THE MASTIFF TYPE. 33 



and the figure exadlly the same as the pointers used formerly 

 in Spain and Portugal, being remarkably broad across the 

 chest, and stout in the limbs, with an expansive forehead, and 

 tail docked within a short distance of the root, as was the 

 fashion in Spain and Portugal up to the present century. 



Again in Youatts work on the dog are figured some grey- 

 hound puppies, taken from a statue of Aclaeon and dogs, found 

 in the ruins of the Villa Antonini, near Rome. 



The dogs of the ancients were generally large and powerful 

 watch dogs, for house and fold, as Virgil mentions the 

 Amyclean shepherd dog, Georgics Lib. iii. 345. AmyclaB 

 being a city of Laconia, which was famous for its dogs. 



From the Ajax of Sophocles, Adi i, scene i, we learn that 

 the Laconian or Spartan dog was a true hound, hunting by 

 scent. I have not a copy of the original Greek by me, but 

 Adam's translation runs as follows : "And now I will seek 

 thee among the tents of Ajax, where he keeps the utmost 

 guard, searching and tracing his newly impressed steps, to 

 see whether he is in or not, thy search for him is certain as a 

 Spartan hounds scent for the game." I mention this fully as 

 it not only proves the existence of the true hound at that 

 period, but is plainly the source together with some lines in 

 Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia, from whence Shakespeare derived 

 his hounds of Theseus in Midsummer Night's Dream, and if 

 the Electra of Sophocles did not more than furnish the 

 skeleton of Hamlet, I am mistaken. 



But to return to the subject, classical writers used the word 

 molossians at a later period to embrace the true mastiff and 

 allied groups, and Dr. Caius, Gesner, Linnaeus, and other 

 naturalists followed the classical jumble. Therefore leaders 



