APPENDIX. 



247 



" Thei that ben siontilo sliiild be nmile and shape as a jirey- 

 hoiintlo evyii of alio thingcs sauf of the hevcd, the whiche shuld be 

 greet and short," &c. " Commonly Alauntz byn stordy of here 

 owyn nature and have not so good witte as many other lioundes 

 have. For if a man prik an hors the Alaunt wil gladly rcnne and 

 bite the hors. Also thei renne at oxen and at sheep at swyne and 

 to alle othere beestis or to men or to othere houndes for men hav 

 seyn Alauntz sle her niaystir, and in alle maner vt^ise Alauntz byn 

 inly fell and evol undirstondyng and more foolish and more sturdy 

 than eny other maner of houndes," &c. 



" That other nature of Alauntz is clepid ventreres, almost thei 

 bene shapon as a greyhounde of ful shap, thei hav grete hedes and 

 greet lippes and greet eeris. And with such men helpeth hem at 

 the baityng of a boole and atte huntynge of a wilde boor. Thei 

 holde fast of here nature but thei byn hevy and foule and ben slayn 

 with wilde boor or with the bulle and it is nat ful grete losse," Sec. 



" The Alauntz of the bocherie is soch as ye may alle day see in 

 good tounes that byn called greet bochers houndis," &c. — " Thei 

 byn good for the baytyng of the bulle and huntyng of the wilde 

 boore whedir it be wt. greihoundis at the tryste or wt. rennyng 

 houndis at abbay with inne the coverte," &c. 



The first and second of the above sub-varieties appear to have had 

 some commixture of Celtic blood in their veins — indeed the name of 

 Ventreres receives a ready solution in the Latin term Ventraha, by 

 which the greyhound is designated, according to Barthius, in an 



iBajistrr of 

 ([Same. 



c. XVI. fol. 67''. 



fol. 68. 



fol. 681". 



Britain ; " As men clepyn greihoundes of England of Scotland and of Bretayn 

 right so the alauntez and the houndes for the hawke cometh out of Spayn." 

 Minsheu deduces Alani " a regione quadani Epyri, quee Albania dicitur, unde primum 

 advecti creduntur hi canes." But they probably were bull-dogs in the common 

 acceptation of the term. 



The reader will remember the Alauntes of Chaucer, on which Dryden has bestowed 

 r^uvenesccnce under the type of greyhounds, attendants of " the surly king of 

 Thrace :" 



Minshaei 



Emendat. 



p. 451. 



Ten brace, and more, of greyhounds, snowy fair, 



And tall as stags, ran loose, and cours'd around his chair; 



A match for pards in flight, in grappling for the bear. 



Palaraon and 

 Arcite. B. J. 



