HOW THE KENNEL FOR THE HOUNDS AND THE COUPLES FOR THE RACHES AND THE
ROPES FOR THE LYMER SHOULD BE MADE
The hounds' kennel should be ten fathoms in length and five in
breadth, if there be many hounds. And there should be one door in
front and one behind, and a fair green, where the sun shineth all day
from morning till eve, and that green should be closed about with a
paling or with a wall of earth or of stone of the same length and
breadth as the hounds' kennel is. And the hinder door of the kennel
should always be open so that the hounds may go out to play when they
like, for it is a great liking to the hounds when they may go in and
out at their pleasure, for the mange comes to them later.[171] In the
kennel should be pitched small stones wrapped about with straw of the
hounds' litter, unto the number of six stones, that the hounds might
piss against them. Also a kennel should have a gutter or two whereby
all the piss of the hounds and all the other water may run out that
none remains in the kennel. The kennel should also be in a low house,
and not in a solere (an upper chamber), but there should be a loft
above, so that it might be warmer in winter and cooler in summer, and
always by night and by day I would that some child lie or be in the
kennel with the hounds to keep them from fighting. Also in the kennel
should be a chimney to warm the hounds when they are cold or when they
are wet with rain or from passing and swimming over rivers. And also
he should be taught to spin horse hair to make couples for the hounds,
which should be made of a horse tail or a mare's tail, for they are
best and last longer than if they were of hemp or of wool. And the
length of the hounds' couples between the hounds should be a foot, and
the rope of a limer three fathoms and a half, be he ever so wise a
limer it sufficeth. _The which rope should be made of leather of a
horse skin well tawed._
[171] They are not likely to get the mange so soon.
[Illustration: THE KENNEL AND KENNELMEN (From MS. f. fr. 616, _Bib.
Nat_., Paris)]