314 



ANIMALS OF 



neither good for hunting the hare, the fox, nor 

 the stag, and equally unserviceable as a house 

 dog. Nevertheless he is extremely beautiful 

 and majestic to appearance, being the great- 

 est of the dog kind to be seen in the world. 

 The largest of those I have seen, and I have 

 seen above a dozen, was about four feet high, 

 or as tall as a calf of a year old. He was 

 made extremely like a gray-hound, but rather 

 more robust, and inclining to the figure of the 

 French matin, or the great Dane. His eye 

 was mild, his colour white, and his nature 

 seemed heavy and phlegmatic. This I as- 

 cribed to his having been bred up to a size 

 beyond his nature ; for we see in man, and all 

 other animals, that such as are overgrown are 

 neither so vigorous nor alert as those of a 

 more moderate stature. The greatest pains 

 have been taken with these to enlarge the 

 breed, both by food and matching. This end 

 was effectually obtained, indeed, for the size 

 was enormous ; but, as it seemed to me, at 

 the expense of the animal's fierceness, vigi- 

 lance, and sagacity. However, I was inform- 

 ed otherwise ; the gentlemen who bred them 

 assuring me that a mastiff would be nothing 

 when opposed to one of them, who general- 

 ly seized their antagonist by the back: he add- 

 ed, that they would worry the strongest bull- 

 dogs, in a few minutes, to death. But this 

 strength did not appear either in their figure or 

 their inclinations ; they seemed rather more 

 timid than the ordinary race of dogs; and 

 their skin was much thinner, and consequent- 

 ly less fitted for combat. Whether, with these 

 disadvantages they were capable, as I was 

 told, of singly coping with bears, others may 

 determine; however, they have but few op- 

 portunities, in their own country, of exerting 

 their strength, as all wild carnivorous animals 

 there are only of the vermin kind. Mr. Buf- 

 fon seems to be of opinion that these are the 

 true Molossian dogs of the ancients ; he gives 

 no reason for this opinion ; and I am apt to 

 think it ill-grounded. Not to trouble the rea- 

 der with a tedious critical disquisition, which 

 I have all along avoided, it will be sufficient 

 to oberve, that Nemesianus, in giving direc- 

 tions for the choice of a bitch, advises to have 

 one of Spartan or Molossian breed; and, 

 among several other perfections, he says that 

 the ears should be dependent, and fluctuate 



as she runs." This, however, is by no means 

 the case with the Irish wolf-dog, whose ears 

 resemble those of the gray-hound, and are 

 far from fluctuating with the animal's motions. 

 But of whatever kinds these dogs may be, 

 whether known among the ancients, or whe- 

 ther produced by a later mixture, they are 

 now almost quite worn away, and are very 

 rarely to be met with even in Ireland. If car- 

 ried to other countries, they soon degenerate ; 

 and even at home, unless great care be taken, 

 they quickly alter. They were once employ- 

 ed in clearing the island of wolves, which in- 

 fested it in great plenty ; but these being de- 

 stroyed, the dogs also are wearing away, as 

 if nature meant to blot out the species, when 

 they had no longer any services to perform. 



" In this manner several kinds of animals 

 fade from the face of nature, that were once 

 well known, but are now seen no longer. The 

 enormous elk of the same kingdom, that, by 

 its horns, could not have been less than ele- 

 ven feet high, the wolf, and even the wolf-dog, 

 are extinct, or only continued in such a man- 

 ner as to prove their former plenty and exist- 

 ence. From hence it is probable, that many 

 of the nobler kinds of dogs, of which the an- 

 cients have given us such beautiful descripti- 

 ons, are now utterly unknown ; since among 

 the whole breed we have not one that will 

 venture to engage the lion or the tiger in sin- 

 gle combat. The English bull-dog is perhaps 

 the bravest of the kind ; but what art; his 

 most boasted exploits to those mentioned of 

 the Epirotic dogs by Pliny, or the Indian dogs 

 by .(Elian. The latter gives us a description 

 of a combat between a dog and a lion, which 

 I will take leave to translate. 



"When Alexander was pursuing his con- 

 quests in India, one of the principal men of 

 that country was desirous of showing him the 

 value of the dogs, which his country produ- 

 ced. Bringing his dog into the king's pre- 

 sence, he ordered a stag to be let loose be- 

 fore him, which the dog despised as an un- 

 worthy enemy, remained quite regardless of 

 the animal, and never once stirred from his 



a Elige tune cursu facilem, facilemque recursu, 

 In Lacedremonio natam seu rure Molosso 

 Renibus ampla satis validis, diductaque coxas 

 Cuique nimis molles fluitent in cursibus aures. 



NKMESIAN. 



