"I, John Harris, of Willdon, in the parish of Hastlebury, in the
county of Worcester, yeoman, for and in consideration of ten shillings
of lawful English money this day received of Henry Herbert of
Ribbesford, in the said county, Esqr., and of thirty shillings more of
like money by him promised to be hereafter pay'd me, do hereby
covenant and promise to and with the said Henry Herbert, his exôrs and
admôrs, that I will, from the day of the date hereof, untill the first
day of March next, well and sufficiently mayntayne and keepe a Spanile
Bitch named Quand, this day delivered into my custody by the said
Henry Herbert, and will, before the first day of March next, fully and
effectually traine up and teach the said Bitch to sitt Partridges,
Pheasants, and other game, as well and exactly as the best sitting
Doggers usually sett the same. And the said bitch, so trayned and
taught, shall and will delivere to the said Henry Herbert, or whom he
shall appoint to receive her, att his house in Ribbesford aforesaid,
on the first day of March next. And if at anytime after the said Bitch
shall, for want of use or practice, or orwise, forgett to sett Game as
aforesaid, I will, at my costes and charges, maynetayne her for a
month, or longer, as often as need shall require, to trayne up and
teach her to sett Game as aforesaid, and shall and will, fully and
effectually, teach her to sett Game as well and exactly as is above
mentyon'd.
Witness my hand and seal the day and year first above written,
John Harris, his X mark.
Sealed and delivered in presence of
H. Payne, his X mark."
L.]
The first person, however, who systematically broke-in setting dogs is
supposed to have been Dudley Duke of Northumberland in 1335.
A singular dog-cause was tried in Westminster, in July, 1822. At a
previous trial it was determined that the mere possession of a dog,
generally used for destroying game, was sufficient proof of its being
actually so used. Mr. Justice Best, however, determined that a man might
be a breeder of such dogs without using them as game-dogs; and Mr.
Justice Bailey thought that if a game-dog was kept in a yard, chained up
by day, and let loose at night, and, being so trained as to guard the
preimises, he was to be considered as a yard-dog, and not as a game-dog.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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