OF RUNNING HOUNDS AND OF THEIR NATURE
A running hound is a kind of hound there be few men that have not seen
some of them. Nevertheless I shall devise how a running hound shall be
held for good and fair, and also shall I devise of their manners. Of
all hues of running hounds, there are some which be good, and some
which be bad or evil as of greyhounds. But the best hue of running
hounds and most common for to be good, is called brown tan. Also the
goodness of running hounds, and of all other kinds of good hounds,
cometh of true courage and of the good nature of their good father and
of their good mother. And also as touching greyhounds, men may well
help to make them good by teaching as by leading them to the wood and
to fields, and to be always near them, in making of many good curées
when they have done well, and of rating at and beating them when they
have done amiss, for they are beasts, and therefore have they need to
learn that which men will they should do. A running hound should be
well born, and well grown of body, and should have great nostrils and
open, and a long snout, but not small, and great lips and well hanging
down, and great eyes red or black, and a great forehead and great
head, and large ears, well long and well hanging down, broad and near
the head, a great neck, and a great breast and great shoulders, and
great legs and strong, and not too long, and great feet, round and
great claws, and the foot a little low, small flanks and long sides, a
little pintel not long, small hanging ballocks and well trussed
together, a good chine bone and great back, good thighs, and great
hind legs and the hocks straight and not bowed, the tail great and
high, and not cromping up on the back, but straight and a little
cromping upward. Nevertheless I have seen some running hounds with
great hairy tails the which were very good. Running hounds hunt in
divers manners, for some followeth the hart fast at the first, for
they go lightly and fast and when they have run so awhile, they have
hied them so fast that they be relaxed and all breathless, and stop
still and leave the hart when they should chase him. This kind of
running hounds men should find usually in the land of Basco and Spain.
They are right good for the wild boar, but are not good for the hart,
for they be not good to enchase at a long flight, but only for to
press him, for they seek not well, and they run not well nor they hunt
not (well) from a distance, for they be accustomed to hunt close.
[Illustration: RACHES OR RUNNING HOUNDS IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY (From
MS. f. fr. 616, _Bib. Nat_., Paris)]
And at the beginning they have shown their best. Other manners of
running hounds there are which hunt a good deal more slowly and
heavily, but as they begin, so they hold on all the day. These hounds
force not so soon a hart as the other, but they bring him best by
mastery and strength to his end, for they retrieve and scent the line
better and farther, because they are somewhat slow. They must hunt the
hart from farther off, and therefore they scent the fues better than
the other that goes so hastily without stopping until the time that
they be weary. A bold hound should never complain or howl, unless if
he were out of the rights. And also he should again seek the rights,
for a hart flieth and ruseth. Commonly a bold hound hunteth with the
wind when he seeth his time. He dreads his master and understands him
and does as he bids him. A bold hound should not leave the hart
neither for rain, nor for heat, nor for cold, nor for any evil
weather, but at this time there be few such, and also should he hunt
the hart well by himself without help of man, as if the man were
always with him. _But alas! I know not now any such hounds._ Hounds
there are which be bold and brave; and be called bold for they are
bold and good for the hart, for when the hart comes in danger[145]
they will chase him, but they will not open[146] nor quest while he is
among the change, for dread to envoyse[147] and do amiss, but when
they have dissevered[148] him, then they will open and hunt him and
should overcome the hart well, and perfectly and masterfully
throughout all the change. These hounds be not so good nor so perfect
as be the bold hounds before said _to most men_ for two reasons[149],
that one reason is for they hunt not at men's best pleasure for they
hunt nought but the hart, and the first bold hound hunts all manner of
beasts that his master will uncouple him to. He opens always through
all the changes, and a bold hound for the hart opens not for the hart,
as I have said when the hart is amid the changes. He dreadeth where he
goeth that men see him lest he do amiss or envoise, but men cannot
always see him[150]. Of this kind of hound have I seen many a one.
There be other kinds of hounds which men _beyond the sea call_ hart
hounds, good and restrained hart hounds.[151] They hunt no other beast
but the hart, and therefore they are called hart hounds and bold
hounds, for they be bold and good and wise for the hart; they be
called restrained, because if the hart fall among the change they
should abide still[152] until the hunter come, and when they see their
master they make him welcome, and wag their tails upon him, and will
by-piss the way and the bushes, _but in England men make them not so_.
