excellence (γενναιότης) in both parents, their genealogical distinction, the blood of their “proavorum atavi,” &c. for the reasons stated by the philosophic poet:—

[Sidenote: Lucretii L. +iv.+ vs. 1212.]

Fit quoque ut interdum similes existere avorum Possint, et referant proavorum sæpè figuras, Proptereà quia multa modis primordia multis Mista suo celant in corpore sæpè parentes, Quæ patribus patres tradunt à stirpe profecta, &c.

It is evident from what the elder Xenophon says on the accoutrements of the dog, in the sixth chapter of his Cynegeticus, that the Grecian sportsmen took some pains to preserve the purity of breed of certain varieties of the dog. Sharp spikes were attached to the στελμονίαι or body-clothes; ἐγκατεῤῥαμέναι δὲ ἐγκεντρίδες, ἵνα τὰ γένη φυλάττωσι, to prevent promiscuous connexion.

The remarks of the text are defective on the subject of breeding, leaving much to be supplied by experience and reference to other authorities. Arrian, however, was too good a judge of the importance of purity of blood in the greyhound kennel to attend to the mongrel crosses recommended by other cynegetical writers, whose object seems to have been to induce sportsmen to correct the faults or defects of one species by crossing it with another in which the opposite excellencies abounded. The ancients, before the time of Arrian at least, had no idea of correcting the imperfections of individuals of the same species by selecting from it other individuals in which the same defects were not apparent, but rather “a redundancy of the desired excellency, coveted in the imperfect animal.” Such is the plan of Gratius:

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. 193.]

Idcirco variis miscebo gentibus usum. Quondam inconsultis mater dabit Umbrica Gallis Sensum agilem, traxêre animos de patre Gelonæ Hyrcano, et vanæ tantum Calydonia linguæ Exibit vitium patre emendata Molosso. Scilicet ex omni florem virtute capessunt, Et sequitur natura favens.

[Sidenote: De Re Rust. L. +ii.+ c. +ix.+]

[Sidenote: L. +xix.+ c. +i.+]

Varro, however, speaking of the breed of the shepherd’s dog, says “magni interest ex semine esse canes eodem;” by which he means that it should not be crossed with any hunting breed. But in the “Geoponica” we are cautioned against allowing those of the same litter to have sexual connexion with each other, φυλάττεσθαι μή ποτε οἱ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς μητρὸς ὄντες κύνες τῇ πρὸς ἀλλήλους μίξει χρήσαιντο—a circumstance the more remarkable, because breeding in and in (φωνᾶντα συνέτοισι) was general in other animals, though not practised in the canine tribe:

[Sidenote: Ovid. Met. L. +x.+]

Coeuntque animalia nullo Cætera delicto, nec habetur turpe juvencæ Ferre patrem tergo, fit equo sua filia conjux.

Oppian’s tale to the contrary is not worthy of attention.

The Greek poet of the Chase goes a little farther than his Cynegetical predecessors on the subject of breeding. His concubinage is promiscuous, and he seems indifferent whether the varieties united be both of a mild, or both of a savage disposition, or each different in its type and character. The male and female are to be suited to each other, and of superior excellence—

[Sidenote: Cyneg. +i.+ vs. 392.]

ἅρμενα τ’ ἀλλήλοισιν, ἐοικότα τ’ ἔξοχα φῦλα.

Then uniting the Arcadian with the Elean, the Cretan with the Pannonian, the Carian with the Thracian, the Tuscan with the Spartan, and the Sarmatian with the Iberian, he concludes with a preference of pure blood:

ὥδε μὲν εὖ κεράσειας ἀτὰρ πολὺ φέρτατα πάντων φῦλα μένει μονόφυλα, τά τ’ ἔξοχα τεκμῄραντο ἄνδρες ἐπακτῆρες.

[Sidenote: Natalis Comes de Venat. L. +i.+]

gens una tamen felicior unâ Nascitur ex specie.

[Sidenote: Hist. Quad. L. +i.+ p. 259.]

Belin de Ballu in his “Animadversiones” has evidently mistaken Oppian’s meaning in the latter part of this citation. The poet alludes to an union of the qualities of individuals of the same variety of dog; and not, as supposed by the French critic, to breeding in and in, or proximity of blood, in the same family—a practice as degenerative in the canine race, if persevered in for a length of time, as the Stagirite has observed it to be in the human species. See Aristot. de Rhetoricâ L. +ii.+ c. 17. Brodæus very properly explains μονόφυλα by ἰδιόφυλα in his annotations. And Conrad Gesner, with his usual accuracy, says: “Præstantissimi quidem canes in suo quique genere μονόφυλοι sunt, id est, ex unius generis parentibus prognati: verùm superflua venatorum cura miscere etiam diversa genera, quæ quidem innumera sunt, adinvenit.”

[Sidenote: P. Angelii Bargæi Cyneg. L. +v.+]

Ipsa tamen generi sua cuique est maxima virtus. Et quamvis variis proles genitoribus orta Testeturque animos, et magnum robur avorum; Inque uno interdum geminetur pectore duplex Utilitas; tamen illa alieno protinùs usu Degenerat, semperque magis producit inertem Progeniem, et patriâ longè à virtute remotam.

