22 THE GREYHOUND. 



THE PROPERTIES OP A GOOD GREHOUNDE. 



A Grehound shold be heeded lyke a snake 



And neckyd lyke a drake, 



Footed lyke a catte, 



Tayllyd lyke a ratte, 



Syded lyke a teme, 



And chynyd lyke a beme. 



The fyrst- yere he must lerne to fede, 



The 'second yere to felde him lede, 



The thyrde yere he is felowe lyke, 



The fourth yere there is none syke, 



The fyfth yeare he is good enough, 



The syxte yere he shall hold the plough, 



The seventh yere he woll avaylle 



Grete bytches for to assay lie, 



The eygthe yere licke ladyll, 



The nynthe yere cartsadyll ; 



And when he is comyn to that yere 



Have him to the tannere, 



For the best Hounde that ever bytche had 



At nynthe yere he is full badde. 



To begin the detailed description with, the head which 

 includes jaws, teeth, eyes, ears, and brain development 

 first the general form must be considered. It must be 

 quite evident that " headed like a snake " cannot mean 

 "like a snake's head/' which is short, flat, and blunt, or 

 truncated. I understand the Abbess to use the snake itself, 

 not its head only, as a simile of the length and thinness 

 of the Greyhound's head. 



Arrian says: "Your Greyhounds should have light and 

 well-articulated heads, whether hooked or flat-nosed is not 

 of much consequence, nor does it greatly matter whether 

 the parts beneath the forehead be protuberant with muscle. 

 They are alone bad which are heavy-headed, having thick 

 nostrils, with a blunt instead of a pointed termination." 

 Edmund de Langley, in his " Mayster of Game," says : 



