178 The hooke of Hunting 



What meaneft thou man, me fo for to purfew ? 

 For firll my fkinne is fcarcdy worth a placke, 

 JVIy fleflie is drie, and harde for to endew. 

 My greace (God knoweth) not great vpon my backe, 

 My felfe, and all, that is within me founde. 

 Is neyther, good, great, ritche, fatte, fweete, nor founde. 



So that thou flieweft thy vauntcs to be but vayne, 

 That bragft of witte, aboue all other beafts, 

 And yet by me, thou neyther getteft gayne 

 Nor iindell foode, to ferue thy gluttons feafts : 

 Some fporte perhaps : yet Greuous is the glee 

 Wkkh e7tdes in Bloud^ that lefTon learne of me. 



Oi the nature and propertie of the 

 Conie. Chap. 61 



THe Conie is a common beaft and well knowen vnto all men. 

 The Conie beareth hyr Rabettes .xxx. dayes, and then kindc- 

 leth, and then flie muft be bucked againe, for els (lie will eate vp 

 hir Rabets. She wil haue fiue, fixe, and feuen at a litter. He that 

 would haue a warrayne well repleniflied with Conies, flioulde 

 hunt them and beate them in twice or thrice in a weeke with fome 

 Spanell or curre for the purpofe : for otherwife they will ftray and 

 feede out into the woodes and corneficldcs neare adioyning, and 

 you fliall neuer make them come in to their burrowes or clappers 

 againe. Some hold opinion that they will follow a Hare to knot 

 andengendrewith hir : but for the reafon before alledged, beate them 

 in twice or thrice in a weeke. When a Bucke Conie will go to 

 the Doe, he will beate vpon the ground with his forefoote mar- 

 uelously, and by that meanes he heateth himfelfe : when he hath 

 buckt, then falleth he backwards and lieth in a traunce as he were 

 half dead : and then may a man eafily take him. The fltflie of a 

 Conie is much better than the flcflie of an Hare, for the Hares 

 flefh is much drier and more melancholike : fo is the fkinne of a 

 Conie (if it be blackc) a very good furre, where as the Hares f kin 

 is little or nothing worth. How 



