20 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



Montdidier was unaccompanied except by a greyhound, which lay down on the grave of its 

 master, and remained there until compelled by hunger to rise. It then went to the kitchen of one of 

 Montdidier's dearest friends, where it was welcomed and fed. As soon as the dog's hunger was 

 appeased, it was gone. For several days it went, and then disappeared, till at length the curiosity of 

 those who saw its movements was excited, and it was resolved to follow the greyhound, and see if 

 anything could be learned that would account for his master's sudden disappearance. 



Accordingly, the dog was followed, and was seen to pause at some earth recently turned up, where 

 its waitings and howlings became indescribably touching. Those who heard them now approached 

 the spot, and, after digging for a time, found the coi-pse of Montdidier. It was speedily raised, and 

 removed to Paris, where it was interred in one of the city cemeteries. The dog attached himself now 

 to the friend of his late master. Several times it chanced to get a sight of Macaire, and on every 

 occasion it sprang upon him, and would have strangled him, had it not been removed by force. It 

 was evident that Montdidier had come by a violent death, and the hatred of his dog gave rise to a 

 suspicion that Macaire had some share in his murder. 



Charles V., on being informed of these circumstances, wished to satisfy himself of their truth. 

 He caused Macaire and the dog to be brought into his presence, and saw the animal again spring on 

 the object of his hate. The king interrogated Macaire, but he would not admit that he had been 

 concerned, in any way, in Montdidier's murder. 



Convinced that the conduct of the dog was based on some guilty act of Macaire, the king ordered 

 a combat to take place between the two, according to the practice in those time* of deciding the 

 claims of human plaintiffs or defendants by wager of battle. The combat took place on the isle of 

 Notre-Dame, in the presence of the court. The king allowed Macaire to have a strong club, as a 

 defensive weapon, while the only means of self-preservation allotted to the dog was A recess or hole, 

 to which he might retreat on being hard pressed. 



As soon as the combatants appeared in the lists, the dog seemed perfectly aware of its position 

 and duty. For a short time, it leaped around Macaire, and then, with a determined spring, it fastened 

 on his throat, so that he would have been strangled had he not cried for mercy, and confessed his 

 crime. The dog was pulled from off him, but he only escaped its fangs to perish by the hand of 

 the law. 



In modern Egypt, Arabia, and also in Persia, there are varieties of the greyhound closely resembling 

 those on the ancient remains of art, and it would appear that two or three varieties exist one 

 smooth, another long-haired, and another smooth, but with long-haired ears, resembling those of the 

 spaniel. In Persia, the greyhound is silk haired, with a fringed tail. Some specimens are 

 of a black colour, but there is a fine breed of a slate or ash colour, as are some of the 

 smooth-haired greyhounds depicted in Egyptian paintings. In Arabia, a large, rough, powerful race 

 exists, and about Akaba there is a breed of slender form, fleet, with a long tail, very hairy, in the 

 form of a brush, with the ears erect and pointed, closely resembling, in fact, many of those figured by 

 the ancient Egyptians. Colonel Sykes states that none of the domesticated dogs of Deccan are 

 common to Europe, and that the first in strength and size is the Briiijaree dog, somewhat resembling 

 the Persian greyhound in the Zoological Gardens, but much more powerful. North of the Caspian, 

 in Tartary and Russia, there exists a breed of large, rough greyhounds. The great Albanian dog of 

 former times, and at present extant, probably belongs to the greyhound family. 



Slaty and blue ash-coloured greyhounds form a fine breed of the Persian long-haired race, and 

 these colours were common in the Egyptian smooth-haired, as is attested by the earliest paintings and 

 mosaics. They prevail in the finest breeds of the West, where the effects of Albinism, or of what is 

 opposed to it, black, have not been studiously kept up. The last-mentioned colour is, however, in 

 general, only an excess of the slaty, and it must have existed in Egypt in abundance, since so many 

 small effigies of blackish-greyhounds have been found in the Catacombs. 



In Scotland and Ireland there existed, in very ancient times, a noble breed of greyhounds, used 

 for the chase of the wolf and the deer, and these are supposed to be the pure source of the common 

 greyhound, which, in warm climates, degenerates. In Ireland, few of this fine race are now to be 

 found. With the extirpation of the wolf, the necessity for keeping up the brocd in perfection c<';isnl, 

 and it gradually merged into the ordinary kind used for the hare. In the Highlands, however, when: 



