menu_book Chapter 2

Part one of introduction of a treaty of modern falconry by James Campbell this LibriVox recording is in the public domain Introduction hunting fishing and hawking are diversions which join profit to amusement on the former account They were anciently the serious business of all ranks and on the latter are now followed by the great and opulent Mankind were unacquainted in the more early period of society with the earliest arts of living Which accent or ingenuity has since brought to light the spontaneous fruits of the earth afforded them

But a lean and scanty subsistence they were therefore obliged to prey on wild inhabitants of the forest the flood in the air These animals were many of them superior to mankind in strength all of them in agility Some men could not master them by their bodily powers in order then to get them into their hands They sought the aids of contrivance and stratagem They observed that the same creatures which they wanted to feed on were food to other creatures

Qualified by nature to see them That's they saw the hair run down by the hound the same and dragged out of the pool by the otter And the partridge born away by the hawk Human invention sharpened by necessity is wonderfully rich in resources Men seeing with what facility these creatures subdued their prey would soon perceive the advantage of being connected with them

Hence they would form the design of taming them to their service as the fields produce more animal food than either the water or the air The dog would be the first Object of their flattering regards those who lived on the banks of the river Would court the otter to their familiarity and they can contribute to their maintenance also these essays would give origin to hunting and fishing Sports which the skill and industry of succeeding ages have carried to their perfection

These sports fall not within my design and therefore I'll leave them with just observing that they were probably known before falconry the reason is obvious the fields and the streams are more acceptable than the height to the air and Dogs and otters are at first much more tractable than hawks Those methods of procuring food which appeared easiest would For that reason be preferred by a starving generation to those that seem next to impossible

It is from the amusements of children. I'm going to deduce the rise of the noble science of falconry They who know the esteem I have for this science Will acquit me of having any design to lessen its dignity by such an origin if people trace back the most useful arts of life They will discover a few of them which we do not owe their existence to chance Whoever has examined the first appearance of the hawk must confess that it does not look as if it were capable of culture

It's eyes sharp and ferocious its motions are quick and impatient and it furiously attacks and ravishly feeds on its prey Men would therefore regard the hawk as irreclaimable and think as little of employing it to procure game for them as of the wolf To provide them in venison what seemed impossible to ripen reflection was shown to be practicable by the diversions of children Everybody knows how remarkably fond they are of young birds and how tenderly they bring them up

they also display much ingenuity in wearing off the natural wildness of the and Inhabituating them to understand their signals and obey their voices Parents observing this innocent propensity of their children would gladly take every opportunity of gratifying it and their way of life would give them many The chase to which they were attached by necessity Would sometimes lead them among the cliffs of high rocks where hawks are want to place their ears

When they lighted on those with Isis the parental affection would prompt them to carry home the young birds to their children They taught themselves by observation that hawks fed on flesh. They would direct their children to bring up the eyes with animal food Young hawks now being continually among the hands and accustomed to the voices of children Would soon forget their natural wildness and Contract an affection for those who bred them

They would fly from their hands so around them in the air and return to them on these occasions It would divert the children exceedingly to observe the consternation into which their birds cast all the winged tribes and With what boldness they pursued and attacked the prey Children are naturally generous and communicative Almost incapable of enjoying pleasure without a crowd

Actuated by this disposition they would invite their parents to partake in a happiness themselves drew from the flights of their hawks Imagine how great must have been the amazing of these simple people when they saw for the first time Birds whichever before they had thought irreclaimable Managed by their children it would look like a prodigy to see them mounting To the skies from the hands which fed them and returning immediately at the sound of the voices which caressed them

Men would still be more stars to observe them So very tame as even to part with her prey to their keepers and fly afterwards in quest of more with their former spirit Astonishment would give way to reflection the more sagacious would perceive that by the hawk They might come in the sky and thence open a new source of provisions The experiment was worth the making and those who first conceived the idea of it with no doubt go directly about it

