No individual of the canine race has attained an equal amount of fame, or
excited an equal degree of attention through Europe, not merely in the
days of his acknowledged existence amongst our dogs of chase, but even
now, that he is considered to be extinct, with that once possessed by
the superb creature whose picture adorns our title-page, and an account
of whom forms the subject of the present article. Public opinion has
long been divided respecting the precise appearance and form of this
majestic animal, and so many different ideas have been conceived of him,
that many persons have been induced to come to the conclusion that no
particular breed of dogs was ever kept for wolf-hunting in this country,
but that the appellation of “wolf-dog” was bestowed upon any dog swift
enough to overtake and powerful enough to contend with and overcome
that formidable animal. There are those who hold this opinion, and there
are likewise those who hold that while a particular breed was used, it
was a sort of heavy mastiff-like dog, now extinct. It is the object of
the present paper to show that not only did Ireland possess a peculiar
race of dogs exclusively devoted to wolf-hunting, but that those dogs,
instead of being of the mastiff kind, resembled the greyhound in form;
and instead of being extinct, are still to be met with, although we are
compelled to acknowledge that they are very scarce. I myself was once in
very gross error respecting this dog, for I like many others conceived
him to have been a mastiff, and implicitly believed that the dogs of Lord
Altamont, described in the 3d vol. of the Linnæan Transactions by Mr
Lambert, were the sole surviving representatives of the Irish wolf-dog.
An able and talented paper, read by Mr A. Haffield of this city, about a
year ago, before the Dublin Natural History Society, served to stagger
me in my belief, and subsequent careful inquiry and research have
completed my conversion. I proceed to lay before my readers the result
of that inquiry, and I feel confident that no individual after reading
the evidences which I shall adduce, will continue to harbour a doubt
respecting the true appearance and form of the ancient Irish wolf-dog.
We are informed by such disjointed scraps of Celtic verse as Time, that
merciless destroyer, has suffered to come down, though in a mutilated
form, to our days, that in the times of old, when Fionn Mac Cumbaill,
popularly styled Fin Mac Cool, wielded the sceptre of power and of
justice, we possessed a prodigious and courageous dog used for hunting
the deer and the wild boar, with, though last not least, the grim and
savage wolf which ravaged the folds and slaughtered the herds of our
ancestors. We learn from the same source that these dogs were also
frequently employed as auxiliaries in war, and that they were “mighty in
combat, their breasts like plates of brass, and greatly to be feared.” We
might adduce the songs of Ossian, but that we fear to draw upon ourselves
the envious rancour of some snarling critic. We cannot, however, avoid
observing, that the epithets “hairy-footed,” “white-breasted,” and
“bounding,” are singularly characteristic of some of the striking
peculiarities of the dog in question, and strangely coincide with the
descriptions furnished by other writers respecting him; so that M’Pherson
must at all events have been at the pains of considerable research if
he actually forged the beautiful poems which he put forth to the world
under Ossian’s name. The word “Bran,” the name given to Fingal’s noble
hound, employed by others than Ossian, or I should not mention it, is
Celtic, and signifies “mountain torrent,” implying that impetuosity
of course and headlong courage so characteristic of the subject of my
paper. I have said that many assert the Irish wolf-dog to be no longer in
existence. I have ventured a denial of this, and refer to the wolf-dog or
deer-dog of the Highlands of Scotland as his actual and faithful living
representative. Perhaps I am wrong in saying “representative.” I hold
that the Irish wolf-dog and the Highland deer-dog are one and the same;
and I now proceed to cite a few authorities in support of my positions.
