The Master of Game: The Oldest English Book on Hunting

CHAPTER IX

OF THE GREY (BADGER) AND OF HIS NATURE

The grey (badger) is a common beast enough and therefore I need not tell you of his making, for there be few men that have not seen some of them, and also I shall take no heed to speak much of him, for it is not a beast that needeth any great mastery to devise of how to hunt him, or to hunt him with strength, for a grey can fly but a little way before he is overcome with hounds, or else he goes to bay and then he is slain anon. His usual dwelling is in the earth in great burrows and if he comes out he will not walk far thence. He liveth on all vermin and carrion and all fruits and on all things such as the fox. But he dare not venture so far by day as the fox, for he cannot flee. He liveth more by sleeping than by any other thing. Once in the year they farrow as the fox.97 When they be hunted they defend themselves long and mightily and have evil biting and venomous as the fox, and yet they defend themselves better than the fox. It is the beast of the world that gathereth most grease within and that is because of the long sleeping that he sleepeth. And his grease bears medicine as does that of the fox, and yet more, and men say that if a child that hath never worn shoes is first shod with those made of the skin of the grey that child will heal a horse of farcy if he should ride upon him, but thereof I make no affirmation. His flesh is not to eat, neither is that of the fox nor of the wolf.

CHAPTER X

OF THE (WILD) CAT AND ITS NATURE

The cat is a common beast enough therefore I need not tell of his making, for there be few men that have not seen some of them. Nevertheless there be many and diverse kind of cats, after some masters' opinions, and namely of wild (cats). Especially there be some cats as big as leopards and some men call them Guyenne loup cerviers98 and other cat-wolves, and this is evil said for they are neither wolves nor cerviers nor cat-wolves. Men might (better) call them cat-leopards than otherwise, for they draw more to a leopard kind than to any other beast. They live on such meat as other cats do, save that they take hens in hedges99 and goats and sheep, if they find them alone, for they be as big as a wolf, and almost formed and made as a leopard, but their tail is not so long. A greyhound alone could not take one of them to make him abide, for a greyhound could sooner take and hold fast and more steadfastly a wolf than he could one of them. For he claws as a leopard and furthermore bites right (hard). Men hunt them but seldom, but if the hounds find peradventure such a cat, he would not be long hunted for soon he putteth him to his defence or he runneth up a tree. And because he flieth not long therefore shall I speak but little of his hunting, for in hunting him there is no need of great mastery. They bear their kittens and are in their love as other cats, save that they have but two kittens at once. They dwell in hollow trees and there they make their ligging100 and their beds of ferns and of grass. The cat helpeth as badly to nourish his kittens as the wolf doth his whelps. Of common wild cats I need not to speak much, for every hunter in England knoweth them, and their falseness and malice are well known. But one thing I dare well say that if any beast hath the devil's spirit in him, without doubt it is the cat, both the wild and the tame.

CHAPTER XI

THE OTTER AND HIS NATURE

An otter is a common beast enough and therefore I need not tell of his making. She liveth with (on?) fish and dwelleth by rivers and by ponds and stanks (pools). And sometimes she feedeth on grass of the meadows and bideth gladly under the roots of trees near the rivers, and goeth to her feeding as doth other beasts to grass, but only in the new grass time, and to fish as I have said. They swimmeth in waters and rivers and sometimes diveth under the water when they will, and therefore no fish can escape them unless it be too great a one. They doth great harm specially in ponds and in stanks, for a couple of otters without more shall well destroy the fish of a great pond or great stank, and therefore men hunt them. They go in their love at the time that ferrets do, so they that hold (keep) ferrets in their houses may well know the time thereof. They bear their whelps as long as the ferrets and sometimes more and sometimes less. They whelp in holes under the trees near the rivers. Men hunt at them with hounds by great mastery, as I say hereafter.101 And also men take them at other times in rivers with small cords as men do the fox with nets and with other gins. She hath an evil biting and venomous and with her strength defendeth herself mightily from the hounds. And when she is taken with nets unless men get to her at once she rendeth them with her teeth and delivereth herself out of them. Longer will I not make mention of her, nor of her nature, for the hunting at her is the best that men may see of her, save only that she has the foot of a goose, for she hath a little skin from one claw to another, and she hath no heel save that she hath a little lump under the foot, and men speak of the steps or the marches of the otter as men speak of the trace of the hart, and his fumes (excrements) tredeles or spraints. The otter dwelleth but little in one place, for where she goeth the fish be sore afraid. Sometimes she will swim upwards and downwards seeking the fish a mile or two unless it be in a stank.

