10 THE GREYHOUND. 



British Greyhound. I say British, for the time has gone 

 by when we could speak of English, Scotch, or Irish 

 Greyhounds in any other than the past tense ; and the 

 modern Greyhound the most elegant of the canine race, 

 the highest achievement of man's skill in manipulating 

 the plastic nature of the dog, and forming it to his special 

 requirements as he is stripped, in all his beauty of outline 

 and wonderful development, not only of muscle, but of 

 that hidden fire which gives dash, energy and daring, 

 stands revealed a manufactured article, the acme of per- 

 fection in beauty of outline and fitness of purpose; and 

 whether we see him trying conclusions on the meadows 

 of Lurgan, the rough hillsides of Crawford John, or for 

 the blue ribbon of the leash on the flats of Altcar, he is 

 still the same the dog in whom the genius of man has 

 so mingled the blood of all the best varieties of the 

 Celtic Canes celeres that no one can lay special claim to 

 him. He is a combination of art and Nature that chal- 

 lenges the world, unequalled in speed, spirit and perse- 

 verance, and in elegance and beauty of form as far 

 removed from many of his clumsy ancestors as an English 

 thoroughbred from a coarse dray-horse. 



It is not my intention, further than I have already done, 

 to attempt to trace the history of the Greyhound, or to 

 follow his development from the comparatively coarse but 

 more powerful dog from which he probably derives his 

 origin. It is clear, however, that our ancestors had two 

 thousand years ago developed his form, swiftness, and wind, 

 so as to enable him to run down the deer and hare at 

 speed. The very name has long been a bone of contention 

 among etymologists; but however interesting to the scholar, 



