Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/154

140 person to another; and that every one present played upon it in turn, singing a song to the music. This may be presumed to have been the case when the professional harper was not present, whose business it was to amuse the company.



The Saxons and other German nations, as well as the Normans, were strongly attached to the sports of the field. At an early period we find that hunting was considered a necessary part of the education of every man of gentle blood. Alfred the Great, before he was twelve years of age, is represented to have "excelled in all the branches of that most noble art, to which he applied with incessant Labour."



We are told also that Edward the Confessor, though unlike his great ancestor in every other respect, took delight to follow a pack of hounds.

The sport of hawking, or the art of training and flying of hawks for the purpose of catching other birds, is of very high antiquity. Cornelius Agrippa, in his treatise, "De Incertitudine Scientiarum," says that Ulysses learnt the art of falconry from the Trojans, and taught it to the Greeks, to console them for their losses in the siege of Troy.



Whatever may be thought of this evidence, there is reason to believe that the art was known to the Thracians, and, probably, also to other nations of antiquity.

Hawking was a recreation in high favour among the nobles of the Middle Ages, and was practised also by the clergy and by ladies. In the Bayeux tapestry Harold is represented with his hounds by his side, and a hawk in his hand, when brought before William of Normandy. Such a mode of travelling was common among the noblemen of this period.



Persons of high rank rarely appeared without their hawks, and sometimes even carried them into battle. These birds were considered as the symbols of nobility, and a man who gave up his hawk was regarded as disgraced and dishonoured. The birds were trained and tended with the greatest care. To prevent them from seeing, their heads were covered with a little cap fastened behind with straps, and adorned with a plume. The falcons of princes and great nobles were known by these plumes being of the feathers of the bird of paradise. Thus armed, the birds were carried to the chase in a cage, and when it rained were covered with an umbrella, similar to that represented above.



When the falcon became accustomed to his master, it was necessary to familiarise him to the noise of dogs and men; and to prevent the risk of his flying away, he was trained by means of the lure, which was an imitation of a bird.

On the lure was placed a small piece of warm flesh of fowl, and the falcon was taught to come and eat at the voice of the falconer. A cord was attached to the bird's leg, and