The Greyhound. 145 



old sporting sovereign King John, receiving, in 

 1203, ' ( two leashes of greyhounds," amongst other 

 valuables, in return for the renewal of a grant to a 

 certain right, and the same monarch repeatedly took 

 greyhounds in lieu of money where fines or penalties 

 had been incurred and forfeitures to the Crown 

 became due. Two of these are on record, one being 

 " five hundred marks, ten horses, and ten leashes of 

 greyhounds ; " the other " one swift running horse 

 and six greyhounds." Thus early, we read of a brace 

 (two) and a leash (three) of greyhounds, when 

 ordinary hounds were known in " couples." It has 

 been said, though there is no proof in support of the 

 assertion, that the " Isle of Dogs," some four miles 

 from the city of London, obtained its name from the 

 fact that certain of our monarchs had kennels of 

 greyhounds and other dogs there. 



In the times of the earlier King Edward, Kent must 

 have had some notoriety for the excellence of its 

 greyhounds, for, according to Blount's " Ancient 

 Tenures," the landowners in the manor of Setene 

 (Sittingbourne) were compelled to lend their grey- 

 hounds, when the King went to Gascony " so long 

 as a pair of shoes of \d. price would last." 



The erudite Froissart tells the following story of 

 Richard II. which, maybe, redounds as little to the 

 credit of the wretched sovereign as to the dog ; for 



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