APPENDIX 249 



the pack and the beast pursued, the relay were the 

 hounds uncoupled after the hounds already hunting had 

 passed by ; the allay is held : 



" Till all the houndes that be behynd be cum therto 

 Than let thyn houndes all to geder goo 

 That is called an allay." 



Instructions concerning when relays should be given 

 always warn the berner not to let slip the couples till 

 some of the surest hounds have passed on the scent, and 

 till he be sure that the stag they are hunting is the right 

 one and not a substitute, i.e. one frightened and put 

 up by the hunted stag. The " Master of Game M is 

 careful also to say : " Take care that thou vauntlay not " 

 (p. 169). 



The discontinuing of relays seemed to have been 

 begun first in Normandy and probably about the same 

 time in England. 



In France the three relays of greyhounds which were 

 used were called Lévriers d'estric — i.e. those which were 

 first let slip ; lévriers de flanc, those that attacked from 

 the side ; and lévriers de tète, those that bar the passage 

 in front of the game or head it, terms that correspond 

 with our vauntlay, allay, and relay. In the " Master of 

 Game's " chapter on the wolf these relays of greyhounds 

 are indicated (p. 59). 



RIOT. The " Master of Game's " statement on p. 

 74 that no other wild beast in England is called ryott save 

 the coney only has called forth many suggestions as to 

 the origin of this name being applied to the rabbit, and the 

 connection between riot, a noise or brawl, and the rabbit. 

 The word riot is represented in M. E. and O. F. by riote y 

 in Prov. riota, Ital. riotta, and in all these languages it had 

 the same signification, i.e. a brawl, a dispute, an uproar, 

 a quarrel (Skeat). 



Diez conjectures the F. riote to stand for rivote, and 

 refers to O.H.G. riben, G. reiben, to grate, to rub (orig. 



