OF THE HART AND HIS NATURE
The hart is a common beast enough and therefore me needeth not to tell
of his making, for there be few folk that have not seen some. The
harts be the lightest (swiftest) beasts and strongest, and of
marvellous great cunning. They are in their love, which men call rut,
about the time of the Holy Rood[28] in September and remain in their
hot love a whole month and ere they be fully out thereof they abide
(in rut) nigh two months. And then they are bold, and run upon men as
a wild boar would do if he were hunted. And they be wonderfully
perilous beasts, for with great pain shall a man recover that is hurt
by a hart, and therefore men say in old saws: "after the boar the
leech and after the hart the bier." For he smiteth as the stroke of
the springole,[29] for he has great strength in the head and the body.
They slay, fight and hurt each other, when they be in rut, that is to
say in their love, and they sing in their language _that in England
hunters call bellowing_ as man that loveth paramour.[30] They slay
hounds and horses and men at that time and turn to the abbay (be at
bay) as a boar does especially when they be weary. And yet have men
seen at the parting of their ligging (as they start from the lair)[31]
that he hath hurt him that followeth after, and also the
greyhounds[32] and furthermore a courser. And yet when they are in
rut, which is to say their love, in a forest where there be few hinds
and many harts or male deer, they slay, hurt and fight with each
other, for each would be master of the hinds. And commonly the
greatest hart and the most strong holdeth the rut and is master
thereof. And when he is well pured and hath been long at rut all the
other harts that he hath chased and flemed away (put to flight) from
the rut then run upon him and slay him, and that is sooth. And in
parks this may be proved, for there is never a season but the greatest
hart will be slain by the others not while he is at the rut, but when
he has withdrawn and is poor of love. In the woods they do not so
often slay each other as they do in the plain country. And also there
are divers ruts in the forest, but in the parks there are none but
that are within the park.[33] After that they be withdrawn from the
hinds they go in herds and in soppes (troops) with the rascal (young
lean deer) and abide in (waste) lands and in heathes more than they do
in woods, for to enjoy the heat of the sun, they be poor and lean for
the travail they have had with the hinds, and for the winter, and the
little meat that they find. After that they leave the rascal and
gather together with two or three or four harts in soppes till the
month of March when they mew (shed) their horns, and commonly some
sooner than others, if they be old deer, and some later if they be
young deer, or that they have had a hard winter, or that they have
been hunted, or that they have been sick, for then they mew their
heads and later come to good points. And when they have mewed their
heads they take to the strong (thick) bushes as privily as they may,
till their heads be grown again, and they come into grease; after that
they seek good country for meating (feeding) of corn, of apples, of
vines, of tender growing trees, of peas, of beans, and other fruits
and grasses whereby they live. And sometimes a great hart hath another
fellow that is called his squire, for he is with him and doth as he
will. And so they will abide all that season if they be not hindered
until the last end of August. And then they begin to look, and to
think and to bolne and to bellow and to stir from the haunt in which
they have (been) all the season, for to go seek the hinds. They
recover their horns and are summed of their tines as many as they
shall have all the year between March when they mewed them to the
middle of June; and then be they recovered of their new hair that _men
call polished_ and their horns be recovered with a soft hair _that
hunters call velvet_ at the beginning, and under that skin and that
hair the horn waxes hard and sharp, and about Mary Magdalene day (July
22) they fray their horns against the trees, and have (rubbed) away
that skin from their horns and then wax they hard and strong, and then
they go to burnish and make them sharp in the colliers places
(charcoal pits) that men make sometimes in the great groves. And if
they can find none they go against the corners of rocks _or to crabbe
tree or to hawthorn or other trees_.[34]
[28] September 14. See Appendix: Hart, Seasons.
[29] An engine of war used for throwing stones.
[30] G. de F., p. 12. "Ainsi que fet un homme bien amoureus" ("As does
a man much in love)."
[31] This word ligging is still in use in Yorkshire, meaning lair, or
bed, or resting-place. In Devonshire it is spelt "layer." Fortescue,
p. 132.
[32] G. de F., p. 12, has "limer" instead of "greyhound."