These be good hounds _of our land_, but not so good as the bold hounds
aforesaid. They be well wise, for they know well that they should not
hunt the change, and they are not so wise as to dissever the hart from
the change, for they abide still and restive. These hounds I hold full
good, for the hunter that knows them may well help them to slay the
hart. None of all these three kinds of hounds hunt at the hart in
rutting time, unless it be the good bold hound,[153] which is the best
of all other hounds. The best sport that men can have is running with
hounds, for if he hunt at hare or at the roe or at buck or at the
hart, or at any other beast without greyhound[154] it is a fair thing,
and pleasant to him that loveth them; the seeking and the finding is
also a fair thing, and a great liking to slay them with strength, and
for to see the wit and the knowledge that God hath given to good
hounds, and for to see good recovering and retrieving, and the mastery
and the subtleties that be in good hounds. For with greyhounds and
with other kinds of hounds whatever they be, the sport lasteth not,
for anon a good greyhound or a good alaunte taketh or faileth a beast,
and so do all manner of hounds save running hounds, the which must
hunt all the day questeying and making great melody in their language
and saying great villainy and chiding the beasts that they chase. And
therefore I prefer them to all other kinds of hounds, for they have
more virtue it seems to me than any other beast. Other kind of hounds
there be the which open and jangle when they are uncoupled, as well
when they be not in her fues (on their line), and when they be in her
fues they questey[155] too much in seeking their chase whatever it be,
and if they learn the habit when they are young and are not chastised
thereof, they will evermore be noisy and wild, and namely when they
seek their chase, for when the chase is found, the hounds cannot
questey too much so that they be in the fues[156]. And to rente and
make hounds there are many remedies. _There be also many kinds of
running hounds, some small and some big, and the small be called
kenets, and these hounds run well to all manner of game, and they
(that) serve for all game men call them harriers.[157] And every hound
that hath that courage will come to be a harrier by nature with little
making. But they need great nature and making in youth, and great
labour to make a hound run boldly to a chase where there is great
change, or other chases._ Hounds which are not perfectly wise take the
change commonly from May until St. John's tide (June 24th), for then
they find the change of hinds. The hinds will not fly far before the
hounds, but they turn about and the hound sees them very often, and
therefore they run to them with a better will, because they keep near
their calves the which cannot fly, therefore they hunt them gladly;
and commonly when the harts go to rut, hounds hunt the change, for the
harts and the hinds be commonly standing in herds together, and so
they find them and run to them sooner than at any other time of the
year. Also the hounds scent worse from May until St. John's time than
in any other time of all the year, for as I shall say the burnt heath
and the burning of fields taketh away the scent from the hounds of the
beasts that they hunt. Also in that time the herbs be best and flowers
in their smelling, each one in their kind, and when the hounds hope to
scent the beast that they hunt, the sweet-smelling of the herbs takes
the scent of the beast from them.
[145] Danger of his being lost to the hounds.
[146] Challenge--_i.e._ the noise the hounds make on finding the scent
of an animal.
[147] Get off the line.
[148] Separated him from the other deer.
[149] From here to the middle of the 13th line on the next page the
text is copied from the Shirley MS., the scribe who wrote the
Vespasian B. XII. MS. having made a mistake in his transcript, copying
on folio 65 the folio 64, which therefore appears twice over, to the
exclusion of the matter here copied from the Shirley MS.
[150] This sentence is difficult to understand without consulting G.
de F. (p. 110), who says: "as the hound does not challenge when the
stag is with change, one does not know where he is going unless one
sees him, and one cannot always see him."
[151] G. de F.: "cerfs baus restifz" is the name which he gives these
hounds.
[152] G. de F. adds: "and remain quite quiet."
[153] "Le chien baud," G. de F., p. 111. See Appendix: Running
Hounds.
[154] The text of the MS. differs from G. de F., who says if one hunts
stags "ou autres bestes en traillant sans limier" (drawing from them
without having first harboured them with a lymer), and does not say
"without greyhounds"; p. 111.
[155] G. de F. has here: "Ils crient trop en quérant leur beste quelle
que soit," p. 111.
[156] "The hounds cannot challenge too loudly when they are on the
line." G. de F.: "Chien ne peut trop crier," p. 112.
[157] From Mid. Eng. _harien_, _harren_, to harry or worry game. See
Appendix: Harrier.