XIV 



INTRODUCTION 



would be lost. For this reason many of the old 

 terms of venery and the construction of sentences 

 have been retained where possible, so that the 

 general reader will be able to appreciate the 

 " feeling " of the old work without being unduly 

 puzzled. In a few cases where, through the 

 omission of words, the sense was left undeter- 

 mined, it has been made clear after carefully 

 consulting other English MSS. and the French 

 parent work. 



It seemed very desirable to elucidate the textual 

 description of hunting by the reproduction of good 

 contemporary illuminations, but unfortunately 

 English art had not at that period reached the 

 high state of perfection which French art had 

 attained. As a matter of fact, only two of the 

 nineteen English MSS. contain these pictorial aids, 

 and they are of very inferior artistic merit. The 

 French MSS. of La Chasse, on the other hand, are 

 in several cases exquisitely illuminated, and MS. 

 f. fr. 6 1 6, which is the copy from which our re- 

 productions — much reduced in size, alas ! — are 

 made, is not only the best of them, but is one of the 

 most precious treasures of the Bibliothèque Nation- 

 ale in Paris. These superb miniatures are unques- 

 tionably some of the finest handiwork of French 

 miniaturists at a period when they occupied the 

 first rank in the world of art. 



The editors have added a short Appendix, eluci- 



