14* AN.IMALS OF THE 



tures, although they have so much the appear- 

 ance of probability ; and until that gives more 

 certain information, we must be excused from 

 entering more minutely into the subject. 



" With regard to the dogs of our country in 

 particular, the varieties are very great, and the 

 number every day increasing. And this must 

 happen in a country so open by commerce to all 

 others, and where wealth is apt to produce capri- 

 cious predilection. Here, the ugliest and the 

 most useless of their kinds will be entertained 

 merely for their singularity ; and, being import- 

 ed only to be looked at, they will lose even that 

 small degree of sagacity which they possessed in 

 their natural climates. From this importation of 

 foreign useless dogs, our own native breed is, I 

 am informed, greatly degenerated; and the va- 

 rieties now to be found in England much more 

 numerous than they were in the times of Queen 

 Elizabeth, when Dr Caius attempted their natu- 

 ral history. Some of those he mentions are no 

 longer to be found among us, although many 

 have since been introduced, by no means so ser- 

 viceable as those which have been suffered to 

 decay. 



" He divides the whole race into three kinds. 

 The first is, the generous kind, which consists of 

 the terrier, the harrier, and the blood-hound; 

 the gaze-hound, the greyhound, the leymmer, 

 and the tumbler ; all these are used for hunting. 

 Then the spaniel, the setter, and the water spa- 

 niel, or finder, were used for fowling; and the 

 spaniel gentle, or lap-dog, for amusement. The 



