C4 nOKSES AND HOUNDS. 



animals of the canine species, wliicli are to be found spread over 

 the continent of Europe, but nowhere in such perfection as in 

 our own favoured country. By the shepherd's dog, I take Gold- 

 smith to mean the Scotch dog of that class, which has pricked 

 ears, a rather thick coat of hair, with a long bushy tail ; and 

 this dog, I have often observed, does bear in outward appear- 

 ance a strong resemblance to the fox. So does a chimpanzee or 

 big baboon to a man ; but that is no proof that they are ergo 

 cousin-german ; neither can I see why that dog, which most 

 resembles the wolf or the fox, should therefore, on that account 

 only, be considered as the first founder of all the canine family. 

 Learned naturalists, even so far back as Linnaeus, have made 

 some very aerial flights, and jumped at most extraordinary con- 

 clusions, which from their singularity are certainly extremely 

 entertaining, if not instructive. The learned Linnstus places 

 the glutton (of all animals in the creation) among the weasel 

 class, to which it bears as great a resemblance in its appearance 

 and natural habits as a horse to a hippopotamus. Dr. Johnson 

 has also made rather a wide shot, when he describes a weasel as 

 a little animal that eats corn. 



As all these great authorities have expressed their several 

 opinions on animated nature in rather a fanciful way, I see no 

 reason why I should not have a shot at i\\e first dog, as well as Oliver 

 Goldsmith — so here goes, hit or miss. For the satisfaction of all 

 true lovers of fox-hounds, I will only premise that he will not 

 be a shee})-dog, according to my calculation. Goldsmith asserts 

 that the shepherd's dog, transported into the temperate climates, 

 and among people entirely civilized, such as England, France, 

 and Germany, will be divested of his savage air, his pricked 

 ears, his rough, long, and thick hair, and from the single 

 influence of climate and food alone, will become either a matin, a 

 mastiff, or a hound ! This appears to me to be almost too 

 absurd an assertion to require even refutation ; but were the 

 fact so, it would go far to refute his own favourite theory of the 

 shepherd's dog being the primitive animal, as from experience 

 we know, that colour, shape, and make, will run back to gene- 

 rations past, and if a hound can be produced from a sheep-dog, 

 or bitch of that kind, without any cross, this fact alone would go 

 far to disprove the originality of the sheep-dog. We might, 

 with equal reason, suppose (to which length Bufl'on nearly goes) 

 that a horse, from the mere change of climate and habits, would 

 become an ass. We all know that climate exercises a decided 

 influence over animals of almost every kind, yet only to a cer- 

 tain extent. But the grand theory of almost all these learned 

 naturalists goes to prove, that from a single archetype ot the 



