46 BRITISH DOGS 



and usually more." He further describes a Great Dane named 

 Hector, the property of the Duke of Buccleuch, that measured, 

 when eighteen years old, and his legs had given way, 32in. at 

 shoulder, and computed that when in his prime the dog must 

 have measured 32|in. 



Of writers and students of our own time the most consistent 

 and also the most persistent was Mr. Frank Adcock, whose 

 monster specimens Satan and Proserpina were dubbed by the 

 Fancy "the Devil and his Wife." Mr. Adcock thus eulogises the 

 breed : " Enormous in size, sensitive in nose, of great speed, un- 

 yielding in tenacity and courage, and full of intelligence, there 

 is no variety that can so well sustain the part of the dog of the 

 hunter of large game." 



The latter part stands in need of some slight modification ; 

 for however suitable the Great Dane may be for hunting in climates 

 akin to our own, yet in India it has not been found suitable for the 

 plains during the hot season. 



To judge by records of the past, there seems to be no doubt 

 that the Great Dane is as old a pure breed as any that we now 

 possess. From ancient pictures it will be seen that the Great Dane 

 as we know him now existed hundreds of years ago. He is, 

 moreover, one of the few dogs depicted upon coins. One such 

 coin in particular was recently referred to by Herr Gustave Lang 

 as being in the Museum at Munich, and is said to bear the head 

 of a typical modern Great Dane, with square muzzle, cropped ears, 

 and long, clean neck. This coin belongs to the fifth century B.C. 



A few years ago the Badminton Magazine published a series 

 of " Old Sporting Prints," several of which contained excellent 

 likenesses of the modern Great Dane. Take, for example, the 

 November number for 1895 (pp. 511 and 513). This illustrates 

 boarhounds from an etching by Antonio Tempesta, copied by him 

 in 1609 from an old tapestry. Again, in the February number for 

 1896 (p. 264) there is a picture, dated 1640, of five hounds attacking 

 a wild boar. In fact, one black dog in particular almost exactly 

 agrees in conformation with the dogs of our own day. 



The name Boarhound (by which the Great Dane was formerly 

 known) is said to have originated from the German word Bauer 

 (meaning peasant), as at one time the breed was largely in the 

 hands of such people. Far more likely, however, are they to 

 have been called Boarhounds from the fact that they were actually 

 employed in hunting wild boars, as must have been the case, if 

 we may rely upon numerous old sporting pictures and writings. 

 Occasional Great Danes must have been imported into England 

 long before the breed was known in the show-ring. For instance, 

 the writer knows of an oil painting from life that depicts a most 

 typical fawn Great Dane that was imported about 1812, and said to 



