EARLY REPUTATION OF BRITISH DOGS. ol9 



How dull and rugged, ere 'tis ground 

 And polish'd, is the diamond. 

 Though Paradise were ere so fair, 

 It was not kept so without care : 

 The whole world, without art and dress, 

 Would be but one great wilderness ; 

 And mankind but a savage herd, 

 For all that nature has conferred. 

 This does but rough-hew and design. 

 Leaves art to polish and refine." 



We have good reason to believe that England 

 (in a great measure from the congeniality of its 

 climate) has long been famous for dogs, which, on 

 the authority of Strabo, were much sought after 

 by all the surrounding nations. So high indeed in 

 repute were British dogs amongst the Romans, 

 after the reduction of our island, not only for excel- 

 lence in the chase, but fierceness in the combat, 

 that an officer from that country was appointed to 

 reside in the city of Winchester, for the express 

 purpose of collecting and breeding them to supply 

 the amphitheatre, as well as the imperial kennel, at 

 Rome. Nor was this all. As a kind of earnest 

 of our present celebrity in the various sports of the 

 field, all the neighbouring countries, as Dr. Camp- 

 bell remarks, " have done justice to our dogs, 

 adopted our terms and names into their language, 

 received them thankfully as presents, and, when 

 they have an opportunity, purchased them at a 

 dear rate." * Thus we find, that when King Al- 

 fred requested Fulco, archbishop of Rheims, to 

 send some learned ecclesiastics into England, he 

 accompanied his letter with a present of several 



'^ Campbell's Political Survey, vol. ii., p. 205, note (D.) 



