This variety, which seems almost extinct, is lighter, smaller, and
more active than the mastiff, from which he is descended by a cross
with the foxhound. He is not nearly so powerful a dog as the former,
but is more fierce in his natural disposition; and from his descent
possesses a finer sense of smelling. His hair is rougher, generally of
a yellowish or sandy grey, streaked with shades of black, or brown,
and semi-curled over his whole body, excepting his legs, which are
smooth. Although he generally attacks his adversary in front, like the
mastiff and bull-dog, it is not his invariable practice, for, he is
sometimes seen to seize cattle by the flank. His bite, says Bewick, is
keen and dangerous.
Two near neighbours in the county of Suffolk, a tanner and a farmer,
entertained great friendship for each other, and kept up a close
intimacy by frequent visits. The tanner had a large ban-dog for
watching his yard, which, from some unknown cause, had conceived such
an inveterate hatred to the farmer, that he could not go with safety
to call on his friend when the dog was loose, and on this account the
tanner loaded him with a heavy clog, that he might not be able to fly
at him.
As the farmer and one of his ploughmen were going about the grounds
together one day, the latter espied at a distance something on a
stile. As they drew near, they perceived it was the tanner's dog,
which, in attempting to leap the wall, had left the clog on the other
side, and was thereby almost strangled. The ploughman, knowing the
enmity which the dog had to his master, proposed to despatch him by
knocking him on the head; but the latter was unwilling to kill a
creature which he knew was useful to his friend. Instead of doing so,
he disengaged the poor beast, laid him down on the grass, watched till
he saw him recover so completely as to be able to get up on his legs,
and then pursued his walk. When the farmer returned to the stile, he
saw the dog standing by it, quite recovered, and expected an attack;
but, to his great astonishment, the creature fawned upon him, and
expressed his gratitude in the most lively manner; and from that time
to the day of his death he attached himself to his benefactor, and
never could be prevailed upon to go back to his former master.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: FEEDING HOUNDS.]