Exposed them to ridicule and bring this fondness of their understandings in question among that set of mortals Who to the dullness gifted them by nature have made a proper addition of self-conceit The success of the first essays would soon put to silence such as laughter as were not incorrigible and encouraged their perseverance The hawk now shared their affection with the hound and the training of it became a capital object of their attention They studied its temper thought the best ways of preserving itself and

Investigated remedies to cure its diseases They imparted their observations to their children who handed them to theirs augmented by their own and that falconry crew out of experience of Successive generations into the regular system into which we now see it the silence brought within the power of men every bird Productive of food or diversion and the air which had been so long to them a barren desert

Became a front of luxury and recreation Hawking is one of those amusements Which is suitable to the majesty of Kings and to the grandeur of nobility in higher gentry It is easy to account for the air of dignity which now attends it the experience of one age Transmitted to another enlarge and polish the human mind and then took hold of and improved every incident

Which tended to render life more easy and comfortable as they proceeded in the culture of their intellectual powers Arts and trades were invented and these in their turn promoted the advancement of civilization mankind accordingly withdrew some of themselves Gradually from their origin that precarious way of living by hunting and engage in pursuits which At once soften their tempers and procure them a certain livelihood

Hawking and the other sports of the field were indeed productive of much diversion but denial is to defend them from the tax of hunger and Therefore were glad to exchange them for occupations which never put them to fruitless toil Falconry now ceasing to be regarded by the lower ranks of men as necessary for the support of life fell entirely into the hands of persons of birth fortune and leisure

Kings and princes nobles and gentlemen pursued the sport of the sky while their inferiors made carts follow the plow or bred cattle Nothing could be more fortunate to society than this revolution Which were the cause of the gentility and greatness that are now ascribed to hogging it delivered this art of promoting strength and agility by the eluance of pastime from plebeian youth and

Reflected on it the honor and magnificence of the illustrious personages who are devoted to it Monarchs now took the hawk under their protection and Senates enacted laws for the preservation of its life the same hands which swayed the scepters of nations and stretch forth commanding Truncheons of victorious hosts did not disdain the weight of the canine bird

Sage lawgivers viewed it with admiration and thought their wisdom properly employed in Securing it from the folly and violence of men the muse of cheering scoff So what edifices revered from its reception and officers with honorable salaries were appointed to take care of its welfare and Train it up for its functions

Falcons worth the city where it's still triumphs demonstrates the honor wherein it is still held by all the princesses of Europe Who maintain Falconers there to provide the finest birds the manly pleasures which flow from its spirit Rapidly intractable miss made it worthy of and rewarded all the attention of which it was the object When it pursues its prey to the clouds it draws up the eyes of all men after it and Fills their souls with the most agreeable fits of surprise

So squinted is the delight it then bestows that it routs sovereign of the Securious regards of their soothing courtiers and confounds the lords of the earth with the amazing and wonderful crowd Which surrounds them when we compare the state of falconry in our own days with what it was in ancient times

We must acknowledge and limit its sad decay in the world It is not difficult and it may be worthwhile to point out this deplorable revolution of sporting and its causes It was when hounds and hawks were the only means whereby the recreations of the field could be enjoyed with dignity That the reputation of falconry was highest It was then studied and practiced by men of rank and distinction in every country of Europe

Where anything of civilization existed game was to be found everywhere in the greatest plenty Without the interposition of the legislator for its preservation Hawks being adapted to give much sport without much slaughter but firearms were at length invented and this invention introduced as Remarkable in operation in the sporting as it did into the art of war

The sportsman had hitherto drawn his pleasure from observing the various Surprising turns of the chase or fight and when he obtained it He was little mortified that the hair of Woodcock made its escape at last from his hounds or hawk This is the true idea of the pleasure which the sports of the field are qualified to afford But this idea was gradually lost

After guns were made of easy carriage and pointers trained to find out game Sport came now to be confined Entirely to the act of putting the game to death and a man measured the liveliness of his diversion According to the number of animals he had slain But still no birds were yet killed which kept in cover and