The venerable Bede, as well as the Scotch historian John Major, informs
us that Scotland was originally peopled from Ireland under the conduct of
Reuda, and adds, that even in his own days half Scotland spoke the Irish
language as their mother tongue; and many of my readers are doubtless
aware that even at this present time the Gaelic and the Erse are so much
alike that a Connaught man finds no difficulty in comprehending and
conversing with a Highlander, and I myself have read the Gaelic Bible
with an Irish dictionary. Scotland also was called by the early writers
Scotia Minor, and Ireland Scotia Major. The colonization, therefore, of
Scotland from Ireland, admits of little doubt. As the Irish wolf-dog was
at that time in the enjoyment of his most extended fame, it was not to
be expected that the colonists would omit taking with them such a fine
description of dog, and which would prove so useful to them in a newly
established settlement, and that too at a period when hunting was not
merely an amusement, but one of their main occupations, and their main
source of subsistence. The Irish wolf-dog was thus carried into Scotland
and became the Highland or Scottish wolf-dog, changing in process of
time his name with his country; and in the course of ages when the
wolves died out of the land, his occupation being no longer the hunting
of those animals but of deer, he became known no longer as the Highland
wolf-dog, but as the Highland deer-dog, though indeed he is to the
present called by the former of these appellations by many writers both
Irish and Scottish. In Ireland the wolves were in existence longer than
in Scotland; but as soon as the wolves ceased to exist in this country,
the dogs were suffered to become extinct also, while in Scotland there
was still abundant employment for them after the days of wolf-hunting
were over, for the deer still remained; and useful as they had been as
wolf-dogs, they proved themselves if possible more so as deer-hounds.
That the Irish wolf-dog was a tall rough greyhound, similar in every
respect to the Highland dog of the present day, I beg to adduce in proof
the following authorities:--Strabo mentions a tall greyhound in use among
the Pictish and Celtic nations, which he states was held in high esteem
by our ancestors, and was even imported into Gaul for the purposes of the
chase. Campion expressly speaks of the Irish wolf-dog as a “greyhound
of great bone and limb.” Silaus calls it also a greyhound, and asserts
that it was imported into Ireland by the Belgæ, and is the same with the
renowned Belgic dog of antiquity, and that it was, during the days of
Roman grandeur, brought to Rome for the combats of the amphitheatre.
Pliny relates a combat in which the Irish wolf-dogs took a part; he
calls them “Canes Graii Hibernici,” and describes them as much taller
than the mastiff. Hollinshed, in speaking of the Irish, says, “They are
not without wolves, and greyhounds to hunt them.” Evelyn, speaking of
the bear-garden, says, “The bull-dogs did exceeding well, but the Irish
wolf-dog exceeded, which was a tall greyhound, a stately creature, and
beat a cruel mastiff.”
Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, was presented by King John with a specimen of
this kind of dog, “the greyhound, the greathound, the graceful of limb;”
and most of my readers are familiar with that beautiful poem, the “Grave
of the Greyhound.” These animals were in those days permitted to be kept
only by princes and chiefs; and in the Welch laws of the ninth century we
find heavy penalties laid down for the maiming or injuring of the Irish
greyhound, or, as it was styled in the code alluded to, “Canis Graius
Hibernicus;” and a value was set upon them, equal to more than double
that set on the ordinary greyhound.
Moryson, secretary to Lord Deputy Mountjoy, says, “The Irishmen and
greyhounds are of great stature.” Lombard says that the finest hunting
dogs in Europe were produced in Ireland: “Greyhounds useful to take the
stag, wild boar, or wolf.” Pennant describes these dogs as scarce, and
as being led to the chase in leather slips or thongs, and calls them the
“Irish greyhound.” Ray describes him as the “greatest dog” he had ever
seen. Buffon says he saw an “Irish greyhound” which measured five feet
in height when in a sitting posture, and says that all other sorts of
greyhounds are descended from him, and that _in Scotland it is called the
Highland greyhound_, that it is very large, deep chested, and covered
with long rough hair.
Scottish noblemen were not always content with such specimens of this dog
as their own country produced, but frequently sent for them to Ireland,
conceiving doubtless that they would be found better and purer in their
native land. The following is a copy of a letter addressed by Deputy
Falkland to the Earl of Cork in 1623:--
“MY LORD,
I have lately received letters from my Lord Duke of Buccleuch
and others of my noble friends, who have entreated me to send
them some greyhound dogs and bitches out of this kingdom, of
the largest sort, which I perceive they intend to present
unto divers princes and other noble persons; and if you can
possibly, let them be white, which is the colour most in request
here. Expecting your answer by the bearer, I commit you to the
protection of the Almighty, and am
Your lordship’s attached friend,