=The Subjects Treated.=
In the rude civilisation of the fifteenth century, a year’s experience
of which would send most of us to our graves, the mental occupation as
well as the bodily recreation of our ancestors was almost confined to
hunting and hawking. “Fishing with an Angle” came in as a bad third,
being too tame a pursuit for men who were no men if not men of war.
Mimic war—war on the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air—war
which could be pursued in times of peace, and which yet required
knowledge, patience, fortitude, and courage—this had great attractions,
and we cannot wonder at the general popularity of these pursuits.
The first treatise in the following reprint is upon Hawking, a pastime
essentially aristocratic from the great expense it entailed in the
purchase, breeding, and maintenance of the birds. This, indeed, coupled
with the diminution of game consequent on the progress of civilisation
and the increase of the population, led to the gradual decadence of the
sport, and nearly to its extinction in the eighteenth century, although,
in very rare cases, falconry is even now practised.
As we have seen, one of the most difficult objects in hawking was to
obtain an easy command of the proper vocabulary, and so at first start
our author instructs us in “The manner to speak of Hawks, from the egg.”
We must not say a young hawk is hatched, but ‘disclosed;’ they do not
breed but “eyer;” it was a want of culture in any falconer to say that
hawks were building their nest, they “timbered” it. When the young could
first leave the nest they were “Bowesses,” and when they could fly they
were “Branchers,” and then was the time to catch and train them.
When the young were caught, which was with nets, the first thing was to
“ensile” them, that is, to “take a needle and thread and sew up the
eyelids,” so that they “see never a dele.” After a night and a day the
threads were cut softly for fear of breaking the “lyddis of the ighen,”
then they were fed with well-washed flesh, but kept awake the next night
and day, after which they were supposed to be tame, or “reclaimed.”
The various diseases to which Hawks are liable are then explained, and
medicines prescribed for them. Some of these are very absurd and some
contradictory. Then comes a variety of terms for every movement and
habit, for every limb or part of the body, and for almost every feather
in the plumage. In this minute description the author begins at the feet
of the bird and so works upwards, as when “Knyghttis been harnesside.”
Next we are instructed how important it is to be careful of the manner
of guiding the Hawk the first time it is ready to “nomme a partridge;”
how to reward her by giving her the head and neck, after which on no
account is she to fly again till she has “rejoiced,” _i.e._, sharpened
her beak and shaken her feathers. More medicines follow, among which is
how to get rid of “lies” (lice). “Take a piece of rough blanket and hold
it to the fire till it is quite hot; wrap the hawk therein, and without
hurting hold her ‘softely and stylly’ in your hands, and all the vermin
will creep into the cloth.” A happy thought this!
The “Gesse,” or strip of leather by which the Hawk is held when carrying
her on the hand, is next described, together with the creance or long
line. More medicines still, and then how to treat Hawks when “in mew,”
or moulting, a matter of great importance. To promote “mewing” give the
flesh of a kid, a young swan, and especially rats flesh; stewed adders
are also strongly recommended, or chickens which have been fed upon
wheat soaked in broth of vipers.
Gout seems a common disease in various parts of the Hawk’s body, which
may be known by swelling and “ungladness;” also rheum and fever and
blains and agrum, which last is cured by a red-hot silver needle thrust
into the nostrils. Botches in the jaw should be “kutte with a knyfe.”
More terms follow for various habits and actions, the last paragraph
being upon the variety of Bells used for Hawks. There should be two, one
a “semytoyn” (semitone) below the other. “The Bells of Melen (Milan?)
were the best, but,” says the author, “there be now used Dutchland
bells, of a town called durdright (Dordrecht), and they be passing good,
sonowre (sonorous) of ringing in shrillness, and well lasting.”
The whole ends with a list of various species of Hawks and their
appropriateness to the various stations of life, among which are—
An Eagle for an Emperor.
A Gerfalcon for a King.
A Peregrine for an Earl.
A Merlyon for a Lady.
A Goshawk for a Yeoman.
A Sparehawk for a Priest.
A Muskyte for “an holiwater clerke.”
The second treatise is upon Hunting, and has a short preface, which
probably came, like the first, from the pen of the Schoolmaster.
The work is all in metre, and evidently intended for boys to learn by
heart. It begins by telling “my dere chylde” the various kinds of beast
to be hunted; the changes of name they take as they grow older; the
variety of horns; how to skin and dismember; the various cries and
noises to be used; the seasons of hunting various beasts.
