268 



THE NEW BOOK OE THE DOG. 



some sixteen are in existence, is dated, 

 this date can be fairly accurately fixed, as 

 tlie author was appointed Master of Game 

 in tlu' former and killed at Agincourt in 

 the latter year. His chajiter on Spaniels, 

 however, is mainly a translation from the 

 equally celebrated " Lix're de Chasse " of 



THE SLEEPING SPORTSMAN. 



FROM THE Picture bv GABRIEL METZU (l630-67i. 



rhoto^iafh by J. CnhtcU-Smitli, Oxfonl SImt. I 



Gaston Comte de Foix, generally known as 

 Gaston Phrebus, which was written in 

 1387, so that we may safely assume that 

 Spaniels were well kn(jwn, and habitually 

 used as aids to the chase both in France 

 and England, as early as the middle of the 

 fourteenth century. Chaucer, too, who was 

 born in or about 1328, mentions Spaniels 

 in " The Wif of Bathes Prologue," " F(jr as 

 a Spaniel, she wol on him lepe," and of 



the many other old writers who refer to 

 them the most important are Dame Juliana 

 Berners, in the " Book of St. Albans," 

 George Turberville in the " Book of Faul- 

 conrie," Nicholas Cox in the " Gentleman's 

 Recreation," Gervase Markham in " Hun- 

 ger's Pre\-ention," and Arcussia, all before 

 the end of the seven- 

 teenth century. 



In the eighteenth and 

 earl\- jjart of the nine- 

 tei-nth centurv the 

 Spaniel was described 

 by many writers on 

 sporting subjects ; but 

 there is a great simi- 

 larity in most of these 

 accounts, each author 

 apparently having been 

 content to repeat in 

 almost identical lan- 

 guage what had been 

 said ujion the subject 

 by his {predecessors, 

 with(jut imj)orting any 

 originality or opinions 

 of his own. Many of 

 these works, notwith 

 standing this defect, 

 are \'ery interesting to 

 the student of Spaniel 

 lore, and I can recom- 

 mend the perusal of 

 Blaine's "Rural 

 Sports," Taplin's 

 " Sporting Dictionary 

 and Rural Repository," 

 Scott's " Sportsman's 

 Cabinet" and "Sports- 

 man's Repository," 

 and Needham's " Com- 

 plete Sportsman," to all who wish to study 

 the history of the development of the 

 ^•arious modern breeds. The works of the 

 French writers, De Cominck, De Cherville, 

 Blaze, and I\Iegnin, are well worth reading, 

 while of late years the subject has been 

 treated wry fully by such British writers 

 as the late J. H. Walsh (" Stonehenge "), 

 Mr. \'ero Shaw, Mr. Rawdon Lee, and 

 others. 