Therefore the game continued to be plentiful enough for every kind of sporting this new idea However, a sport made Hawking decline Because a good marksman could produce more of this bloody port of amusement from his guns and from a hawk It also helped very much to bring the ladder into disuse and the former could be kept with less expense and without any trouble So the pointer and the gun were of considerable detriment to Hawking at their first introduction

Yet they did not triumph over this diversion till the dexterity of the French lighted on the knack of shooting on wing and taught it to their neighbors this snack enabled every man To act up to his idea of sporting by the ease and certainty with which it enabled him to kill game And thus it reached the blow to falconry which has proved almost fatal to it A man of sure. I may now kill or wound in a few days all the files of an extensive more and

By this means the gun has not only hurt falconry, but also gone near to exterminate the game altogether Hawking is at present confined to a few noble men and gentlemen who with their spirit of their great ancestors Inherit their masculine taste for the source of the field likewise The almost universal attachment a sportsman to the pointer and gun

shows their degeneracy from the elevated amusements of the Predecessors in a light a light which I never opened my eyes to Without all the anguish of the bitterest regret could a falconer who lived two or three centuries ago That flourishing period of the princely sport First force the chains of death and get for a few days into the world

How it would grieve his manly heart to observe the neglect into which the hawk is fallen He would survey the scenes of his former joys and with such tears as spirits shed Worn long over the melancholy stillness which rain over those hills and dales Which his own voice used to awaken into life and exultation his sorrow would receive new pugnancy When he perceived how scarce his brethren are in society how obsolete their language and how wings are grown

And that a price is set on the head of the hawk as if this generous bird Had been guilty of the most atrocious crimes the manifest inferiority of our age to his in sport Would fill his soul with indignation He would fly from the hated fight to his residence in the other world and carry tidings to the band of departed falconers Which would communicate to them the angry emotions of his own breast these reflections call up before me

the majesty and honor of ancient times when every warlike Baron Prepared his hearty lips for the toils of battle by the heavenly recreation and make me the whale my severe destiny Which has thrown me forward into a generation which it is dangerous to paint in its true colors Every turd in castle rears itself to my fancy Surrounded with Hawks perching on their box in stately order or echoing from its vaults

Responsive to the adjacent rocks and lakes with the cheering voices of their keepers who direct their circling flights Now falconers voice loud full and tremulous ushering into the morn strikes mine air Which from the morn till the shades of evening deepened in tonight? animates the silent loneliness of the forests Veils and mountains the tones of mainly gladness the numerous game yet undiminished by the guns murderous violence

obscures the face of heaven with multitude and offers to the wandering eyes of the spectators all The varieties of sport to be derived from aerial chase and conflict in this glorious period Indolence and disease were not collected at expense from every corner of the world And luxury was a vice which did not vex the holy meekness of our priests nor exacerbate the keen indignation of our satyrs the stimulating seductions of the table

Prolonged not by the feast beyond nature's call Nor did the down and gorgeous furniture of the bed force voluptuous slumbers after the Sun had proclaimed the day the plain and copious meal by hunger seasoned and sleep profoundest death by weariness brought on flushed with ruddy health

the looks of nobles and Gentles gave a spring and firmness to their steps and Swelled their souls with courage and resolution which laughed at danger They saw as they sported when their country's wrongs demanded their sword With keenest and alacrity and polluted to the field of battle while they attended the flights of their hawks These were the times when a man

Inspired with the sublime enthusiasm the falconry would wish to have lived those who are at present addicted to the pointer and gun Are not however altogether inexcusable Though those who first source took the hawk can claim no sort of apology The former are come into the world when fouling is the prevailing diversion and so they along with the fashion Without once considering whether there be any diversion more worthy of their pursuit

To take a sure aim is celebrated as the grand accomplishment of a sportsman And the number of fouls he kills in a day is always rehearsed to his praise accordingly a young gentleman who hears such discourses studies the direction of his eye as soon as he is able to manage a gun and pants for this sort of bloody

