Middle English Literature

Particular searchings after game.
2
grow.
3
Limers were leashed tracking dogs, limerers their handlers.
4
excrements.
5
move.
The Hunt
199

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200
Style and Spectacle
How the hert shuld be mevyd with the lymer and ronne to and slayn wth
strengthe.
. . . [F]or to wit whedir it be the hunted deer or noon, the tokenys ben
rehersid bifore, and he hath be so wel ronne to and enchased and entreved,
6
and so oft relayed and vannlaied to,
7
and that he seeth that bi betyng up the
ryvers or brokes, nor foillyng hem doun, ne goyng soile,
8
nor rusyng to or
fro upon hymself, whiche is to say in his owne fues,
9
ne may not helpe hym,
than turne he his lede and standeth at a bay, and than, as fere as it may
be herd, every man draweth thider, and the knowyng therof is that what
hunter that commeth first and so hunter aftir other, as thei halowe all
togedir and blowen a moot and rechace
10
alle at onys, and that do thei
never but whan he is at a bay, or whan a bay is made for the houndes aftir
he is dede whan that thei shuld be rewardid or enquerreyde.
11
And whan
the hunters that holden relaies ben ther either that thei ben nye the abay,
thei shuld pulle of the couples fro the houndes nekys and late hem draweth
thider, and the hunters breke
12
the abaye as oft as the myght for two
causes, that oon lest the hert houndes if he stonde and rest longe in a place,
another that the relaies that stondeth fer may come with her houndes the
whiles he is alyve and be at his ende, and it is to wete that if eny of the
hunters have be eny tyme, while the deer hath be ronne to, out of heryng
of hounde and horn, he shuld have blowe the forloyne
13
but if he were in a
par[k]e, for ther shuld it never be iblowe. And who so that first herd hym
soo blow shulde blowe agein to hym the perfit
14
if it so be that he were in
the ryghtes and ellis not, for bi that he be brought to redynesse and comfort
that er ne wist where the game ne noon of his felawes were. And it so is that
hym thought that the abay hath lastid long ynowe, than shuld who so were
most maistir ther bidde some of the hunters go spay
15
hym even behynde
the shulder forthward to the hert. But the hunter shuld lat slippe the rope
while he stood on his fete and lat the lymer go to, for bi ryght the lymer ne
6
discovered.
7
Chased by relays of dogs, and dogs held in reserve and released before the other dogs have
passed.
8
Traveling downstream to hide the scent, and wallowing in soil.
9
tracks.
10
A single note, and three short notes followed by a long note.
11
compensated.
12
I.e., break up.
13
A distinct set of notes.
14
A distinct set of notes to signal that the hunter is on the right path of the prey.
15
stab.

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shuld never out of the roope thougthe he shippe
16
fro never so fer. And
whan the deer is boun and lieth on that oon syde, that at herst
17
is tyme for
to blow the deer, for it shuld never be iblowe at the hert huntyng to the
deer be on that on side. And than shuld the hundes ben coupled up and,
fast as a man may, oon if the beerners
18
shuld encore hym, that is to say
turne his hornes to the erthward and the throte upward and slitte the skynn
of the throte alenonlong the neke and kytte labelles
19
on either side of the
skyn, which shuld honge fulle upon the hede, for this longeth to an herte
slayne with strengthe and ellis nought. And than shuld the hunter flene
doun the skynne as fer as he may and than with a trenchour
20
kitte as thik
as he can the flesshe doun to the nek bone and, this doon, every man
stonde abrode
21
and blowe the deth and make a short [a]bay for to reward
the houndes. And every man have a smal rodde in his honde to holde the
houndes that thei shuld the better abay, and every blowe the deeth that
blowe may . . .