224 APPENDIX 



from Henry IV. In the curious legal Latin of the 

 thirteenth century, we find the word canes heirettes, and 

 heyrettor (Wardrobe Accounts, 34 Ed. I.). 



There are a great number of early records which show 

 us that these hounds were used then for hunting red and 

 fallow deer, sometimes in conjunction with greyhounds 

 and sometimes without their aid. 



Harriers were sometimes taken with buckhounds on 

 hunting expeditions as well as with greyhounds. In 

 some of the documents harriers are simply alluded to as 

 canes currentes. As they were not a distinct breed, but 

 were included under the designation " raches," or running 

 hounds, a separate chapter is not given to them in our 

 text, and neither Twici, nor the Dame of St. Albans 

 mentions these hounds. Gradually we find the spelling, 

 although presenting still countless variations, bringing the 

 a more constantly than the e; the "heirers" become 

 hayrers, hareres, hariers, and after the sixteenth century 

 harriers. It is also probable that the word was originally 

 derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hergian, herian, to harry, 

 to disturb, to worry ; O. Fr. harrier, herrier, herier, to 

 harry ; F. hare and harer, to set a dog on to attack. 

 The harrier, in fact, was a dog to " hare " the game. 

 Although now obsolete, we find this word used late in 

 the seventeenth century. 



" Let the hounds kill the fox themselves and worry and 

 hare him as much as they please " (Cox, " Gent. Rec," 

 p. no). It is also in the sixteenth century that one 

 comes across the first allusions to their use in hunting 

 the hare. 



HART. It is not necessary to dwell here at length 

 upon the great esteem in which the hart was held by all 

 devotees to sport in Europe during the Middle Ages. It 

 was royal game, and belonged to the Prince or ruler of 

 the country, and the chase was their prerogative. Few 

 unconnected with the court were ever able to enjoy the 

 chase of the stag unless in attendance on or by special 



