HISTORICAL NOTES 19 



of the old names have been dropped. Of Shake- 

 speare's ''Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim, 

 hound or spaniel, brach or Ijnn" how many sur- 

 vive as they were to-day? The brach was the old 

 name for the coursing hound, the IjTn for the 

 tracker. ''Spaniel" meant three types of dogs, 

 represented to-day by the springer, setter and 

 water spaniel. The spaniel, undoubtedly brought 

 from Asia to Spain by the Saracens, was first 

 mentioned in books by Gaston de Foix, a French 

 count who was a master huntsman with his county 

 adjoining the Spanish frontier. His book, "Livre 

 de Chasse," written in 1387, mentions the spaniel 

 as the "hound for the hawk," describing a dog 

 very like the modern field spaniel, the same as 

 the ancient springer whose duty was to spring 

 the game for the hawk. Once a-wing, the hawk 

 would bring him down. Quoting Gaston de 

 Foix: — "It is a good thing for a man that hath 

 a noble goshawk or a tiercel to have such hounds. 

 Also when they are taught to be cheins couchant (I 

 give the exact French so you can get the signifi- 

 cance of it) they are good to take partridges and 

 quail with the net. And also they are good when 

 they are taught to swim for fowls when 

 they have dived. ..." Here, before 1387, we 

 have the beginnings of all three modern dogs, the 