Then follow instructions how to hunt the Hare, and what to say to the
hounds, who must always be addressed in French, as “arere!” when he
enters the kennel-door; “this is the first word, my son, of venery.” “Sa
sa cy auaunt,” “Sweff mon amy sweff,” and other similar cries are noted
down, some to be shouted twice only and some thrice, the chief cry being
“So how.” The knowledge of when and how often these cries should be used
was most important, as their proper use would bring “worship among all
men.” Here, apparently, in the midst of one essay, another is
interpolated, and we are treated to a portion of some old dialogue like
“The Master of the Hunt,” in which the “Man” asks all sorts of questions
and the “Master” replies. It might indeed be dubbed “The Hunter’s
Catechism.” This occupies eight pages, and then we fall back upon the
original rhyme again and the instructions of the Dame to “my childe,”
ending with the “Explicit” of Dam Julyans Barnes. Some leaves remaining
to be filled up, the moral and other sentences, as already described at
page 21, were added.
Perhaps the third treatise upon Coat Armour and the Blason of Arms is
the most interesting portion of the book. The quaintness of some of the
explanations is very amusing, and many people will find more points of
sympathy, both historical and technical, with this than with the others.
The headline, “Incipit Liber Armorum,” gives us at once the title of the
manuscript from which the text was compiled. “Heraldry Run Mad” might
indeed have been an appropriate title for this, as well as all similar
tractates; for the author, in his anxiety to honour the science, does
not scruple to take the reader back historically not to Noah only, but
to Adam, whose spade, he tells us, was the first shield in Heraldry, and
who was the first to bear Coat Armour. The argument, if it may so be
called, is:—All “gentilnes” comes from God; there were originally in
heaven ten Orders of Angels bearing Coat Armour, but now only nine,
Lucifer with “mylionys of aungelis” having fallen out of heaven into
hell and other places. As a bondman might say that all men come from
Adam, so might Lucifer say he and his angels came from heaven.
Cain, for his wickedness, was the first churl, and all his offspring
were churls also by the curse of God. Seth, on the other hand, was a
gentleman by his father’s blessing; Noah, too, was a gentleman by
nature, but of his three sons, “Sem, Cham, and Jafeth,” Cham, for his
unfilial conduct, was made “ungentle.” The address of Noah to his three
sons is curious, and is thus supplemented:—
“Of the offspring of the gentleman Japhet came Abraham, Moses Aaron, and
the prophets, and also the King of the right line of Mary, of whom that
gentleman Jesus was born, very God and man, after his manhood King of
the land of Judah and of Jews, a gentleman by his mother Mary, and
Prince of Coat Armour.”
Some say that Coat Armour began at the siege of Troy, but it was of far
greater antiquity than that, and was founded upon the nine Orders of
Angels, who were crowned each with a diadem of precious stones—the Topaz
(truth), Smaragdus (hardihood), Amethyst (chivalry), Loys (powerful),
Ruby (courageous), Sapphire (wisdom), Diamond, a black stone (durable),
Carbuncle (doughty and glorious). These represent Gentleman, Squire,
Knight, Baron, Lord, Earl, Marquis, Duke, and Prince. Here we probably
have the origin of the shape of various crowns and coronets. Everything
is treated in nines, and the nine virtues and nine vices of gentleness
follow, with nine rejoicings, nine articles that every knight should
keep, and nine manner of gentlemen, in which we learn that the
Evangelists and Apostles were all gentlemen of the right line of that
worthy conqueror, Judas Machabeus, who in course of time had fallen to
labour, and so were not called gentlemen. The four doctors of the
Church—St. Jerome Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory—were also gentlemen of
blood and of Coat Armour. There are nine differences of Coat Armour and
nine quadrats, all of which are explained. The “Blasyng of Arms” comes
next, the preface to which is by the author, and not by the printer. It
begins with the varieties of the Cross as borne in arms, each being
illustrated by a rude woodcut printed in its proper colours, and the
blason, or technical description of each is given in Latin, French, and
English. All varieties of arms follow, with the mysteries of bends,
engrail, borders, chequers, balls, cakes, rings, &c., offering but
little which can be quoted, but forming an interesting and useful book
of reference.
[Illustration: Fleuron]