Of the remnant of his nature I refer to Milbourne 102 the king's otter hunter. As of all other vermin I speak not, that is to say of martens and pole cats, for no good hunter goeth to the wood with his hounds intending to hunt for them, nor for the wild cat either. Nevertheless when men seek in covert for the fox and can find none, and the hounds happen to find them and then the hunter rejoiceth his hounds for the exploit of his hounds, and also because it is vermin that they run to. Of conies I do not speak, for no man hunteth them unless it be bish-hunters (fur hunters), and they hunt them with ferrets and with long small hayes. Those raches that run to a coney at any time ought to be rated saying to them loud, "Ware riot, ware," for no other wild beast in England is called riot save the coney only.

CHAPTER XII

OF THE MANNER AND HABITS AND CONDITIONS OF HOUNDS

After that I have spoken of the nature of beasts of venery and of chase which men should hunt, now I will tell you of the nature of the hounds which hunt and take them. And first of their noble conditions that be so great and marvellous in some hounds that there is no man can believe it, unless he were a good skilful hunter, and well knowing, and that he haunted them long, for a hound is a most reasonable beast, and best knowing of any beast that ever God made. And yet in some case I neither except man nor other thing, for men find it in so many stories and (see) so much nobleness in hounds, always from day to day, that as I have said there is no man that liveth, but must think it. Nevertheless natures of men and all beasts go ever more descending and decreasing both of life and of goodness and of strength and of all other things so wonderfully, as the Earl of Foix Phebus sayeth in his book, that when he seeth the hounds that be now hunting and thinketh of the hounds that he hath seen in the time that is passed, and also of the goodness and the truth, which was sometimes in the lords of this world, and other common men, and seeth what now is in them at this time, truly he saith that there is no comparison, and this knoweth well every man that hath any good reason. But now let God ordain thereof whatever His good will is. But to draw again to my matter, and tell the nobleness of the hounds, the which have been, some good tales I shall tell you the which I find in true writings. First of King Claudoneus103 of France, the which sent once after his great court whereof were other kings which held of him land, among the which was the King Appollo of Lyonnys that brought with him to the court his wife and a greyhound that he had, that was both good and fair. The King Claudoneus of France had a seemly young man for his son, of twenty years of age, and as soon as he saw the Queen of Lyonnys he loved her and prayed her of (for her) love. The Queen was a good lady and loved well her lord, forsook him and would him not, and said (to) him that if he spake to her any more thereof that she would tell it to the King of France, and to her Lord. And after that the feast was passed, King Appollo of Lyonnys turned again, he and his wife to their country. And when they were so turned again, he and his wife, the King Claudoneus son of France was before him with a great fellowship of men of arms for to ravish his wife from him. The King Appollo of Lyonnys that was a wonderful good knight of his hounds (hands?) notwithstanding that he was unarmed, defended himself and his wife in the best wise that he could unto the time that he was wounded to the death, then he withdrew himself and his wife into a tower. And the King Claudoneus son, the which would not leave the lady, went in and took the lady, and would have defiled her, and then she said to him "Ye have slain my lord, and (now) ye would dishonour me, certes I would sooner be dead," then she drew herself to (from) a window and leapt into the river of Loire that ran under the tower and anon she was drowned. And after that within a little while, the King Appollo of Lyonnys died of his wounds that he had received, and on the same day he was cast into the river. The greyhound that I have spoke of, the which was always with the king his master, when his lord was cast in the river leapt after him into the river, insomuch that with his teeth he drew his lord out of the river, and made a great pit with his claws in the best wise that he could, and with his muzzle. And so the greyhound always kept his lord about half a year in the pit, and kept his lord from all manner of beasts and fowls. And if any man ask whereof he lived I say that he lived on carrion and of other feeding such as he might come to. So it befell that the King Claudoneus of France rode to see the estate of his realm, and (it) befell that the king passed there where the greyhound was that kept his lord and master, and the greyhound arose against him, and began to yelp at him. The King Claudoneus of France the which was a good man and of good perception, anon when he saw the greyhound, knew that it was the greyhound that King Appollo of Lyonnys had brought to his court, whereof he had great wonder, and he went himself there where the greyhound was and saw the pit, and then he made some of his men alight from their horses for to look what was therein, and therein they found the King Appollo's body all whole. And anon as the King Claudoneus of France saw him, he knew it was the King Appollo of Lyonnys, whereof he was right sorry and sore aggrieved, and ordained a cry throughout all his realm, that whoso would tell him the truth of the deed he would give him whatsoever that he would ask. Then came a damsel that was in the tower when the King Appollo of Lyonnys was dead, and thus she said to the King Claudoneus of France, "Sir," quoth she, "if you will grant me a boon that I shall ask and assure me to have it, before all your men, I shall show you him that hath done the deed," and the King swore to her before his men, and it so befell that the King Claudoneus son of France was beside his father. "Sir," she said, "here is your son the which hath done this deed. Now require I you as ye have sworn to me that ye give him to me, I will no other gift of you." The King Claudoneus of France turned him then towards his son and said thus: "Thou cursed harlot, thou hast shamed and shent (disgraced) me and truly I shall shend (disgrace) you. And though I have no more children yet shall I not spare." Then he commanded to his men to make a great fire, and cast his son therein, and he turned him toward the damsel when the fire was great alight, and thus to her he said: "Damsel, now take ye him for I deliver him to you, as I promised and assured you." The damsel durst not come nigh, for by that time he was all burnt. This ensample have I brought forth for the nobleness of hounds and also of lords that have been in olden times. But I trow that few lords be now that would do so even and so open justice. A hound is true to his lord and his master, and of good love and true.