[Sidenote: Aristotelis Hist. Animal. L. +vi.+ 20.]

Τὰ δὲ καταμήνια ταῖς κυσὶν ἑπτὰ ἡμέραις γίνεται συμβαίνει δὲ ἅμα καὶ ἔπαρσις αἰδοίου ἐν δὲ τῷ χρονῷ τουτῷ οὐ προσίενται ὀχείαν, ἀλλ’ ἐν ταῖς μετὰ ταύτας ἑπτὰ ἡμέραις τὰς γὰρ πάσας δοκεῖ σκυζᾷν ἡμέρας τέτταρας καὶ δέκα ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πολύ.

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. vs. 163.]

Dat Venus accessus, et blando fœdere jungit.

The son of Gryllus recommends (c. vii.) the same watchful delay to insure fruitful intercourse: ἄγειν δὲ καταπαυομένας, ἵνα θᾶττον ἐγκύμονες γίγνωνται, πρὸς κύνας ἀγαθούς. The term καταπαυομένας here signifies “when their heat is beginning to remit a little,” and not, as rendered by Blane, “in a quiet manner.”

[Sidenote: Fracastorii Alcon.]

Bis quinas tamen antè dies, accensus uterque In venerem, venere abstineant; sic plena libido Acrius exstimulat, viresque ad semina præbet. Hinc major soboles, atque inde valentior exit.

Ἀγαθὴ δὲ τῇ θηλεία ἡλικία, &c. Marvellous tales are on record of periods much later than the seventh year, in which bitches have given birth to numerous progenies; but Arrian has specified a limited time within which a greyhound bitch may be considered as being at the acme of her bodily powers, and likely to yield such a litter as will not disappoint the expectations of the Veltrarius. To Mr. Pope we are indebted, in his endeavour to reconcile with probability the age of the Homeric Argus,—

[Sidenote: Odyssey, B. +xvii.+ vs. 394.]

The dog whom fate had granted to behold His lord, when twenty tedious years had roll’d,—

[Sidenote: Ælian. Hist. Animal. L. +vii.+ c. 29.]

for the almost incredible case of a gravid bitch of the age of twenty-two years. After which, we may well exclaim in the words of the Greek naturalist, οὔκουν οὐδὲ Ἄργος ὁ κύων μυθοποίημα ἦν, ὦ θεῖε Ὅμηρε, σὸν, οὐδὲ κόμπος ποιητικός!

Xenophon merely says that the dog and bitch should be ἀγαθοὶ, and the Faliscian adds that they be of tried spirit,

[Sidenote: Cyneget. vs. 266.]

Et primum expertos animi, quæ gratia prima est, In venerem jungunt, &c.

[Sidenote: The Chace. B. +iv.+]

for every longing dame select Some happy paramour; to him alone In leagues connubial join. Consider well His lineage; what his fathers did of old, Chiefs of the pack, &c.

Αἱ γὰρ ἐν τῷ ἐμφανεῖ ὁμιλίαι οὐ γόνιμοι. This ridiculous notion, though doubtfully advanced in the manual, is supported by many of the old Cynegetica.

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. 279.]

Sed frustrà longus properat labor, abdita si non Altas in latebras, unique inclusa marito Fœmina, nec patitur veneris sub tempore mœchos Illa, neque emeritæ servat fastigia laudis. Primi complexus, dulcissima prima voluptas. Hunc veneri dedit impatiens natura furorem.

[Sidenote: Cynograph. Curios. p. 54.]

The credulous author of the Cynographia Curiosa adds to the absurdity of the notion by saying, “Si tum videantur canes, venationi inutiles parient,” borrowing the same from the Cynosophium, where such an opinion is said to be the result of long experience. See Cynosoph. c. +ii.+

[Sidenote: Aristot. Hist. Animal. L. +vi.+]

κυΐσκεταί τε κύων ἐκ μιᾶς ὀχείας δῆλον δὲ τοῦτο γίνεται μάλιστα ἐν τοῖς κλέπτουσι τὰς ὀχειάς ἅπαξ γὰρ ἐπιβάντες πληροῦσι, says the Stagirite: and again he remarks, that the Spartan dog and bitch are more inclined to copulate after exercise, a fact well known to sportsmen: πονήσαντες γὰρ μᾶλλον δύνανται ὀχεύειν, ἢ ἀργοῦντες. (See Scaliger’s note on the passage, L. +vi.+ c. +xx.+) This circumstance is also noticed by Ælian and Julius Pollux. Indeed the author of the Onomasticon, in a passage that has escaped the observation of commentators, throws considerable light on the text, which is here rather obscure. See L. +v.+ c. +vi.+ 51. of the Onomasticon.

[Sidenote: P. Angelii Bargæi Cyneg. L. +v.+]

Nec priùs optatam in venerem dimitte volentes, Quàm rapido quassis cursu, quàm corpora multo Sole fatigatis vehementior ingruat æstus. Inde decem noctes, totidemque ex ordine luces Abde domi, cursusque omnes prohibere memento.

[Sidenote: Gratii Cyneg. vs. 286.]

A greyhound bitch may be taken out coursing for ten days after having been warded, but not longer—“Da requiem gravidæ, solitosque remitte labores.” Walking exercise, however, should be continued till the period of parturition arrive.