230 Modern Dogs. 



ordinary hounds were known In " couples." It has 

 been said, though there is no proof in support of the 

 assertion, that the " Isle of Dogs,'' some four miles 

 from the city of London, obtained its name from the 

 fact that certain of our monarchs had kennels of 

 greyhounds and other dogs there. 



In the times of the earlier King Edward, Kent must 

 have had some notoriety for the excellence of its 

 greyhounds, for, according to Blount's ''Ancient 

 Tenures," the land owners in the manor of Setene 

 (Sittingbourne) were compelled to lend their grey- 

 hounds, when the King went to Gascony '' so long 

 as a pair of shoes of ^d. price would last." 



The erudite Froissart tells the following story of 

 Richard II. which, maybe, redounds as little to the 

 credit of the wretched sovereign as to the dog ; for 

 the one proved grossly superstitious and the other 

 exhibited a degree of faithlessness that one does not 

 expect to find in a hound. The king had a favourite 

 greyhound called Mithe, his constant attendant, and 

 so attached to his master that it would follow no one 

 else. One day Henry, Duke of Lancaster and the 

 king were talking together, when suddenly Mithe left 

 his royal master and commenced to fawn upon the 

 duke, whining and showing such pleasure as he had 

 never before done to a stranger or even to a guest. 

 Lancaster expressed his astonishment at the 



