THE ROYAL HOUNDS., 231 



to a lady — to administer the coup de-grdce, a practice 

 which called down a strong denunciation from Mr. 

 Pope. 



The curee, or rewarding of the hounds with the 

 entrails, was also carried out with much ceremony 

 and blowing of horns, the hounds being kept back 

 till all was ready, and the skin and head spread 

 over the hounds' portion, when at a given signal the 

 skin was whipped off, and the hounds allowed to fall 

 to amid loud cries of " Devour." 



Hound language appears to have been, at least in 

 early times, very simple and much akin to that of 

 the present day. We find the harbourer cheering 

 his limehound with " Ho moy, ho moy, ho moy, 

 hola ! hola ! " We find the huntsman encouraging 

 his hounds with " Cy va, ^y va, Beaumont" or 

 "Loyer." 



These cries seem from Shakespeare to have been 

 simply rendered in English. We find in The 

 Tempest .- — 



Stage Direction : 



A noise of hunters heard. Enter divers spirits in shape of dogs 

 and hounds and hunt them about. Prospero and Ariel setting 

 them on. 



I 



Prospero. Hey, Mountain, hey ! 



Ariel. Silver 1 there it goes, Silver ! 



Prospero. Fury, Fury ! There, Tyrant, there ! Hark ! 



A good deal seems to have been left to individual 

 taste in the matter of hound language, but we are 

 told " A huntsman should speak to his hounds in 



