INTRODUCTION. 



31 



ness of form, with length of limbs, the boar-hound was 

 gradually cultivated into the greyhound (canis grains, 

 Lin.)", which was at lirst a strong robust animal, with 



•» The Greyhound {BvFFOs's Levrier) occupies at present a pre- 

 eminent rank in the scale of British dogs ; and that it has long done 

 so, we have undoubted proofs- As e^rly as the time of King Canute, 

 the forest laws directed that no person under the degree of a gentle- 

 man should keep a dog of this kind ; and a very old Welch pro- 

 verb, still current, reports, " that a gentleman may be known by his 

 horse, his hawk, and his greyhound." At the feet of many monu- 

 ments, and in the portraits of many distinguished personages, a grey- 

 hound is sculptured or pourtrayed as the favoured companion of the 

 deceased. The greyhound race is a very generally diifused one; 

 and it is, therefore, probable that the various breeds are not all de- 

 scended from one stock. The breeds found in southern countries 

 we should suppose are descended from some cultivated Asiatic dogs: 

 the northern, we have every reason to believe, are the immediate 

 descendants of the boar-hound Like other branches of the canine 

 race, the greyhound has accommodated himself to external circum- 

 stances ; he, therefore, presents very different appearances under 

 different climates. In Turkey, we have the authority of Mr. Dal- 

 LAW AY for asserting that the greyhounds are large and white, with 

 their legs and tails fantastically stained with red. In Laconia, they 

 are, according to Mr. Hobhouse, also large, and their hair long*. 

 The long-haired greyhound is by no means confined to northern 

 climates ; neither are long external coverings of hair among other 

 domestic animals uncommon in the warmest countries, as we see in 

 the cats, rabbits, and goats of Angora; but the hair so seen, however 

 long, possesses a silky fineness of texture, and does not retain ani- 

 mal heat as the thick, coarse, wiry hair of northern animals. Thus, 

 many other of the greyhounds of the east, although delicately fine in 

 their limbs, have long silk-like coats. The elegant animal called the 

 Persian greyhound, to the utmost lightness of form and smoothness 

 of body adds the peculiarity of having his ears, legs, and tail, be- 

 fringed with very long fine hair, like that of the setter or spaniel. 

 In temperate climes, but particularly in England, where the culti- 

 vation of the greyhound is carried to the highest perfection, he pre- 



' ■• Treatise on Gre^-hounds, 2d edit. p. 6. 



