12 love's meinie. 



pose, fastest vanishing from field and wood, the 

 buzzard. That name comes from the Latin "buteo," 

 still retained by the ornithologists ; but, in its original 

 form, valueless, to you. But when you get it com- 

 fortably corrupted into Provencal " Busac," {whence 

 gradually the French busard, and our buzzard,) you 

 get from it the delightful compound " busacador," 

 "adorer of buzzards" — meaning, generally, a sporting 

 person ; and then you have Dante's Bertrand de 

 Born, the first troubadour of war, bearing witness to 

 you how the love of mere hunting and falconry 

 w^as already, in his day, degrading the military 

 classes, and, so far from being a necessary adjunct 

 of the noble disposition of lover or soldier, was, even 

 to contempt, showing itself separate from both. 



" Le ric home, cassador, 

 M'enneion, e'l buzacador. 

 Parian de volada, d'austor, 

 Ne jamais d'armas, ni d'amor." 



The rich man, the chaser, 



Tires me to death; and the adorer of buzzards. 



They talk of covey and hawk. 



And never of arms, nor of love. 



"Cassador," of course, afterwards becomes "chas- 

 seur," and " austor " " vautour." But after you have 

 read this, and familiarized your ear with the old 



