" HOMMAGE AU ROI." 73 



the Irish greyhound, says : " From the mention of the 

 Irish wolf-dogs in the old Irish poems and stories, and 

 also from what I have heard from a very old man, long 

 since dead, of his having seen them at ' The Neale,' in 

 the county of Mayo, the seat of Sir John Browne, an- 

 cestor to Lord Kilmaine, I have no doubt they were of 

 gigantic size. My departed friend described them as 

 being very gentle, and says that Sir John Browne allowed 

 them to come into his dining-room, where they put their 

 heads over the shoulders of those who sat at the table. 

 They were not smooth-skinned like our greyhounds, but 

 rough and curly-haired. The Irish poets call the wolf- 

 dogs ' Lu,' and the common greyhound ' Geizer,' a 

 marked distinction, the word Lu signifying a champion. 

 Goldsmith asserts that he had seen a dozen of the 

 dogs, and informs us that ' tlie largest was about four 

 feet high and as tall as a calf of a year old.' They 

 were generally of a white or cinnamon colour, and more 

 robust than the greyhound : their aspect mild, and their 

 disposition gentle and jDeaceable." It is said that their 

 strength is so great that in combat the mastiff or bull- 

 dog is far from ec[ual to them. They commonly seize 

 their antagonists by the back, and shake them to death. 

 These dogs were never serviceable for hunting either the 

 stag, the fox, or the hare. 



Their chief utility was in hunting wolves, and to this 

 breed may be attributed the final extirpation of these 

 ferocious animals in England and Wales in the woody 

 districts. The Irish wolf-dogs were formerly placed as 

 the supporters of the arms of the ancient monarchs of 

 Ireland. They were collared with the motto, 



" Gentle when stroked, 

 Fierce -when provoked." 



YOL. II. G 



