346 RECREATION OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 



observed, from the use of the term " bucks," that these 

 deer were fallow ; and probably, the course was paled in, 

 as appears to have been usual on such occasions, from a 

 minute account by the translator of the " Noble Art of 

 Venerie and Hunting," published in London in 1611. 



Of the courage of the ancient deerhound there can be 

 little doubt, from the nature of the game for which he was 

 used : but if any proof were wanting, an incident mentioned 

 by Evelyn in his Diary, in 1670, when present at a bull- 

 fight in the bear garden, is conclusive. He says, " The 

 bulls (meaning the bull-dogs) did exceeding well, but the 

 Irish wolf dog exceeded, which was a tall greyhound, a 

 stately creature indeed, who beat a cruele mastiff." 



Here, then, is further proof that the Irish wolf dog was 

 a greyhound, and there can be little doubt that it is the 

 same dog that we find mentioned under the name of " the 

 Irish greyhound." 



Comparing, therefore, the descriptions given of the 

 Vertraha of Nemesian, the English greyhound of the 15th 

 century, the Irish wolf dog, and the Highland deerhound, 

 we find a strong similarity ; and when it is recollected 

 that the game for which they were all used was the same, 

 and that the term Moil chu was the one generally used for 

 this species of dog over a great portion of the country, we 

 have strong reasons to conclude that they were one and 

 the same kind, the more particularly as we find the Irish 

 wolf dog described as a greyhound, and the Highland 

 deerhound as an Irish greyhound ; and find that the 

 drawings which have reached us of the Scotch and Irish 

 dogs bear so strong a resemblance to each other. 



From the above authorities, it is obvious that this race 