[33] This passage is confused. In G. de F., p. 12, we find that the
passage runs: "Et aussi il y a ruyt en divers lieux de la forest et on
paix ne peut estre en nul lieu, fors que dedans le part." Lavallée
translates these last five words, "C'est à dire qu'il n'y a de paix
que lorsque les biches sont pleines." In the exceedingly faulty first
edition by Verard, the word "part" is printed "_parc_," as it is in
our MS.
[34] G. de F., p. 14, says the harts go to gravel-pits and bogs to
fray.
They be half in grease or thereabouts by the middle of June when their
head is summed, and they be highest in grease during all August.
Commonly they be calved in May, and the hind beareth her calf nine
months or thereabout as a sow,[35] and sometimes she has three[36]
calves at a calving time. And I say not that they do not calve
sometime sooner and sometime later, much according to causes and
reasons. The calves are calved with hair red and white, which lasteth
them that colour into the end of August, and then they turn red of
hair, as the hart and the hind. And at that time they run so fast that
a hare[37] should have enough to do to overtake him within the shot of
an haronblast (cross-bow). Many men judge the deer of many colours of
hair and especially of three colours. Some be called brown, some dun
and some yellow haired. And also their heads be of divers manners, the
one is called a head well-grown, and the other is called well
affeted,[38] and well affeted is when the head has waxed by ordinance
according to the neck and shape, when the tines be well grown in the
beam by good measure, one near the other, then it is called well
affeted. Well grown is when the head is of great beam and is well
affeted and thick tined, well high and well opened (spread). That
other head is called counterfeit (abnormal) when it is different and
is otherwise turned behind or wayward in other manner than other
common deer be accustomed to bear. That other high head is open, evil
affeted with long tines and few. That other is low and great and well
affeted with small tines. And the first tine that is next the head is
called antler, and the second Royal and the third above, the
Sur-royal, and the tines[39] which be called fourth if they be two,
and if they be three or four or more be called troching. And when
their heads be burnished at the colliers' pits commonly they be always
black, and also commonly when they be burnished at the colliers' pits
they be black on account of the earth which is black of its kind. And
when they are burnished against _rock_ they abide all white, but some
have their heads naturally white and some black. And when they be
about to burnish they smite the ground with their feet and welter like
a horse. And then they burnish their heads, and when they be burnished
which they do all the month of July they abide in that manner till the
feast of the Holy (Cross) in September 14th and then they go to rut as
I have said.
[35] The MS. transcriber's mistake. It should be "cow."
[36] G. de F. has "2 calves" as it should be.
[37] G. de F. has "greyhound," as it should be (p. 15): "Et dès lors
vont ils jà si tost que un levrier a assés à fere de l'ateindre, ainsi
comme un trait d'arcbaleste" ("And from that time they go so quickly
that a greyhound has as much to do to catch him as he would the bolt
from a crossbow)."
[38] Well proportioned. See Appendix: Antler.
[39] Shirley MS. has the addition here: "Which be on top."
_And the first year that they be calved they be called a Calf, the
second year a bullock; and that year they go forth to rut; the third
year a brocket; the fourth year a staggard; the fifth a stag; the
sixth year a hart of ten[40] and then first is he chaseable, for
always before shall he be called but rascal or folly._ Then it is fair
to hunt the hart, for it is a fair thing to seek well a hart, and a
fair thing well to harbour him, and a fair thing to move him, and a
fair thing to hunt him, and a fair thing to retrieve him, and a fair
thing to be at the abbay, whether it be on water or on land. A fair
thing is the curée,[41] and a fair thing to undo him well, and for to
raise the rights. And a well fair thing and good is the devision[42]
and it be a good deer. In so much that considering all things I hold
that it is the fairest hunting, that any man may hunt after. They
crotey their fumes (cast their excrements) in divers manners according
to the time and season and according to the pasture that they find,
now black or dry either in flat forms or engleymed (glutinous) or
pressed, and in many other divers manners the which I shall more
plainly devise when I shall declare how the hunter shall judge, for
sometimes they misjudge by the fumes and so they do by the foot. When
they crotey their fumes flat and not thick, it is in April or in May,
into the middle of June, when they have fed on tender corn, for yet
their fumes be not formed, and also they have not recovered their
grease. But yet have men seen sometimes a great deer and an old and
high in grease, which about mid-season crotey their fumes black and
dry. And therefore by this and many other things many men may be
beguiled by deer, for some goeth better and are better running and fly
better than some, as other beasts do, and some be more cunning and
more wily than others, as it is with men, for some be wiser than
others. And it cometh to them of the good kind of their father and
mother, and of good getting (breeding) and of good nurture and from
being born in good constellations, and in good signs of heaven, and
that (is the case) with men and all other beasts. Men take them with
hounds, with greyhounds and with nets and with cords, and with other
harness,[43] with pits and with shot[44] and with other gins (traps)
and with strength, as I shall say hereafter. _But in England they are
not slain except with hounds or with shot or with strength of running
hounds._
[40] In modern sporting terms, a warrantable deer.
