xxiv FOREWORD TO FIRST EDITION 



battle, of imposing presence and turbulent spirit. 

 Both were the patrons of art and letters, and both 

 were cultivated in the learning of the day. For 

 each of them the chase stood as a hardy and 

 vigorous pastime of the kind which makes a 

 people ' great. The one was Count Gaston de 

 Foix, author of the most famous of mediaeval 

 hunting-books, a mighty lord and mighty hunter, 

 as well as statesman and warrior. The other was 

 Edward, second Duke of York, who at Agincourt 

 ''died victorious." He translated into English 

 a large portion of Gaston de Foix's La Chasse^ 

 adding to it five original chapters. He called his 

 book *' The Master of Game." 



Gaston's book is better known as Gaston 

 Phœbus, the nickname of the author which Frois- 

 sart has handed down. He treats not only 

 of the animals of France, but of the ibex, the 

 chamois, and the reindeer, which he hunted in 

 foreign lands. " The Master of Game " is the 

 oldest book on hunting in the English language. 

 The original chapters are particularly interesting 

 because of the light they throw upon English 

 hunting customs in the time of the Plantagenets. 

 The book has never hitherto been published. 

 Nineteen ancient manuscript copies are known ; 

 of the three best extant two are on the shelves of 

 the Bloomsbury treasure house, the other in the 

 Bodleian Library. Like others of the famous old 