A hound is of great understanding and of great knowledge, a hound hath great strength and great goodness, a hound is a wise beast and a kind (one). A hound has a great memory and great smelling,104 a hound has great diligence and great might, a hound is of great worthiness and of great subtlety, a hound is of great lightness and of great perseverance (?), a hound is of good obedience, for he will learn as a man all that a man will teach him. A hound is full of good sport; hounds are so good that there is scarcely a man that would not have of them, some for one craft, and some for another. Hounds are hardy, for a hound dare well keep his master's house, and his beasts, and also he will keep all his master's goods, and he would sooner die than anything be lost in his keeping. And yet to affirm the nobleness of hounds, I shall tell you a tale of a greyhound that was Auberie's of Moundydier, of which men may see the painting in the realm of France in many places. Aubery was a squire of the king's house of France, and upon a day that he was going from the court to his own house, and as he passed by the woods of Bondis, the which is nigh Paris, and led with him a well good and a fair greyhound that he had brought up. A man that hated him for great envy without any other reason, who was called Makarie, ran upon him within the wood and slew him without warning, for Auberie was not aware of him. And when the greyhound sought his master and found him he covered him with earth and with leaves with his claws and his muzzle in the best way that he could. And when he had been there three days and could no longer abide for hunger, he turned again to the king's court. There he found Makarie, who was a great gentleman, who had slain his master, and as soon as the greyhound perceived Makarie, he ran upon him, and would have maimed him, unless men had hindered him. The King of France, who was wise and a man of perception, asked what it was, and men told him the truth. The greyhound took from the boards what he could, and brought to his master and put meat in his mouth, and the same wise the greyhound did three days or four. And then the King made men follow the greyhound, for to see where he bare the meat that he took in the court. And then they found Auberie dead and buried. And then the King, as I have said, made come many of the men of his court, and made them stroke the greyhound's side, and cherish him and made his men lead him by the collar towards the house, but he never stirred. And then the King commanded Makarie to take a small piece of flesh and give it to the greyhound. And as soon as the greyhound saw Makarie, he left the flesh, and would have run upon him. And when the King saw that, he had great suspicions about Makarie, and said (to) him that he must needs fight against the greyhound. And Makarie began to laugh, but anon the King made him do the deed, and one of the kinsmen of Auberie saw the great marvel of the greyhound and said that he would swear upon the sacrament as is the custom in such a case for the greyhound, and Makarie swore on the other side, and then they were led into our Lady's Isle at Paris and there fought the greyhound and Makarie. For which Makarie had a great two-handed staff, and they fought so that Makarie was discomfitted, and then the king commanded that the greyhound the which had Makarie under him should be taken up, and then the King made enquiry of the truth of Makarie, the which acknowledged he had slain Aubrey in treason, and therefore he was hanged and drawn.

