228 APPENDIX 



improvement, as it is stated that for foresters " mené 

 homes and unwexid " are good enough for them. Be- 

 sides the hunter's horn five different kinds of horns are 

 mentioned in our MS. — the bugle, great abbots, ruets, 

 small foresters, and mean horns. The bugle was not 

 the trumpet we now understand by that name, but a 

 simple curved horn, most probably deriving its name 

 from the bugle, as the wild ox was called ; although 

 Dryden says from the German word bugel^ a curve or 

 bend. Ruets may have been the name for a much curved 

 or almost circular horn, from French rouettCy small wheel. 

 The mean horns were probably the medium-sized, shrill- 

 sounding horns made out of wood or bark, known as 

 mênuelsy menuiauxy moiene/y memiiery &c. (Perc. 27,166 

 and 27,140). 



A good length for a horn is mentioned as being " une 

 paume et demie ^^ (Perceval, 31,750). It is uncertain 

 whether this length and that given by the " Master of 

 Game " were measured round the inside of the bend or 

 in a straight line between the two extremities. The 

 famous Borstall horn, also known as Nigel's horn, is 



2 feet 4 inches long on the convex and 23 inches on the 

 concave bend ; the inside measure of the bell end being 



3 inches in diameter. The size of another noted horn, 

 i.e. the Pusey horn, is 2 feet J inch long, the circum- 

 ference at the widest end being 12 inches. The general 

 length of these horns seems to have been somewhere 

 between 18 inches and 2 feet. The above-mentioned 

 specimens were horns of tenure, the first being a hunt- 

 ing-, the second a drinking-horn. The Borstall horn 

 is said to have been given by Edward the Confessor to 

 one Nigel, in reward for his killing an immense wild 

 boar, and by this horn he and his successors for genera- 

 tions held lands of the crown. 



The curved horn remained in fashion in England 

 till about the latter half of the seventeenth century, 

 then a straight one came into use about i ft. 6 in. to 

 2 ft. long, such as we see depicted in Blome. Of this 