Dexterity he is extremely mortified when he returns unsuccessful from the field and received by his acquaintance With sarcasm and laughter But when his hands and I have done their duty He produces the feathered spoils of the air with smiling triumph and is treated with respect by those around him Thus his taste for sporting is so early corrupted that it can hardly ever be reformed afterwards

And he becomes a depraver of others in his turn Might I obtain leave to name epicures and poachers in the same page with sportsmen? I would say the present plane of the recreations of the field seems calculated only for those people The nice epicure who picks felicity from the bones of fat partridges Polts and woodcocks Is deeply interested in the death of these files

Imprompted by his licorice pout to kill as many of them as he can the wandering poacher adopts the same conduct from another motive that of drawing bread and brandy from Sauntering and idleness the voluptuous epicure therefore When the work with poacher are furnished with reasons to justify their love of shooting on wing perfectly suitable to their respective characters

But by no means to that of a genuine sportsman who professes to seek pleasure not death from his amusements There are two consequences of the gun which I would humbly recommend to the notice of gentlemen First this engine sets the vulgar on a level with them in point of the sports of the field And secondly it threatens the utter destruction of the game Here objects are at stake and ready to be annihilated

It is no less important than the rank of our gentry in the very existence of their pastimes This is as true as it is alarming and calls for an immediate remedy First with regard to the elevation of the vulgar to the rank of gentlemen Let the following observation meet with the attention they deserve All men come into the world in nearly the same state of weakness and stupidity

Place an infant prince among the score of infant beggars the former without ornaments and a lot of without rags Where is the man who could separate his highness from the lousy rogues at first sight? It is not the make of the body therefore nor the structure of the mind Which distinguishes the higher from the lower ranks of mankind? Nature is equally beneficial to both gentlemen and peasants in these respects and these are as capable of those of

the polish of education and company What then are the discriminating circumstances between them? Why a line of ancestors? remarkable for public and private virtue opulent possessions originally conferred by the sovereign in

approbation of high merit and the conduct regulated by the laws of bravery generosity politeness and justice These are the foundations of true gentility and always bestow it whatever the man's birth is in whom they center Gentility is displayed to the world sometimes by an easy propriety and sometimes by a dazzling Magnificence of lodging table dress

Retinue and amusement beyond the reach of people on the lower stations of life But the held by them with deference and respect now could all men rise to the splendors of gentility The real gentleman would see his dignity lost in the crowd and himself without notice Unless his superior talents and virtues could command it whatever diversion therefore he pursues In which the vulgar can share with him independently of his permission diminishes from the submissive

regards they owe to his character in situation in life Accordingly it is observable that a man of rank is treated with the freedom that approaches to familiarity in the field By the same persons who appear before With the most bashful awkwardness in his drawing room this difference of behavior in different places is easily explained The gentleman is seen in the field with his dog in a gun and equipage in which they often see themselves and

Which on that account seems to shorten the distance between him and them? But the splendor of a drawing room and the elegance of his own dress race him in their eyes to his natural elevation And so they come timid and a bash into his presence Thus the gun can tell all ranks and conditions of men in as far as diversion For any difference among them and those in the inferior stations of life

The sport with it are more numerous than those in the higher the meanest it derives from the former Quite I take the honor it might pretend to from the latter all All the common people are smit with the love of burning powder and scattering lead they roam over our hills and plains Treading in paths which anciently were to elves and heroes only known they make the welkin ring and ignoble noise burst from rusty firelocks vile

every bowing shopkeeper and pale-faced mechanic get short coats old muskets and reprobate setters and steal away once or twice a week and Masquerade from their lawful business to make war on those beasts of the field and the fouls of the air The more herbs also look after their cattle in the same

accoutrements and the farmer stimulated by the recital of their exploits deserts his plow and strides over the heath and quest of adventures Hence it happens that a well-bred man when he fancies he decries a noble lord He wants to salute in his attendance at a distance It's surprised to fall in at last with the moving group of Taylor's barbers and shoemakers

