SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 601 



An-iaN, Pliny, Oppian, ^lian, and a host of other writers of the Empire, 

 descant on the praises of the dog, or give anecdotes of his coura^-e, 

 strength, and fidelity. 



In the chivalric ages, he was the companion of knights and princes the 



soul of the manly field-sports of those times. Even prelates followed him 

 to the chase. The abbots of St. Hubert hied a celebrated race of hounds. 

 St. Hubert himself, St. Eustace, and many others on the canonized calen- 

 dar, were keen hunters. " Whereupon, " says the author of the " Noble 

 Art of Venerie," &:c., published in 1611, " ice may conceive that [hif the 

 grace of God) all good huntsmen shall foUoiv them into Paradise ! " Truly, 

 a consoling religious scquitur ! 



Scott, in his beautifully descriptive poetry, and still more poetical prose, 

 has given us a whole picture gallery of dogs, from the Middle Ages down. 

 The few which start up first in memory, (in my memory,) because, proba- 

 bly, linked with the most interesting associations, are Fangs — a genuine 

 Saxon — gaunt and unkempt, but stanch as his master, Gurth, the son of 

 Beowulph ; the noble hound of Sir Kenneth ; the " two dogs of black 

 Saint Hubert's breed," that with Fitz-James pursued their quarrv into the 

 vnld pass of the Trosachs ; the faithful little terrier, which, 



" on the dark brow of the mighty Hellvellyn, 



The much-loved remains of her master defended, 

 And chased the hill fox and the raven away ; " 



and last, not least, Hector Mclntyre's bitch Juno, which stole the butter, 

 and broke the "lachramatory from Clochmaben," of the glorious old 

 Antiquary. They stand out on the canvas like Landseer's pictures. We 

 pause to hear them harh ! It has often occurred to me that Scott omitted 

 a fine opportunity, indeed, made a hiatus vale defendus, in not introducing 

 one or more of the Alpine spaniels — or dogs of Mount St. Bernard — into 

 his Anne of Geierstein, providing it could be done, (on which point I am 

 uninstructed,) without a violent anachronism. When Arthur clung dizzy 

 and stupefied to the trunk of the tree which hung over the beetling verge 

 of the precipice — when the cry of the Swiss maiden announced approach- 

 ing succor, should it not have had for its accompaniment the baying of 

 one of those great dogs of the Alps — the deep and far-heard reverbera- 

 tions of which so often calls help to the perishing traveler, for miles, 

 through the howling storm 1 Should not the dog of Donnerhugcl, on the 

 night-watch of Grafi[s-lust, have been of the same breed — huge, shaggy, and 

 daring as himself? The portrait of Earry, a Bernardino dog which saved 

 the lives of forty persons, and finally perished in an avalanche in guid- 

 ing some travelers to St. Pierre, is to be found in eve'ry print-sliop. It 

 represents him carrying a child on his shoulders — clinging by his shaggy 

 hair, — which he found in the Glacier of Balsore, and rescued from 

 approaching death. 



Scott is not the only modern poet who has admired and sung the praises 

 of the dog. And I do not recollect the instance of one, who has mentioned 

 him, that is, thp well-hred dog, who has not praised him, except Byron 

 in these moody lines: 



" Perchance my dog will whine in vain, 



Till fed by f tranter hands; 

 But lont; ere I come back again 

 Would tear me whore he elands. " 



In his epitaph on his Newfoundland dog, the noble poet retracted this 

 ungenerous libel, and pays one of the warmest tributes to the fidelity of 

 the dog, on record. 



VoUunes of anecdotes of canine sagacity might be easily compiled. 



(1121) 