The bitches be jolly in their love commonly twice in a year, but they have no term of their heat, for every time of the year some be jolly. When they be a twelvemonth old, they become jolly, and be jolly while they await the hounds without any defence, twelve days or less,105 and sometimes fifteen days, according as to whether they be of hot nature or of cold, the one more than another, or whether some be in better condition than others. And also men may well help them thereto, for if they give them much meat they abide longer in their heat than if they had but little. And also if they were cast in a river twice in a day they should be sooner out of their jollity. They bear their whelps nine weeks or more; the whelps be blind when they be whelped till they be nine days old and then they may well see and lap well when they be a month old, but they have great need of their dam to the time that they be two months old, and then they should be well fed with goat's milk or with cow's milk and crumbs of bread made small and put therein, especially in the morn and at night. Because that the night is more cold than the day. And also men should give them crumbs in flesh-broth, and in this wise men may nourish them till they be half a year old, and by that time they shall have cast their hooks, and when they have cast their hooks, they should teach them to eat dry bread and lap water little by little, for a hound that is nourished with grease and fat broth when he casts his hooks, and if he hath always sops or tit-bits, he is a chis106 (dainty) hound and of evil ward. And also they be not so well breathed than if they have eaten always bread and water. When the bitches be lined they lose their time, and also while they be great with whelps, and also while their whelps suck. If they are not lined, soon they will lose their time, for their teats remain great and grow full of wind until the time that they should have had their whelps. And so that they should not lose their time men spaye them, save these that men will keep open to bear whelps. And also a spayed bitch lasteth longer in her goodness than other two that be not spayed.107 And if a bitch be with whelps the which be not of ward let the bitch fast all the whole day, and give her then with a little grease the juice of a herb men calleth titimal, the which the apothecaries knoweth well, and she shall cast her whelps. Nevertheless it is a great peril namely if the whelps be great and formed within the bitch. The greatest fault of hounds is that they live not long enough, most commonly they live but twelve years. And also men should let run no hounds of what condition that they be nor hunt them until the time that they were a twelve month old and past. And also they can hunt but nine years at the most.

CHAPTER XIII

OF SICKNESSES OF HOUNDS AND OF THEIR CORRUPTIONS

The hounds have many divers sicknesses and their greatest sickness is the rage whereof there be nine manners, of the which I shall tell you a part. The first is called furious madness. The hounds that be mad of that madness cry and howl with a loud voice, and not in the way that they were wont to when they were in health. When they escape they go everywhere biting both men and women and all that they find before them. And they have a wonderful perilous biting, for if they bite anything, with great pain it shall escape thereof if they draw blood, that it shall go mad whatever thing it be. A token for to know at the beginning, is this, that they eat not so well as they were wont to, and they bite the other hounds, making them cheer with the tail108 first, smelleth109 upon them and licketh110 them and then he bloweth a great blast with his nose, and then he looketh fiercely, and beholdeth his own sides and maketh semblant that he had flies about him, and then he crieth. And when men know such tokens men should take him from the others until the fourth day, for then men may see the sickness all clearly, or else that he is not mad for some time. Many men be beguiled in that way. And if any hound be mad of any of the nine madnesses he shall never be whole. And their madness cannot last but nine days111 but they shall never be whole but dead. That other manner of madness is known by these signs: In the beginning he doth as I said before, save that they neither bite man nor beast save only the hounds, as perilous is his biting as the first, and ever more they go up and down without any abiding. And this madness is called running madness. And these two madnesses beforesaid taketh the other hounds that they be with, though they bite them not. That other madness is called ragemuet (dumb madness) for they neither bite nor run not, eke they will not eat for their mouth

