I purchased this book over a year ago and found after the first chapter that it was uninteresting. Finally, I went back to it and am pleased I did.
The following chapters on the beasts and fowl hunted by hound, hawk and other methods are very good reads. At times the olde English which accounts for about one quarter of the book really are difficult as 1400 English is not modern English, but in saying that there is a definite charm to it being included and it is a thankful reality.
John Cummins unlike most modern historians is superb in easily telling a story when he needs to do his vocation and then sits back and allows the original texts to tell the story. Cummins appears in his work to have an existential experience with the world he is speaking, instead as I stated before with most historians these days who write from cramped apartments smelling of book mold.....Mr. Cummins also pleasingly does not include his ego in writing his opinions. In this book, you see the world through the eyes of era 1400 hunters.
I did find one mistake in his writing as to why a hunter of that period would dress as a huge woodcock, in thinking size mattered. In truth, for birds that are preyed upon, like geese, a decoy 6 feet tall actually has more appeal than a regular size decoy, that explanation should have been secured by Mr. Cummins.
The only drawback, beside the first chapter, was he only wrote a few paragraphs about the setters when employed in hawk and other hunting. As one who has a great affection for the Irish Setter, I would have liked a chapter on the intricate training of this breed.
In relating all of that, this book pleased me as it is historical prose. I will look for Mr. Cummins other books on Christopher Columbus and Francis Drake as I am certain after this book, he will not displease me in reciting history through the words of those in which he records.
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