468 
diminutive breed was a familiar ornament 
in the atrium of most Roman villas, where 
the frequent motto, Cave Canem, may 
have been intended not more as a warning 
against the chained and ferocious Mastiff, 
than as a caution to visitors to beware of 
hurting the matron’s treasured lapdog. In 
Pompeii a dwarfed Greyhound was certainly 
kept as a domestic pet, and there is there- 
fore some justification for the belief that 
the Italian prefix is not misplaced. 
In very early times the Italian Greyhound 
was appreciated. Vandyck, Kneller, and 
Watteau frequently introduced the graceful 
figures of these dogs as accessories in their 
portraits of the court beauties of their times, 
and many such portraits may be noticed 
in the galleries of Windsor Castle and 
Hampton Court. Mary Queen of Scots is 
supposed to have been fond of the breed, as 
more surely were Charles I. and Queen Anne. 
Some of the best of their kind were in the 
possession of Queen Victoria at Windsor 
and Balmoral, where Sir Edwin Landseer 
transferred their graceful forms to canvas. 
At no period can the Italian Greyhound 
have been a sporting dog. A prancing race 
after a ball on a velvet lawn is the usual 
extent of his participation in the chase. He 
has not the sporting instinct or the acute 
power of scent and sight which one looks for 
in a hound. He is a hound, indeed, only 
by courtesy, and was never meant to hunt. 
The presence of a rat does not excite him; 
a rabbit or a hare might play with him; 
even jealousy 1s powerless to move him to 
animosity. He is among the most peace- 
able of dogs, gentle as a gazelle, and as 
beautiful, differing greatly from his relative 
the Whippet, whose reputation for snap- 
ping has been genuinely earned. 
But one ought not to look to dogs so 
frail, so accustomed to ease and luxury, 
to take interest in the pursuit of vermin or 
of game. They are too small for such work. 
Smallness and lightness and symmetry, 
with good colour and a healthy constitu- 
tion, are the qualities to be sought for in 
the Italian Greyhound. No dog over eight 
pounds is worth much consideration. Molly, 
for whom her owner, Mr. Macdonald, refused 
THE NEW BOOK OF THE DOG. 
a hundred guineas in 1871, weighed a few 
ounces less than five. Idstone pronounced 
her the most perfect specimen ever seen ; 
but it is said that her mouth was very much 
overshot, which is a serious fault, often 
noticeable in this breed. The same owner’s 
Duke was larger; but, then, the males 
usually are, and for this reason the bitches 
commonly take prizes above the other sex. 
It is singular that Scottish breeders have 
frequently produced the best specimens of 
this variety of dog. Mr. Bruce, of Falkirk, 
exhibited many beautiful little ones some 
years ago, and his Bankside Daisy, Wee 
Flower, and Crucifix are especially remem- 
bered. Miss H. M. Mackenzie, tco, had an 
excellent kennel, in which Sappho, Mario, 
Hero, Dido, and Juno were important in- 
mates, varying in weight from five to nine 
pounds. Dido was a lovely little bitch. 
She was the granddaughter of Jack, whom 
Miss Mackenzie bought for ten shillings from 
a butcher in Smithfield Market. There was 
a curious circumstance in connection with 
Jack. Years after his death some of his 
offspring were being exhibited, when a 
visitor from Rugby, admiring them, re- 
marked upon their likeness to a dog that 
he had lost in London. Dates and facts 
were compared, and it transpired that the 
lost dog and the butcher’s dog were one and 
the same, and that Jack was really of most 
aristocratic pedigree. 
The names of the Rev. J. W. Mellor, 
Mr. S. W. Wildman, Mrs. Giltrap, Mrs. 
Cottrel Dormer, Mrs. Anstie, and Miss Pim 
are closely associated with the history of 
the Italian Greyhound in Great Britain, 
and among the more prominent owners of 
the present time are the Baroness Campbell 
von Laurentz, whose Rosemead Laura and 
Una are of superlative merit alike in out- 
line, colour, style, length of head, and grace 
of action; Mrs. Florence Scarlett, whose 
Svelta, Saltarello, and Sola are almost equally 
perfect; Mrs. Matthews, the owner of 
Ch. Signor, our smallest and most elegant 
show dog; and Mr. Charlwood, who has 
exhibited many admirable specimens, among 
them Sussex Queen and Sussex Princess. 
The Italian Greyhound Club of England 
