The noble arte of venerie or hunting VVherein is handled and set out the vertues, nature, and properties of fiutene sundrie chaces togither, with the order and maner how to hunte and kill euery one of them. Translated and collected for the pleasure of all noblemen and gentlemen, out of the best approued authors, which haue written any thing concerning the same: and reduced into such order and proper termes as are vsed here, in this noble realme of England. The contentes vvhereof shall more playnely appeare in the page next followyng.

At what time of the yeare it is best hunting of the Hare, and how to seeke hir, starte hir, and chace hir. Chap. 61. (Book 61)

THe best season to hunte the Hare with houndes, is to beginne in the middest of September, and to leaue at midde Apryll: and that, bycause of the flowers and vehement heates whiche beginne after Apryll, and take away the sente of the Hare from the houndes. Then in September the Huntesman shall beginne to gyue rewards vnto his Haryers, and to renew their huntyng of that chace. For (as I haue sayde) at that tyme, Hares be yong and feeble, and as the season passeth, so theyr force encreaseth: euen so your houndes the more that they hunte, and the more quareys that they haue, the better, stronger, and perfecter they become. And agayne when the winter appro∣cheth, the moystnesse and coolenesse of the earth encreaseth, the which houndes do delight in rather than in great heate. When your houndes are twoo yeares olde and vpwardes, you may hunte with them thryse in a weeke, and they will be the better. When a Lorde or Gentleman will go on huntyng, the huntes∣man muste regarde the tyme and place where he shall be, to the ende he may go seeke the Hare where moste lykely huntyng is: as in the Pastures, Meades, or Greene fieldes, and suche lyke: and there he shall vncouple his houndes: and if there be any hounde whiche light vppon the trayle of an Hare, where shee hath relieued that night, lette the Huntesman staye and be not ouer hastie, vntill the houndes make it out of themselues, and when he perceyueth that they beginne to drawe in together and

to call on freshly, then lette him comforte them with woordes, and name that hounde whiche hunteth beste, as to say: Hyke a Fyndall, Hyke, &c. It is moste certayne that houndes will haue better sente of an Hare when shee goeth towardes the reliefe, than when shee goeth towardes hyr Forme, yea although shee go sooner to the one than to that other: and the reason is, that when a Hare is in the fielde and relieueth, shee coucheth lowe vppon the grounde with hyr bodie, and passeth oftentymes o∣uer one plotte of grounde to seeke good feede, whereby shee lea∣ueth grea•…•… Sente of hyr vppon the grasse or blades, and cro∣•…•…yeth also sometimes: and therefore the houndes haue greater sente of hir, than they haue when she goeth out of the field (or out of the corne or high grasse at least) to go to hir Forme: For whē she goeth to hir Forme, she doth cōmonly beate the high wayes (as beforesaid) doubling, crossing, & leaping, as lightly as she cā. Therfore when a huntsmā seeth his hounds crosse where a Hare hath relieued, & that they begin also to make it on vnto hir going out towardes hir Forme, let him suffer his houndes to hunt fayre and softly, and hasten them not ouermuch for ouershooting of it: and if his houndes fall at default, then is it a token that the Hare hath made some double or some crosse, or that she hath gone and come backe agayne by one selfe same way: then shall he crie, Haw agayne, agayne here, Haw, and shall not styrre any furder forwardes, for if he come too neare the houndes, it woulde rather make them to ouershoote it: but let him so stay them and make them beate for it, comforting and chearyng them with wordes and with his voyce, and beholding how they hunte & beate for it. But if they cannot make it out vpon the high ways, then let him cast rounde about in the freshest and greenest places, and such as are most commodious for the houndes to take sente vpon, for by that meanes at last he shall make it ou•…•… whiche way the Hare is gone into some gro•…•…e or sp•…•…yng: and then his houndes may al∣so beate the groues, and he himself must likewise beate the tuffts and bushes with his hunting sticke, to helpe the houndes to starte hyr. And if he chaunce to finde an olde Forme, he muste take some rewarde out of his wallet and caste it in the sayde olde

