THE GREYHOUND. 



King John was a lover of hunting and of the Grey- 

 hound, and the gallant Gelert, made famous in Spenser's 

 poem, was said to be a gift of this king to his son-in-law 

 Llewellyn. That the story must be admitted to be 

 mythical does not altogether destroy its value. John was 

 at heavy charges in the maintenance of his kennels, 

 including Wolfhounds and Greyhounds, and his son and 

 successor Henry III., who instituted the severest of Forest 

 Laws, kept up the sport of hunting, in which these and 

 other varieties of dogs were used. 



Edmund de Langley, fourth son of Edward III., who 

 was born A.D. 1341, became Master of Hounds and Hawks 

 to Henry IV., and wrote a Treatise called "Mayster of 

 Game," for the pleasure and instruction of Prince Henry 

 afterwards Henry V. in which the Greyhound is 

 minutely described. 



Following shortly after De Langley we have the cele- 

 brated "Booke of St. Alban's,"* by Dame Juliana Berners, 

 or Barnes, published by Winkin de Worde, 1486, in which 

 Greyhounds and hare-hunting, as well as stag-hunting, are 

 referred to and explained. 



In the time of Henry VIII. it was a boast of manhood on 

 the part of the young gallants, among other accomplish- 

 ments 



to nourishe np and fede 



The Greyhounde to the course. 



During this reign we have the first mention of coursing 

 for wagers. Jesse quotes from the accounts of expenditure 



* A fac-simile reprint of the " Booke of St. Alban's," containing the 

 Treatises on Hawking, Hunting, and Heraldry, has been issued by Mr. 

 Elliot Stock, 62, Paternoster Bow, London, B.C. 



