NATURAL HISTORY. 53 



passage : " Man," said he, " is the god of the dog ; he knows 

 no other ; he can understand no other. And see how he 

 worships him ! with what reverence he crouches at his feet ! 

 with what love he fawns upon him ! with what dependence 

 he looks up to him ! and with what cheerful alacrity he 

 obeys him ! His whole soul is wrapt up in his god ! all the 



THE SHEPHERD'S DOG. 



powers and faculties of his nature are devoted to his service ! 

 and these powers and faculties are ennobled by the intercourse. 

 Divines tell us that it ought just to be so with the Christian ; 

 but the dog puts the Christian to shame." 



The GREYHOUND is the swiftest of all the dogs, and is prin- 

 cipally used in the pursuit of the hare, which amusement is 

 termed coursing. It has but little delicacy of scent, and hunts 

 almost entirely by sight. The hare endeavours to baffle it by 

 making sharp turns, which the dog cannot do on account of its 

 superior size, and has therefore to take a circuit, during which 

 the hare makes off in another direction. At Ashborne, in 

 Derbyshire, there is a public-house sign representing a black 

 and white greyhound chasing a hare. One greyhound was a 

 little in advance of the other, and struck the game so forcibly 

 with its nose that the hare was thrown over its back into the 

 jaws of the other greyhound. This animal has been known to 



