Class I. DOG. 81 



Atque Ipsos libeat penetrare Brilannos ? 

 O quanta est merces et quantum impendla supra! 

 Si non ad speciem mentiturosque decores 

 Protlnus : haec una est catulis jactura Britann'is. 

 At magnum cum venit opus, promendaque virtus, 

 Et vocat extreme prasceps discrimine Mauors, 

 Non tunc egregios tantum admirere Molossos.* 



If Britain s distant coast we dare explore. 

 How much beyond the cost the valued store I 

 If shape and beauty not alone we prize. 

 Which nature to the British hound denies : 

 But when the mighty toil the huntsman warms. 

 And all the soul is roused by fierce alarms. 

 When Mars calls furious to th' ensanguin'd field 

 Even bold Molossians then to these must yield. 



Strabo'\ tells us, that the mastiffs of Britain 

 were trained for war, and were used by the 

 Gauls in their battles ; and it is certain a well- 

 trained mastiff might be of considerable use in 

 distressing such half-armed and irregular com- 

 batants as the adversaries of the Gauls seem 

 generally to have been before the Romans con- 

 quered them. - ' 



The last division is that of the Degeneres or 

 Curs. The first of these was the JVappe, a 

 name derived from its note : its only use was to 

 alarm the family, by barking, if any person ap- 

 proached the house. Of this class was the 

 Versator, or turnspit ; and lastly the Saltatory 



* Grata Cynegeticon, Lin. 175. ■ 



t Straho. Lib. iv. ■ <•. • 



VOL. I. G 



