220 



APPEN DIX. 



Spelnianni 

 Glossar. p. 113. 



devoted their attention to the Cynegetica of Greece and Rome, is 

 that the last mentioned originally came from Gaul, the sagacious 

 from Greece, and the bellicose from Asia. War-dogs of pure blood 

 are nearly extinct in the British islands, and are becoming more rare 

 on the continent of Europe ; being much crossed with the sagacious 

 and swift-footed tribes. Vlitius, himself a Dutchman, naturally 

 espouses the Belgic origin of the Belgic, or, more correctly speaking, 

 the Celtic dog. Spelman, on the contrary, claims him for the 

 honour of Britain ; and, in addition, we have always deemed some 

 sorts of hellicosi and sagaces indigenous of this country. Mr. Whi- 

 taker, in his History of Manchester, gives to the ancient Britons the 

 old English hound, or talbot, as the parent stock of the celebrated 

 sagacious hounds of our island : and it is found, by experience, that 

 this dog degenerates in every other part of the world — a strong pre- 

 sumptive proof of his being indigenous of Britain. The earliest 

 record of the greyhound allots him to Gallia ; and we have no hesi- 

 tation in considering him of Celtic origin, notwithstanding the offen- 

 sive disclaimer of Savary of Caen — 



Venationis Gallos aon bsec infamia tangit. 



Cervinae Leges. 



No exclusive national claim can be made for the pugnacious tribe, 

 almost every nation of antiquity having had its particular variety ; 

 of which none surpassed the Britannus and Molossus, natives of 

 regions remote from each other, unconnected, probably, in their 

 lineage, and united alone in untaraeable ferocity of character. 



The translator of Gratius, after enumerating the various sorts of 



the British hound, greyhound, and mastiff, (which he calls *' indi- 



Certaine genu, or native of England,") observes : — " all these dogs have de- 



tlie Cyneo^e- Served to be famous in adjacent and remote countries, whither they 



ticallPoem.&c. are sent for great rarities, and ambitiously sought for by their lords 



and princes, although only the fighting dogs seem to have been 



known to the antient authors : and perhaps in that age hunting was 



not so much cultivated by our own countrymen." 



each particular region. Exclusive of the jackal, he considers that there are three 

 wild species in Europe, and Western Asia, which have contributed to produce the 

 varieties of our domestic dog, at present known. 



