90 DIVISION I. VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. — CLASS I. MAJIMALIA. 



entrc;;ty, raised liiiiisclf on his liind legs, awl putting ;i great fore-paw on 

 caeli of tlie man's shoulders, lie laid him Hat on his baek in the road, and 

 quiellv picking up the hag, he proceeded peaceably ou his wonted way. 

 The man, iiiucli dismayed, arose and followed the dog, making, every now 

 and ihi'ii, an ineltectual attempt to coax him to give np the hag. At the 

 first house he came to he teild his fears, and the dilennna he was in ; but 

 the pcoj)le comforted him, by telling him that the dog always carried the 

 bag. ISass walked \\ith the man to all the houses at whi<di he delivered 

 letters, and along the road till he came to the gate of St. ^.largaret's, where 

 he dropped the bag, and, making his bow to the man, he returned home. 

 I presume I ha\e now given you enough of 15ass. His companion, Raith, 

 is remarkable for having, in his eagerness to bark at some noise at the 

 outer door, jumped out of a window, twenty-three feet and a half iiigh, on 

 the hard gravel. lie was stunned for a time, but he hroke no bones, and 

 after about an hour's repose on his usual pillow in the large dining-room 

 chair, he sliowed that he was as well as ever." 



The TiiCAOLE. — Concluding from what we have been able to learn from 

 the general liistory of dogs, we infer that the Beagle is the same as the 

 Urachct of the middle ages, and think it the only species of the long-eared 

 dogs known in the AVest during the Roman Empire, and noticed by Oppian 

 imder the name of Agasscus. Both Pennant and AVhitaker quote the text, 

 wliii-ii, ne\('rtlieless, is more applicable to the ancient Teaser Terrier than 

 the ISeagle ; but as there were rough-haired Brachets in the olden time, 

 and severe hunting is still liable to produce crooked-legged Turnspit oli'- 

 spring, it is possible that this last was meant. Tlie Breac they could not, 

 however, then be, liecaiise, as already observed, that name implied spot, or 

 spotted, a distin(_'tion which the Beagle Hound retains. A projiorlion, or 

 what was termed a rnj of these dogs, was anciently added to a hiuiting 

 jiai'k, often on accoimt of their nuisical \'oirc. They were most connnon 

 in the North of England, and hence known by the name of Xorthern 

 Hounds. There exists on the Continent a coarse-haired, bulf-colored hound, 

 of a mixed lireed, figiu'cd by Buiffon under the name of c/iica co/iniiit 

 ■inc/is, a[)parently formed out of the French Braque and the crisp-haired 

 AVater Hog; it is now uncommon, probably neglected, because of its want 

 of beauty, though formerly much esteemed in otter liunting, and in the 

 chase where the country was swampy and intersected with rivers. 



r)oth the rough and smooth races, even three centuries past, were already 

 greatly diversified by different crossings. In Queen Elizabeth's reign was 

 bred a race so small that a complete cry of them coidd be carried out to the 

 field in a pair of panniers. That princess had little singing Beagles which 

 could be placed in a man's glove ! At present they are about twelve or 