is somewhat gaping as if they were enosed112 in their throat, and so they die, within the term beforesaid without doing any harm. Some men say that it cometh to them from a worm113 that they have under the tongue, and ye should find but few hounds that hath not a worm under the tongue. And many men say that if that worm was taken from them they would never go mad, but thereof I make no affirmation. Nevertheless it is good to take it from them, and men should take it away in this manner. Men should take the hound when he is past half a year old and hold fast his fore-feet, and put a staff athwart his mouth so that he should not bite. And after take the tongue and ye should find the worm under the tongue, then ye should slit the tongue underneath and put a needle with a thread betwixt the worm and tongue and cut and draw the worm out with the thread or else with a small pin of wood. And notwithstanding that men call it a worm it is but a great vein that hounds have under their tongue. This madness diseaseth not other hounds, neither man nor other beast. That other madness is called falling, for when they want to walk straight they fall now on one side and now on the other side, and so die within the aforesaid term. This madness stretcheth to no other hound nor man or beast. That other madness is called flank madness114, for they be so sore and tucked up by the middle of the flanks as though they never ate meat, and pant in their flanks with much pain, and will not eat, but stoop low with the head and always look downwards, and when they go they take up their feet high and go rolling as a drunken man. This madness stretcheth to no other hound nor to any other things, and they die as it is said before. The other madness is called sleeping madness, for they lie always and make semblant as if they were asleep, and so they die without meat. This sickness stretcheth to no other thing. That other madness is called madness of head. Nevertheless all madnesses are of foolishness of the head and of the heat of the heart, for their head becometh great and swelleth fast. They eat no meat and so they die in that madness. This madness stretcheth to no other thing. And certainly I never saw a hound that had any of all these madnesses that ever might be healed. Nevertheless many men think sometime that a hound be mad when it is not so, and therefore the best proof that any man may do, is to draw him from the other hounds and assaye him three whole days each one after the other following, if he will eat flesh or any other thing. And if he will not eat within three days slay him as a mad hound. The remedies for men or for beasts that be bitten by mad hounds must need be done a short time after the biting, for if it were past a whole day it were hard to undertake to heal him of the two first madnesses whereof I spake at the beginning, for all the others can do no harm, and the remedy may be of divers manners. Some goeth to the sea, and that is but a little help, and maketh nine waves of the sea pass over him that is so bitten. Some take an old cock and pull all the feathers from above his vent and hangeth him by the legs and by the wings, and setteth the cock's vent upon the hole of the biting, and stroketh along the cock by the neck and by the shoulders because that the cock's vent should suck all the venom of the biting. And so men do long upon each of the wounds, and if the wounds be too little they must be made wider with a barber's lancet. And many men say, but thereof I make no affirmation, that if the hound were mad, that the cock shall swell and die, and he that was bitten by the hound shall be healed. If the cock does not die it is a token that the hound is not mad. There is another help, for men may make sauce of salt, vinegar and strong garlic pulled and stamped, and nettles together and as hot as it may be suffered to lay upon the bite. And this is a good medicine and a true, for it hath been proved, and every day should it be laid upon the biting twice, as hot as it can be suffered, until the time when it be whole, or else by nine days. And yet there is another medicine better than all the other. Take leeks and strong garlic and chives and rue and nettles and hack them small with a knife, and then mingle them with olive oil and vinegar, and boil them together, and then take all the herbs, also as hot as they may be suffered, and lay them on the wound every day twice, till the wound be healed, or at least for nine days. But at the beginning that the wound be closed or garsed115 (cupped) for to draw out the venom out of the wound because that it goeth not to the heart. And if a hound is bit by another mad hound it is a good thing for to hollow it all about the biting with a hot iron. The hounds have also another sickness that is called the mange, that cometh to them because that they be melancholy. There are four manners of mange, that one is called the quick mange the which pulleth116 the hounds and breaketh their skins in many places, and the skin waxeth great and thick, and this is wonderfully evil to heal, for though the hounds may be whole it cometh to them again. Commonly to this mange, this