Part 35

Connected with the subject of Venation, the following works on Natural History are referred to, descriptive of the external characters and habits of ferine animals, and their quadrupedal pursuers:

Aristotelis Historia de Animalibus à J. C. Scaligero. Tolosæ, +mdcxix.+

Scriptores Rei Rusticæ Veteres Latini. J. M. Gesner. Lipsiæ, +mdcclxxiii.+

ΓΕΩΠΟΝΙΚΑ. Geoponicorum sive De Re Rusticâ Libri +xx.+ Petr. Needham, A.M. Cantabrigiæ, +mdcciv.+

Plutarchi Opera Omnia (De Solertiâ Animalium, &c.) Paris, +mdcxxiv.+

Æliani De Naturâ Animalium Libri +xvii.+ J. G. Schneider. Lipsiæ, +mdcclxxxiv.+

C. Plinii Secundi Historiæ Mundi Libri +xxxvii.+ J. Dalecampii. Lugduni, +mdlxxxvii.+

C. Julii Solini Polyhistor ex edit. C. Salmasii. M. Andr. Goezio. Lipsiæ, +mdcclxxvii.+

Phile De Animalium Proprietate à J. C. de Pauw. Trajecti ad Rhenum, +mdccxxx.+

C. Gesneri Historiæ Animalium Liber primus, de Quadrupedibus Viviparis. Tiguri, +mdlix.+

U. Aldrovandi Opera. Bononiæ, +mdcxxxii.+

S. Bocharti Hierozoicon, seu de Animalibus Sacræ Scripturæ. Londini, +mdclxiii.+

Cynographia Curiosa, &c. à Christ. Franc. Paullini. Norimbergæ, +mdclxxxv.+

Lagographia Curiosa, &c. à Christ. Franc. Paullini. Aug. Vind. +mdcxci.+

Synopsis Methodica Animalium Quadrupedum, &c. Auctore Joanne Raio. S. R. S. Londini, 1693.

ERRATA.

P. 15. l. 8. for general, read genuine. 108. n. 3. l. 2. τάχος. 5. ἔχει. 117. n. 4. for Bruyer, read Bruyerinus. 126. n. 7. l. 2. obtruncant. 145. Quotation from Gratius, v. 299. read leveis. 148. Quotation from Nemesian, v. 162. read complere.

The author craves forgiveness for unnoticed σφάλματα, errors of punctuation, accentuation, &c. whether chargeable on himself or the typothetæ.

FOOTNOTES:

The editors of the Greek libellus confine their remarks almost exclusively to critical annotations on the text. Indeed Holstein’s edition has no notes; Blancard’s, only a few marginal emendations; and Zeune’s and Schneider’s, very few parallel passages. Such classical citations, therefore, as are adduced by the translator, are for the most part of novel application.

The quotations from the Cynegeticus of Xenophon the elder refer to the chase-practices and kennel-discipline of Greece, antecedent to the institution of coursing.

This statement is limited to classical authors alone; the Biblical scholar might possibly arraign its accuracy, if made more general; though it scarce needs qualification to suit the doubtful interpretation of the Hebrew text of Proverbs ch. +xxx.+ ver. 31. No allusion occurring elsewhere in the sacred volume to dogs of the chase, though many to the earlier varieties of Venation with predatory instruments, it is improbable that the words of Agur to his pupils Ithiel and Ucal should refer to the most uncommon of the canine tribe, the canis Leporarius, Gallicus, or Vertragus. The Hebrew expression, however, for “accinctus lumbis,” “girt in the loins,” as explained in the margin of the English version, is understood by Jewish lexicographers to designate the greyhound, and is so rendered in the English text. But with the learned Bochart (Præfat. ad Lectorem—wherein he corrects a few errors of the body of his work, and gives his latest and most mature opinions on certain Scriptural difficulties—a part of his writings apparently overlooked by modern annotators, to the farther propagation of error) I should rather understand the horse to be the animal alluded to—“equum intelligi malim, qui non solùm expeditè, sed et superbè, et cura pompâ quâdam incedit: et lumbos habet cingulâ vel zonâ verè succinctos. Quod an de cane dici possit valdè ambigo.” After all, perhaps, no particular animal may have been intended by the son of Jakeh. The term may have a general reference to any animal of the frame alluded to—“substricta gerens—ilia—”. The chapter containing the passage in question is not found in the Septuagint; indeed the Greek version of the LXX. terminates with the 29th chapter.

In the 27th oration of Themistius, the eclectic philosopher of Paphlagonia, a passage occurs, which, as far as merely mentioning Celtic dogs by name, may be said to prolong the notice to the fourth century. The whole passage, as illustrative of the author’s subject, “non loca attendenda sed homines,” is curious and worthy of citation—ὅστις δὲ ἀγαπᾷ κύνας, τούτῳ προσφιλὲς μὲν κτῆμα, καὶ Κέλται, καὶ Λάκαιναι σκύλακες· δάκνει δὲ αὐτὸν καὶ τὸ Καστορίδων φύλον, καὶ τὸ Ἀρκαδικὸν αὐτὸ, καὶ τὸ Κρητικὸν, αἷς φύσις τῶν θηρίων ἐλέγχειν τὰς εὐνὰς κατὰ τὴν ὁδὸν ἐπισπομέναις. οὐ παρόψεται δὲ οὐδὲ τὰς οἴκοι σκυλακευθείσας, εἰ μήτε κάλλους ἐκείνων μήτε ὠκύτητος λείποιντο. In favour of the greyhound being here cited, it may be remarked that the Bithynian courser calls the Celtic dog μέγα κτῆμα (cap. +xxxii.+) and his shape καλόν τι χρῆμα, and derives his name ἀπὸ τῆς ὠκύτητος, as the characteristic distinction of the race. See some remarks on the “Canes Scotici” of Symmachus hereafter.

The Cynosophium alone, a Greek work “de Curâ Canum,” breaks the silence of many centuries. It is supposed to have been compiled, about the year 1270, by Demetrius of Constantinople, author of the first treatise “de Re Accipitrariâ,” and physician to the Emperor Michael Palæologus. To what is borrowed from the two Xenophons, nothing is added of novelty or interest, save in the department of canine pathology; indeed it is almost entirely confined to kennel-management and therapeutics. No notice is taken of any variety of dog by name. The reader, who may wish to consult its medical nostrums, will find the treatise attached to the “Rei Accipitrariæ Scriptores” of Rigaltius (Lutetiæ +mdcxii.+) and to the “Poetæ Venatici” of Johnson (Londini +mdcxcix.+).

The =Crafte of Hontyng= is supposed to be a version by Gyfford from a more ancient work by Twety or Twici—“Le art de Venerie le quel Maistre Guillaiue Twici Venour le Roy d’Angleterre fist en son temps per aprandre autres.” The greyhound is mentioned fol. 4. =of blowing=. “Whañ a mañ hath set up archerys and greyhoundes, and the beest be founde and passe out the boundys, and myne houndes aftir,” &c.

These instructions were written for Henry Prince of Wales, afterwards Henry V.

The “Morte Arthur” tells us, that “Tristrem laboured ever in hunting and hawking, so that we never read of no gentleman more that so used himself therein,” &c. and in the rich poetry of Spenser, the knight informs Sir Calidore,

my most delight hath always been To hunt the salvage chace, amongst my peers, Of all that rangeth in the forest green, Of which none is to me unknown, that ever yet was seen.