DOGS OF ANCIENT BRITAIN. 339 



effusions of the bards, and traditionary tales of former days, 

 we are chiefly indebted for any idea of the perfection to 

 which this breed at one time attained in this country. 



From modern writers we hear nothing further than that 

 such a race of dogs at one time existed in Ireland, that 

 they were of a gigantic size, and that they are now 

 extinct. 



One great obstacle in the way of investigating the 

 history of this dog has arisen from the different appel- 

 lations given to it, according to the fancy of the natives in 

 different parts of the country, of Irish wolfdog, Irish 

 greyhound, Highland deerhound, and Scotch greyhound. 



But for these apparently distinctive designations, suf- 

 ficient information would probably have been recorded 

 regarding a breed of dogs really the same, and in such 

 general use throughout the different parts of the kingdom. 



That dogs resembling the greyhounds of the present day 

 were known in this country as early as the third century 

 we have ample proof from the writings of Roman authors, 

 and in particular, from the works of Nemesianus and 

 Gratius. In his Cynegeticon, Gratius mentions two 

 distinct breeds of dogs as natives of England, the one 

 termed Molossus, which is supposed to have been the 

 mastiff, and the other Vertraha, which, from the description, 

 seems to correspond, in many points, with the greyhounds 

 at present in use in this country. 



Nemesianus gives the following description of these 



dogs: 



" Sit cruribus altis, 



Sit rigidis, multamque gerat sub pectore lato 

 Costarum sub fine decenter prona carinam, 

 Quae sensim rursus sicca se colligat alvo, 

 z 2 



