Ladies' Tov Dogs. 91 



graceful, or, perhaps, the most graceful and racing-looking 

 creature on the face of the earth. 



Bewick gives no engraving of the Italian greyhound, 

 which is to be regretted ; and without doubt he would 

 have given one if a specimen could have been procured. 



In Italy it has always been a favourite, and we gather 

 from the pictures of Antoine Watteau, the celebrated 

 French painter, that it was much esteemed by the lords 

 and ladies of his country at the close of the seventeenth 

 or at the beginning of the eighteenth century ; but they 

 were known and in the hands of the rich — as graceful 

 and perhaps as small as at the present time — in Milan in 

 the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. 



Hogarth has represented a pair of dogs, somewhat of 

 the breed, in one of his pictures of "Marriage a la Mode," 

 and this dog occasionally appears in the portraits of our 

 old English families ; but as we have before observed, it 

 has always been scarce, and it is exceedingly delicate and 

 hard to rear. 



It is neither more nor less than a small greyhound, for 

 which Italy was celebrated, and which perhaps was origi- 

 nally bred as a distinct breed. It must have become 

 dwarfed from climate or constant " in-breeding," but it 

 has never been in any way deformed by the means 

 adopted to decrease its size. 



The externaT form of the Italian exactly corresponds 

 with that of the smooth English greyhound. I will ob- 

 serve that the head should be wide behind, and larger 

 in circumference if measured over the ears than over the 

 eyebrows. The jaw should be very lean, with a good 

 muscular development of the cheek. The eye of the 

 Italian variety, however, shoul I not be so large or full as 

 that of the English dog. 



It has been settled that the ear of the Italian should be 

 exceedingly small, and falling flat, except when the animal 

 is animated. It may then be slightly raised, but never 

 pricked. 



Blue and fawn are the favourite colours; the latter 

 should be of an auburn hue. Various colours, however, 

 are fashionable for a time, and then fancy changes. At 