[41] See Appendix: Curée.
[42] Should be: venison.
[43] Harness, appurtenances. See Appendix: Harness.
[44] Means from a cross-bow or long-bow.
An old deer is wonder wise and felle (cunning) for to save his life,
and to keep his advantage when he is hunted and is uncoupled to, as
the lymer moveth him or other hounds findeth him without lymers, and
if he have a deer (with him) that be his fellow he leaveth him to the
hounds, so that he may warrant (save) himself, and let the hounds
enchase after that other deer. And he will abide still, and if he be
alone and the hounds find him, he shall go about his haunt wilily and
wisely and seek the change of other deer, for to make the hounds
envoise,[45] and to look where he may abide. And if he cannot abide he
taketh leave of his haunt and beginneth to fly there where he wots of
other change and then when he has come thither he herdeth among them
and sometimes he goeth away with them. And then he maketh a ruse on
some side, and there he stalleth or squatteth until the hounds be
forth after the other (deer) the which be fresh, and thus he changeth
so that he may abide. And if there be any wise hounds, the which can
bodily enchase him from the change, and he seeth that all can not
avail, then he beginneth to show his wiles and ruseth to and fro. And
all this he doth so that the hounds should not find his fues (tracks)
in intent that he may be freed from them and that he may save himself.
[45] Go off the scent.
Sometimes he fleeth forth with the wind and that for three causes,
for when he fleeth against the wind it runneth into his mouth and
dryeth him and doth him great harm. Therefore he fleeth oft forth with
the wind so that he may always hear the hounds come after him. And
also that the hounds should not scent nor find him, for his tail is in
the wind and not his nose.[46] Also, that when the hounds be nigh him
he may wind them and hye him well from them. _But nevertheless his
nature is for the most part to flee ever on the wind till he be nigh
overcome, or at the last sideways to the wind so that it be aye_
(ever) _in his nostrils._ And when he shall hear that they be far from
him, he hieth him not too fast. And when he is weary, and hot, then he
goeth to yield, and soileth to some great river. And some time he
foils down in the water half a mile or more ere he comes to land on
any side. And that he doeth for two reasons, the one is to make
himself cold, and for to refresh himself of the great heat that he
hath, the other is that the hounds and the hunter may not come after
him nor see his fues in the water, as they do on the land. And if in
the country (there) is no great river he goeth then to the little
(one) and shall beat up the water or foil down the water as he liketh
best for the maintenance (extent) of a mile or more ere he come to
land, and he shall keep himself from touching any of the brinks or
branches but always (keep) in the middle of the water, so that the
hounds should not scent of him. And all that doth he for two reasons
before said.
[46] This should read as G. de F. has it (p. 20): "Et aussi affin que
les chiens ne puissent bien assentir de luy, quar ilz auront la Cueue
au vent et non pas le nez" ("And also that the hounds shall not be
able to wind him, as they will have their tails in the wind and not
their noses").
And when he can find no rivers then he draweth to great stanks[47] and
meres or to great marshes. And he fleeth then mightily and far from
the hounds, that is to say that he hath gone a great way from
them,[48] then he will go into the stank, and will soil therein once
or twice in all the stank and then he will come out again by the same
way that he went in, and then he shall ruse again the same way that he
came (the length of) a bow shot or more, and then he shall ruse out of
the way, for to stall or squatt to rest him, and that he doeth for he
knoweth well that the hounds shall come by the fues into the stank
where he was. And when they should find that he has gone no further
they will seek him no further, for they will well know that they have
been there at other times.
