And let him never mark the Sayings of a many of Dreamers.

 

Chapter 29.

How the Huntsman should go drawing with his Hound in the Springs.

Immediately after supper, the huntsman should go to his master's chamber, and if he serve a king, then let him go to the Master of the Game's chamber to know his pleasure, in what quarter he determines to hunt the day following, that he may know is own quarter.

That done, he may go to bed, to the end he may rise the earlier in the morning, according to the time and season, and according to the place where he must hunt. When he is up and ready, let him drink a good draight, and fetch his hound to make him break his fast a little, and let him not forget to fill his bottle with good wine. Let him take a little vinegar in the palm of his hand, and put it in the nostrils of his hound, for to make him snuff to the end his scent may be the perfecter, then let him go to the wood.

If he chance by the way to find any Hare, Partridge, or any other beast or bird that is fearful living upon seeds or pasturage, it is an evil sign or pressage that he shall have but evil pastime that day; but if he find any beast of ravine* living on prey as Wolf, Fox, Raven and such like, that is a token of good luck.

Addition. Now though this be an old retained opinion, yet the wise know it is vain and foolish.

He must take good heed he come not too eraly into the springs and hewts where he thinks the Hart feeds and is at relief; for Harts go to their lair commonly in the springs, yea, and though they were drawn into some strong hold or thicket, yet if they be old crafty Deer, they will return sometimes to the border of the copse to hearken or spy if there be anything to annoy them. If they chance once to vent once to vent the huntsman or his hound, they will straight way dislodge from thence and go some otherwhere, especially in the heat of the year.

But when the huntsman perceives it is time to begin to beat, let him put his hound before him, and beat the outsides of the springs or thickets; and if he find a Hart or Deer like him, let him mark well whether it be fresh or not, and he may know as well by the manner of his hounds drawing as also by the eye. For if he mark the paths and tracks where the Hart has gone, he shall see oftentimes the dew beaten off or the foyle fresh, or else the ground somewhat broken or printed afresh, and such other tokens as he may judge the Hart has gone that way lately. 

And let him never mark the sayings of a many of dreamers, who say when a man finds cobwebs within the print of the slot, it is a sign the Hart is gone long before; for many times the cobwebs fall from the say, and are not such as spiders make, but a kind of kell, which as I have seen of experience of a Hart passing by me within one hundred paces, I have gone to see the slot straight ways and before I could come at it, the cobwebs or kells were fallen upon it. 

So is there also another kind of men who mark when the slot is full of clear water in soft grounds where a Hart has passed, and say he is gone long before; but they never mark whether the ground be subject unto moisture or not, and yet they may well know that being subject unto moisture, then the little sources which pass by channels unseen in the earth will soon fill the slot with clear water, which may cause a huntsman to be deceived, and therefore let him look well to it.

And also let him not altogether trust unto his hound; for some hounds will also beguile their master, and especially those hounds that are quickest of scent, which are not best for the mornings because of the rinds and dews, and then they draw but slowly, making small accompt on their quest as though the game were gone far before them. But when the Sun is well up, and the dew is cleared and the scent of the earth is perfect, then have they good scent and do their duty well. 

To return to our purpose, if the huntsman find of a Hart which likes him, which has passed that way lately, and if his hound stick well upon it, then let him hold hos hound short for fear lest he lapse. Again, in a morning, a hound shall draw better being held short than if he were let at length of the lyam, and yet some hunters will give them all the lyam, but they do not well. 

When he has well considered what manner of Hart it may be, and has marked everything to judge by, then let him draw till he come to the covert where he is gone to; let him harbour him if he can, still marking all his tokens as well by the slot as by the entries, foyles and such like. That done, let him plash or bruise down small twigs, some aloft and some below as the art requires, and therewithall whilst his hound is hot, let him beat the outsides, and make his ringwalks twice or thrice about the wood, one while by the great and open ways, that he may help himself by his eye, another while through the thick and covert, than abroad in the highways.

And if he find the Hart be not gone out of the ringwalk, or doubt he have drawn amiss, then let him go to his marks which he plashed or shred, and draw counter till he may take up the fumet, as well made in the evening's relief as in the morning; and let him mark the place where he has fed, and whereon also to mark his subtleties and crafts, for thereby the huntsmen shall know what he will do when his is before the hounds, for if in the morning he have made any doublings towards the water, or else in his way. When he begins to be spent before the hounds, all the faults, doublings or subtleties he will use shall be in the same places, and like unto those he has used in the morning, and thereby the huntsman may take advantage both of his hounds, and for the huntsman on horseback.

If it chance the huntsman find two or three places where the Deer has entered, and as many where he has come out, then must he mark well which entry seems to be freshest, and whether the places where he came forth again were not beaten the same night; for a Hart oftentimes go in and out of his harborough in the night, especially if it be a crafty old Deer, he will use great subtleties, beating one place divers times to and fro. If the huntsman cannot find all his goings out and comings in, nor can well tell which of them he were best to trust unto, he must then take he were best to trust unto, he must then take his compass and ringwalk the greater about the covert, so as he may therein enclose all his subtleties, entries and comings out. And whenhe sees all is compressed within his ringwalk, excepting only one coming in, whereby he might be come from the springs or feeds, then must he let his hounds draw hardly, and it it be possible, let him draw even to the Hart's lair or harbour, for he may well think those paths or tracks will bring him to it.

In this manner, huntsmen should harbour their Deer, but not as many huntsmen do nowadays; for if they cannot quickly come to the harbour of a Hart, they then will foyle the gaps so to make him harbour, which is oftentimes a cause that they find nothing in their circuits or walks. Some again trust altogether in their hound, and when they find the slot of a Hart, they will only plash or brushed some bought at entry of the thicket, and then go under the wind, and if their hounds do wind anything, they they never cast about, but trust so unto their hounds winding of it. Such men trust more in their hound than to their own eyes; and methinks a good huntsman should never greatly esteem a hound which hangs altogether upon winding aloft, for he never puts his nose to the ground, and therefore oftentimes beguile his master. 

Notes.

any beast of ravine. A raptor. A Raven, for example. 

at length of the lyam. A leash. Hence lyam-hound.