is the best ointment that men may make thereto. Nevertheless many men would put many others thereto, first take ye six pounds of honey and a quart of verdigris, and that the honey be first melted and stirred in the bottom with a ladle, and then let it cool, and let it boil often with as much of oil of nuts as of the honey and of water, wherein an herb has been boiled that men call in Latin Cleoborum, and in other language Valerian, the which make men sneeze, and put all these things together and mingle them upon the fire, stir them well and let it be cold, and anoint the hound by the fire or in the sun. And look that he lick not himself, for it should do him harm. And unless he be whole at the first time anoint him from eight days (to eight days)117 until the time that he be whole, for certainly he shall be whole. And if he will make any more of that ointment, take of the things aforesaid in the same wise or more or less as seemeth to you that need is. That other manner (of) mange is called flying mange118, for it is not in all the body but it cometh more commonly about the hounds' ears, and in their legs than in any other place of the body119, as the farcy, and this is the worst to heal, and the best ointment that any man can make for this manner of mange is this: take quicksilver for as much as ye will make ointment, as ye have need, and put it in a dish with spittle of three or four fasting men, and stir it altogether against the bottom of the dish with a pot-stick, until the time that the quicksilver be quenched with the water, and then take ye as much verdigris as of the quicksilver and mingle it with spittle, always stirring with a pot-stick, as I have said before, until the time that they can be all mingled together. And after take old swine's grease without salt, a great piece, and take away the skin above, and put it in the dish that I spake of, with the things before said, and mingle and stamp it altogether a long while, then keep it to anoint the hound there where he hath the mange and in no other place, and certainly he shall be whole. This ointment is marvellous and good and true not only for this thing, but also against the canker and fistula and farcy and other quick evils, the which have been hard to heal in other beasts. That other is a common mange when the hounds claw themselves with their feet and snap with their teeth, and it is on all the body of the hound. And all manners of mange come to hounds from great travel and from long hunting, as when they be hot they drink of foul water and unclean, which corrupteth their bodys, and also when they hunt in evil places of pricklings of thorns, of briers, or peradventure it raineth upon them, and they be not well tended afterwards. Then cometh the scab, and also the scab cometh upon them when they abide in their kennel too long120 and goeth not hunting. Or else their litter and couch is uncleanly kept, or else the straw is not removed and their water not freshened, and shortly the hounds unclean, I hold, and evil kept or long waterless, have commonly this mange. For the cure of which take ye the root of an herb that groweth upon houses and walls, the which is called in Latin iroos121 (iris) and chop it small and boil it well in water, and then put thereto as much of oil made of nuts as of water, and when it is well boiled cast out the herb, and then take of black pitch and of rosin as much of the one as of the other, well stamped, and cast it in the water and the oil before said, and stir it well about on the fire with a pot-stick: and then let it well grow cold, and anoint the hound as before is said. Sometime cometh to the hounds sickness in their eyes, for there cometh a web upon them, and growing flesh which cometh into that one side of the eye, and is called a nail122, and so they grow blind unless a man take care thereof. Some men put about their necks a collar of an elm tree both of leaves and of bark, and seeth that when that shall be dry the nail shall fall away, but that is but a little help. But the true help that may be thereto is this, take ye the juice of a herb that men call Selidoyn (Celandine)123 powder of ginger and of pepper, and put all together thrice in the day within the eye, and let him not claw nor rub it a long while, and that customarily by nine days until the time that the hound's eyes be whole, and also it is good to put therein of the Sousse124 of the which men find enough at the apothecary's for the same sickness, and if the nail were so hard grown and so strong that he might not be healed therewith, take a needle and bow it in the middle that it be crooked, and take well and subtly the flesh that is upon the eye with the needle and draw it up on high, and then cut it with a razor, but take good care that the needle touch not the eye. These things the smiths can do well125, for as the nail is drawn out of a horse's eye, right so it must be drawn out of the hound's eye, and without fault he shall be whole. And also another sickness cometh into the hound's ears the which cometh out of the rewme (cold) of the head of the hound, for they claw themselves so much with the hinder feet that they