258 APPENDIX 



being translated from G. de F., unfortunately throws no 

 light on the history of the spaniel in England, although 

 we imagine that, had there been no such hounds in our 

 island at the time, the Duke would have made some 

 such remark as he has in other parts of his book of their 

 being a "manner of" hound as "men have beyond the 

 sea, but not as we have here in England.'* 



In his time the spaniel had enjoyed popularity in 

 France for some two centuries, and there was such con- 

 tinual communication between France and England in 

 the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries that it would 

 have been indeed strange if this most useful dog for 

 the then favourite and universal sport of hawking had 

 not been brought to England long before his time. 

 We may conclude that the "gentle hounds for the 

 hawk" of which he speaks in his Prologue were not 

 spaniels. 



SPAY. The usual meaning of this word (castrating 

 females) given in all dictionaries is clearly inapplicable 

 on this occasion (p. 174), where it undoubtedly means 

 killing a stag with a sword, probably derived from the 

 Italian spada. When the velvet was once off the antlers 

 the stag at bay was usually despatched with the bow, for 

 it was then dangerous to approach him close enough to 

 do so with the sword. When achieved by bold hunters, 

 as it occasionally was, it was accounted a feat of skill and 

 courage. 



STABLES. O. F. estahlle^ a garrison, a station. 

 Huntsmen and kennelmen with hounds in leash, whose 

 duty it was to take up a post or stand assigned to them 

 during the chase, were called stables. We have Stabili- 

 tiones venationis that are mentioned in Domesday (i. fol. 

 56b and fol. 252). In Ellis's introduction to Domesday 

 he says : " Stahilitio meant stalling the deer. To drive 

 the Deer and other Game from all quarters to the centre 

 of a gradually contracted circle where they were com- 



