CHAPTER XXII 



HOW A hunter's horn SHOULD BE DRIVEN 



There are divers kinds of horns ^ that is to say bugles^ 

 great Abbot's, hunter s horns, Ruets (trumpets), 

 small Forester s horns and meaner horns of two 

 hinds. That one kind is waxed with green wax 

 and greater of sound, and they be best for good 

 hunters, therefore will I devise how and in what 

 fashion they should be driven. First a good hunter s 

 horn should be driven of two spans in length, and 

 not much more nor much less, and not too crooked 

 neither too straight, but that the flue be three or 

 four fingers upper more than the head, that unlearned ^ 

 hunters call the great end of the horn. And also 

 that it be as great and hollow driven as it can for 

 the length, and that it be shorter on the side of the 

 baldric'^ than at the nether end. And that the 

 head be as wide as it can be, and alwavs driven 

 smaller and smaller to the flue, and that it be well 

 waxed thicker or thinner according as the hunter 

 thinks that it uill sound best. And that it be the 



^ Shirley MS.: "Icwed," i.e. lacwcd or unlearned (Strat- 

 mann). 



^ Baldric, the belt on which the horn was carried. 



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