Clumsily travestied into a ridiculous simile dude of men of vivacity fire and blood by a mistake of the same kind when he imagined he sees one of his neighbors of the summit of a remote hill whom he Wishes to join he is sadly disappointed on coming up to discover a weather-beaten thick-boned mutton Fifted clown with a musket japan over with foot lay across his stooping shoulders Since therefore the diversions of gentlemen are descended to the holder

Instead of marking gentility they degraded and exposed it to some ridicule by some whimsical Re-encounters as I just now mentioned it is my way when I want to know the knife point of propriety in any case To look into the conduct of the ladies In which I seldom miss finding something which directs me to it and I cheerfully embrace this opportunity Mentioning to the glory of the sex that where decency and delicacy and dignity of sentiment and

Behavior in question they never failed to decide with the most beautiful precision on the right side the rapid succession of their fashions and dress Demonstrates how tenacious the ladies are of the characteristics of their rank Which are an hourly danger of being vulgarified by the too quick imitation of servile and mean females Whenever this happens they study a new dress and whereby cut off all comparison between themselves

And shave remains and send to which now proud of inventions which their superiors have abandoned This behavior of the ladies is truly noble and spirited and the application of it To the present case is so obvious that I need not enlarge on it as they leave off the use of any fashion Which the vanity of the lower part of the sex? Gentlemen will see that they ought to abstain from a diversion which has acquired an air of meanness

From having fallen among the dregs of people Falconry is ready to afford them in entertainment infinitely above what the pointer and gun can dispel an Entertainment becoming a gentleman inaccessible to the populace a productive of the highest luxury of sporting nor can gentlemen insinuate themselves so

Greedily any other way as by falconry into the good graces of the ladies Who are all fond of this ancient noble and delightful recreation it is my felicity to be known to several women whose distinguished virtues are honorable to their sex and Ornamental to the rank who favor the hogs with their presence and regard their flights With the sprite leader that who favor the hogs with their presence and regard their flights with the sprightliest

admiration from then this Lord's of sky Receive a delicate polish and the most joyous by that the hearty nimble sonorous Falconer feels to sport most exhilarating and delightful when refined gallantry props his endeavors To please female youth beauty and innocence the animated spring of his limbs

And the lively current of his blood despite the chilling flood the steep mountain the craggy rock the trembling bog The prickly thicket when his heart beats eager to show the charmers the wonders of his art Thus the ladies wherever they appear Inspire an ambition for excellence in their approving smiles which reward every effort the men can make to entertain them Second consequence of the gun which I mentioned is the destruction of the game

Not indeed by John and who have a legal title to the sports of the field But by those who confer on themselves the honor of that appellation and by their inferior posters The illicit use of the gun is that present risen to such a daring pitch that unless the laws widely provided against it Be put in execution without mercy there shall not In a few years be found a pole or partridge of the whole kingdom to draw a trigger of flyhawk at

But neither this nor the confusion of ranks are the only bad consequences though to be sure very deplorable Which are to be apprehended from the prevailing passion of all men for the gun I look forward with fear in English to another consequence Before which these must lose all of their importance I mean the ruin of our happy Constitution above church and state which have an avert

shooting on wing trains up an incredible number of stout fellows to the knowledge of firearms and To the love of vitalness and low debauchery from these arises in peaceable times a constant succession of smugglers and robbers to supply the places of those delinquents who are prematurely cut off by Their moderate use of brandy or the gallows should it be the affliction of a distant posterity to be visited with the Civil War

These rogues would not find it very difficult to advance to the top of the vocations and commence upon plunders of professed cut-thrins These are not to be compared to the fair and honest soldier who meets you on equal terms Who while he seeks your life for the sake of public safety and justice Bravely ventures his own to your indignation They on the contrary will attack your property in a defenseless hour of sleep

Or shoot you from behind a bush while you are enjoying the sweet serenity of a summer's morning in your nightgown slippers And part one of introduction this LibriVox recording is in the public domain you