104 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



spit of the continent, noticed even by Greek writers. 

 This may be an indigenous species ; because Oppian, 

 under the name of Agasseus, clearly describes the 

 Scottish, or rough-haired breed. And his denomi- 

 nation seems to be derived from the Celtic Aghast, 

 or Agass, a word used to designate simply a dog ; 

 therefore, emphatically, the dog of the country. 

 Caius, however, employed the name Agasaeus for 

 the gazehound; which may be our present grey- 

 hound, hunting entirely by the eye. The fifth, is 

 the southern, also Lancashire, or Manchester hound ; 

 but that species is of the same original stock with 

 the beagle, which Pennant is inclined to consider 

 as the Agasseus; and we may believe, if it was 

 known in Britain at a remote period, bore the Celtic 

 name of Brach, probably derived from Brae, a spot ; 

 in the Teutonic dialects, Brack, hiatus^ interruptio, 

 macula. 



It is, however, obvious, that all breeds of hounds 

 with round and long drooping ears are originally 

 descended from one race, if not from a distinct spe- 

 cies of dog allied to the Lycaon, and derived from 

 the East. In the researches made, with a view to 

 trace their origin, a great number of antique sculp- 

 tures, statues, bas reliefs, and intaglios, were con- 

 sulted, as well as the illuminated manuscripts in 

 public and private libraries, of a considerable part 

 of Europe ; several collections of ancient seals ; nu- 

 merous drawings of monumental effigies, and of 

 stained glass, and the result proved, that, with the 

 exception of one Egyptian instance, no sculpture of 