make much foul things come out thereof, and so out of her ears cometh much foul things, and some time thereof they become deaf. Therefore they should take wine luke-warm and with a cloth wash it well, and clean three or four times in the day, and when it is washed ye should cast therein oil and camomile milk, warm, three drops, and suffer him not to claw it nor rub it a great while, and do so continually until the time that he be whole. Also hounds have another sickness that cometh to them of the rewme, that is to say, they have the malemort (glanders) in their nostrils as horses have, wherefore they can smell nothing nor wind, and at the last some die thereof, and they take it most when they hunt in snow. For this sickness boil mastic and incense in small powder in fair water, and of a thing that men call Ostoraces calamynt126, brygella127 of rue128 and mint and of sage, and hold the hound's nose upon the pot's mouth wherein these things should boil so that he may retain within his nostrils the smoke that cometh thereof out of the pot. And in this wise serve him a long while, three or four times every day, until the time that he be whole, and this is good also for a horse when he hath the glanders strongly coming out of the nose. Also there is another sickness of hounds, the which cometh to them in their throats and sometime cometh so to men in such wise that they may not keep down their meat, and so they must cast it out again. In some time the sickness is so strong on them, that they can keep nothing down in their bodies and so die. The best medicine is to let them go wherever they will, and let them eat all that ever they will. For sometime the contrary things turneth them to good. And give them to eat flesh right small cut, and put in broth or in goat's milk a little, and a little because that they may swallow it down without labour, and give him not too much at once, that they may digest better. And also buttered eggs doeth them much good. And sometimes the hounds hurt themselves in their feet, and in their legs, and in their breast. And when it is in the joints of their feet that be run out of their places, the best help that there is is to bring them again into joint, by such men as can well do it, and then lay upon that place flax wetted in white of egg, and let them rest until the time that they be whole. And if there be any broken bones men should knit it again in the best wise, the one bone against that other and bind it with flax above as I have said, and with four splints well bound thereto that one against that other, because that the bone should not unjoin, and men should remove the bands from four days to four days all whole. And give them to drink the juice of herbs that are called consolida major129 and minor130, and mix it in broth or in her meat, and that shall make the bones join together. Also many hounds be lost by the feet, and if some time they be heated take vinegar and soot that is within the chimney, and wash his feet therewith until the time that they be whole, and if the soles of the feet be bruised because, peradventure, they have run in hard country or among stones, take water, and small salt therein, and therewith wash their feet, the same day that they have hunted, and if they have hunted in evil country among thorns and briars that they be hurt in their legs or in their feet, wash their legs in sheep's tallow well boiled in wine when it is cold, and rub them well upward against the hair. The best that men may do to hounds that they lose not their claws is that they sojourn not too long, for in long sojourning they lose their claws, and their feet, and therefore they should be led three times in the week a-hunting, and at the least twice. If they have sojourned too much, cut ye a little off the end of their claws with pincers ere they go hunting, so that they may not break their claws in running. Also when they be at sojourn, men should lead them out every day a mile or two upon gravel or upon a right hard path by a river side, so that their feet may be hard. Hounds also sometimes be chilled as horses when they have run too long, and come hot in some water, or else when they come to rest in some cold place, then they go all forenoon and cannot eat, nor cannot walk well, then should men let blood on the four legs. From the forelegs in the joints within the leg, from the hinder legs men should let blood in the veins that goeth overthwart above the hocks on the other side, and in the hinder legs men may well see clearly the veins that I speak of, and also in the forelegs, thus he shall be whole. And give him one day sops or some other thing comfortable till the morrow or other day. The hounds also have a sickness in the yerde that men calleth the canker, and many be lost thereby. Men should take such a hound and hold him fast and upright and bind his mouth and his four legs also, and then men should take his yerde backward by the ballocks and put him upward, and another man shall draw the skin well in manner that the yerde may all come out, and then a man may take away the canker with his fingers, for if it were taken away with a knife men might cut him. And