[47] Ponds, pools. See Appendix: Stankes.
[48] G. de F., p. 21: "Et s'il fuit de fort longe aux chiens, c'est à
dire que il les ait bien esloinhés." See Appendix: "Forlonge."
An hart liveth longest of any beast for he may well live an hundred
years[49] and the older he is the fairer he is of body and of head,
and more lecherous, but he is not so swift, nor so light, nor so
mighty. And many men say, but I make no affirmation upon that, when he
is right old he beateth a serpent with his foot till she be wrath, and
then he eateth her and then goeth to drink, and then runneth hither
and thither to the water till the venom be mingled together and make
him cast all his evil humours that he had in his body, and maketh his
flesh come all new.[50] The head of the hart beareth medicine against
the hardness of the sinews and is good to take away all aches,
especially when these come from cold: and so is the marrow. They have
a bone within the heart which hath great medicine, for it comforteth
the heart, _and helpeth for the cardiac_, and many other things which
were too long to write, the which bear medicine and be profitable in
many diverse manners. The hart is more wise in two things than is any
man or other beast, the one is in tasting of herbs, for he hath better
taste and better savour and smelleth the good herbs and leaves and
other pastures and meating the which be profitable to him, better than
any man or beast. The other is that he hath more wit and malice
(cunning) to save himself than any other beast or man, for there is
not such a good hunter in the world that can think of the great malice
and gynnes (tricks or ruses) that a hart can do, and there is no such
good hunter nor such good hounds, but that many times fail to slay the
hart, and that is by his wit and his malice and by his gins.
[49] Most old writers on the natural history of deer repeat this
fable. See Appendix: Hart.
[50] See Appendix: Hart.
As of the hinds some be barren and some bear calves, of those that be
barren their season beginneth when the season of the hart faileth and
lasteth till Lent. And they which bear calves, in the morning when she
shall go to her lair she will not remain with her calf, but she will
hold (keep) him and leave him a great way from her, and smiteth him
with the foot and maketh him to lie down, and there the calf shall
remain always while the hind goeth to feed. And then she shall call
her calf in her language and he shall come to her. And that she doeth
so that if she were hunted her calf might be saved and that he should
not be found near her. The harts have more power to run well from the
entry of May into St. John's tide[51] than any other time, for then
they have put on new flesh and new hair and new heads, for the new
herbs and the new coming out (shoots) of trees and of fruits and be
not too heavy, for as yet they have not recovered their grease,[52]
neither within nor without, nor their heads, wherefore they be much
lighter and swifter. But from St. John's into the month of August they
wax always more heavy. Their skin is right good for to do many things
with when it is well tawed and taken in good season. Harts that be in
great hills, when it cometh to rut, sometimes they come down into the
great forests and heaths and to the launds (uncultivated country) and
there they abide all the winter until the entering of April, and then
they take to their haunts for to let their heads wax, near the towns
and villages in the plains there where they find good feeding in the
new growing lands. And when the grass is high and well waxen they
withdraw into the greatest hills that they can find for the fair
pastures and feeding and fair herbs that be thereupon. And also
because there be no flies nor any other vermin, as there be in the
plain country. And also so doth the cattle which come down from the
hills in winter time, and in the summer time draw to the hills. And
all the time from rutting time into Whitsunday great deer and old will
be found in the plains, but from Whitsunday[53] to rutting time men
shall find but few great deer save upon the hills, if there are any
(hills) near or within four or five miles, and this is truth unless it
be some young deer calved in the plains, but of those that come from
the hills there will be none. _And every day in the heat of the day,
and he be not hindered, from May to September, he goes to soil though
he be not hunted._
[51] Nativity of St. John the Baptist, June 24.
[52] See Appendix: Grease.
[53] This sentence reads somewhat confusedly in our MS., so I have
taken this rendering straight from G. de F., p. 23.