Page:The Works of Ben Jonson - Gifford - Volume 6.djvu/265

For by his slot, his entries, and his port,^[1]
His frayings, fewinets, he doth promise sport,
And standing 'fore the dogs; he hears a head
Large and well-beam'd, with all rights summ'd and spread.

 Mar. Let's rouze him quickly, and lay on the hounds.

 John Scathlock is ready with them on the grounds;
So is his brother Scarlet: now they have found
His lair they have him sure within the pound.

 Mar Away then, when my Robin bids a feast,
'Twere sin in Marian to defraud a guest.
[Exeunt Marian and John with the Woodmen.

 Tuck. And I, the chaplain, here am left to be
Steward to-day, and charge you all in fee,
To d'on your liveries, see the bower drest,
And fit the fine devices for the feast:
You, George, must care to make the baldrick trim,
And garland that must crown, or her, or him,
Whose flock this year hath brought the earliest lamb.

 George. Good father Tuck, at your commands I am

hath four croches on his near horn, and five on his far, you must say he beareth ten, or he is a hart of ten, for you must always make the number even."

1. For by his slot, his entries, &c] These are all terms of the chase, and should be explained. The slot is the print of a stag's foot upon the ground; entries are places through which deer have lately passed, by which their size is guessed at; frayings are the pillings of their horns; and a deer is said to fray her head, when she rubs it against a tree to renew it, or to cause the outward coat of her new horns to fall off; the fewmets are the dung of a deer. Whal
   Jonson is indebted here to Gascoigne's "Commendation of the noble Arte of Venerie," in which all these "signs of sport" are elaborately described.