then men should wash it with wine, milk warm, and then put therein honey and salt, so that the sickness shall not come again, and then put again the yerde within the skin as it was before, and look every week that the sickness come not again, and take it always out if aught come thereto until the time that it be whole. And in the same wise a man should do to a bitch, if such a sickness were taken in her nature. In this sickness many hounds and bitches die for default of these cures, whereof all hunters have not full knowledge. Sometimes the hounds have a great sickness that they may not piss, and be lost thereby and also when they may not scombre (dung). Then take ye the root of a cabbage and put it in olive oil, and put it in his fundament so that ye leave some of the end without, so much that it may be drawn out when it is needful. And if he may not be whole thereby make him a clyster as men do to a man, of mallows, of beets, and of mercury, a handful of each, and of rue and of incense, and that all these things be boiled in water and put bran within, and let pass all that water through a strainer, and thereto put two drachms of agarite131 and of honey and of olive oil, and all this together put into his anus and he shall scombre. And then take five corns of spurge132 and stamp them and temper them with goat's milk or with broth, and put it in the hound's throat to the amount of a glassful. And if he may not piss take the leaves of leeks and of a herb that is called marrubium album133 and of modirwort134 and of peritorie135 and morsus galline136 and of nettles and parsley leaves as much of the one as of the other, and stamp them with swine's grease therewith, and make a plaster thereof, and make it a little hot, and lay it upon the hound's yerde and along his belly, and that which is hard to understand ye shall find at the apothecary's, the which know well all these things. Also to the hounds cometh sores, that cometh to them under the throat or in other parts of the body. Then take ye of the mallows and of the onions and of white lilies,137 and cut them small with a knife, and put them in a ladle of iron and mingle these herbs whereof I speak, and lay them upon the sores, and that shall make them rise, and when they be risen, slit them with a sharp knife. And when they be so broken, lay upon them some good drawing salve, and he be whole. Sometimes the hounds fight and bite each other, and then they shall take sheep's wool unwashed, and a little olive oil, and wet the wool in the oil, and lay it upon the hound's wound, and bind it thereupon, and do so three days, and then after twice each day anoint it with olive oil, and lay nothing upon it. And he shall lick it with his tongue and heal himself.138 If peradventure in the wound come worms as I have seen some time, every day ye shall pick them out with a stick, and ye shall put in the wound the juice of leaves of a peach tree mingled with quicklime until the time that they be whole. Also it happeneth to many hounds that they smite the forelegs against the hinder wherefore their thighs dry139 and be lost thereby, and then if ye see that it last them longer than three days that they set not their foot to the earth, then slit ye the thigh along and athwart within the thigh, crosswise upon the bone, that is upon the turn bone of the knee behind, and then put thereupon wool wet in olive oil as before is said, for three whole days. And then after anoint the wound with oil without binding as I have said, and he shall heal himself with his tongue. Sometimes a hound is evil astyfled,140 so that he shall sometime abide half a year or more ere he be well, and if he be not so tended he will never recover. Then it needeth that ye let him long sojourn until the time that he be whole, until he is no longer halting, that is that one thigh be no greater than the other. And if he may not be all whole, do to him as men do to a horse that is spauled in the shoulder in front, draw throughout a cord of horsehair141 and he shall be whole. Sometimes an evil befalls in the ballock purse,142 sometimes from too long hunting or from long journeys, or from rupture,143 or sometimes when bitches be jolly, and they may not come to them at their ease as they would, and that the humours runneth into the ballocks, and sometimes when they be smitten upon in hunting or in other places. To this sickness and to all others in that manner, the best help is for to make a purse of cloth three or four times double, and take linseed and put it within, and put it in a pot, and let it mingle with wien, and let them well boil together, and mix it always with a stick, and when it is well boiled put it within the purse that I spoke of, as hot as the hound may suffer it, and put his ballocks in that purse, and bind it with a band betwixt the thighs above the back, make well fast the ballocks upwards, and leave a hole in the cloth for to put out the tail and his anus, and another hole before for the yerde so that he may scombre and piss and renew that thing once or twice until the time that he be whole. Also it is a well good thing for a man or for a horse that hath this sickness.144