42 RECORDS OF THE CHASE 



companion and protector ? Nevertheless, it is authenti- 

 cated that the dog and wolf will breed together, and 

 the same intercourse has been known between the dog 

 and the fox, but it is very rare ; and as no beneficial 

 purpose can result from such a cross beyond that of 

 curiosity, it is an experiment which very few persons 

 think fit to trouble themselves about. It is, however, 

 scarcely necessary to dwell upon such remote subjects, 

 inasmuch as we cannot come to any positive conclusions. 

 From whatever source they may have sprung, the dogs 

 of Great Britain have been celebrated from a very early 

 period. Grotius, Appianus, and Nemesianus — ancient 

 authors who have treated on the chase — mention the 

 excellence of British dogs for hunting ; yet there is much 

 obscurity as to the kind of dogsi they referred to. 

 They are described as being crooked, lean, coarse- 

 haired and heavy-eyed. It has been asserted by Dr. 

 Johnson in his Life of Sir Thomas Browne, that the 

 dogs used by the ancients did not hunt by scent ; but in 

 this the learned author may have been mistaken. 

 When pursuing their game in the woodlands, thickets, 

 and rough grounds which prevailed, it is assuming 

 too much to suppose they could have hunted exclusively 

 by view. It appears very certain they had dogs which 

 followed both by scent and by view; and thus, by 

 combining their individual powers, were enabled to 

 subdue their game. Hunting was not confined to the 

 plain open country, and we learn from ancient writers 

 that the chase was frequently very long. The ancients 

 might have had dogs similar to our greyhounds, which 

 followed their game by sight, and there is no doubt they 

 had ; but they could only be used in open districts, and 

 that is no argument that they did not also possess 

 animals which followed by scent, although they might 

 not be so well disciplined, nor perhaps able to hunt so 

 cold a scent as the houndg of later date. It is a faculty 

 inherent in some kinds of dogs, and is no doubt im- 

 proved by being called into action. The extracts 

 which I have given from the old work of Edmund of 