forme, and call in the houndes into it, crying: Here, Haw, her•…•… she sat, here she sat, To hyr agayne. The Huntesman shall do well also to haue a peece of the fatte of Bacon or such like thing in his wallet, wherewith he may anoynt the end of his hunting staffe, and then when soeuer he woulde poynt his houndes to a Muse, or to any place, he shall neede to do nomore but stryke on the grounde with the ende of his staffe, and his houndes will go through the muse, or come into any place where he shall poynt them, and hunt it much the better. But if the huntesman when he hath cast aboute, do not finde that the Hare is gone out be∣yonde the compasse that he casteth, then lette him call backe hi•…•… houndes to the place where they first came at default, and let him consider which way it seemeth that the Hare bent hyr head when she came into that way or place, and if she helde on head, then let him beate with his houndes still onwardes on bothe sides of the way: for oftentimes the Hare followeth the high wayes ve∣ry farre, to double, crosse and vse pollicies, and will neuer steppe from the way in a myle together. And in such places the houndes can haue no sent, by reason of the duste and other suche things as I haue before alledged, and yet they will squatte vpon the out∣sides of the wayes or very neare to them: and therefore let the huntesman beate the sides of the high wayes well. But if al these pollicies cannot helpe the houndes to make it out, then may the Huntesman well iudge that the Hare hath turned backewardes vpon the houndes: and then let him take his compasse greater and beate backe with his houndes, and it shall hardly be possible but at the last he must make it out. And yet some Hares there be that will sit vntili you treade vpon them before they will ryse, and some wilbe taken in the Forme. Now although I haue so much spoken in prayse of trayling of an Hare from the relief to the Forme, yet me thinks it is more payne than needeth, and lesse pleasure than might be desired: bycause the houndes while they trayle, do call on but coldly one after another: and that it should be much shorter and better pastime to seeke and finde hyr as fol∣loweth.

When three good huntesmen are met, and perceyue that theyr

hounds do find where an Hare hath releued in some fayre corne∣fielde or pasture. Then must they consider the season of the yeare and what weather it is: for if it be in the Springtime or in the Sommer, then a Hare will not sit in the bushes, bycause these Pissemyers, Tikes, and sometimes Snakes and Adders will driue them out: then they are costreyned to sit in the cornesieldes, or fallow fieldes and open places. In winter they loue to sit neare the townes sides in some tuffte of brambles or thornes: especially when the winde is eyther Southerly or Northerly, for they feare both those windes also exceedingly. Then accor∣ding to the season and place where the Hare shall wont to sitte, they shall beate with their houndes to starte hir at the first: and vsing that meanes, they shall sinde more Hares, and haue shor∣ter sporte than in trayling after them as before sayde: and they may so enter their hounds accustome & them, that assoone as they beginne to beate the busshes with theyr hunting stickes, the houndes will in and striue who may first gette in, like Spani∣els at retrife of a Partriche. And when the Hare is starte and on foote, then let the huntesman go where he sawe hyr passe, and hallowe in all the houndes vntill they haue al vndertaken it, and go on with it in full crie: Then let him rechate to them with his horne, and comforte them euery way that he can best deui•…•…e: and when he perceyueth that they are in full crie, let him follow fayre and easily, not making ouer much haste at firste, nor ma∣king to much noyse eyther with horne or voyce: for at the firste the hoūdes will easily ouershoote a chase through too much heate: and therfore if the huntesman ouerlay them, he should but chaffe them more, whieh might cause them both to ouershoote it and to leese it. But when they haue run the space of an houre, and that they are well in with it, and sticke well vppon it, then may the huntesman come in nearer to his houndes, bicause by that time their heate will be wel cooled and they wil hunte soberly. Aboue all things let him marke the first doublyng that the Hare ma∣keth as I haue before sayde, and thereby he may gouerne himself all the day: for all the rest that she will make will be lyke vnto it: and according to the pollicies that he shall see hir vse, and the

place where he hunteth, he muste make his compasses greate or little, long or shorte, to helpe the defaults, alwayes seeking the moystest and moste commodious places for the houndes to sente in. There are twoo manner of huntings at the Hare, for some follow and neuer hallowe before an Hare, nor after hyr, nor ne∣uer helpe houndes at defaulte: and me thinkes that this is a no∣ble kynde of huntyng, and doth beste shewe & proue the goodnesse of the houndes: other againe do marke which way an Hare ben∣deth at the first, and coast before hir to meete •…•…yr, and there hallow amayne, and helpe the houndes also at defaults asmuche as they can. When hounds are hunted with in this sorte, they become so light of beliefe that many tymes they leaue the right tracke to go in to the hallowe, and by that meanes the Hares can stande vp but a whyle before them. And surely he that woulde hunte to kill many Hares, shoulde do beste to hunte this kynde of way: but to trie the good hunting of houndes, I do more prayse that other way, whiche hunteth onely vpon the foote and sente: but this latter way is speedie, and beste counteruayleth the sub∣tilties of an Hare. I coulde haue stoode longer in descrybing the meanes how•…•… to breathe and enter haryers. But bycause I haue both spoken sufficiently in the hunting of an Harte, and al∣so in these chapters before, whiche treate of the pollicies and sub∣tilties that Hares vse, whereby a huntesman may finde precepts sufficient to gouerne himselfe, therefore I will nowe say no more of that poynt.