OF OUR ENGLISH DOGS AND THEIR QUALITIES.
[1577, Book III., Chapter 13; 1587, Book III., Chapter 7.]
There is no country that may (as I take it) compare with ours in number,
excellency, and diversity of dogs.
The first sort therefore he divideth either into such as rouse the beast,
and continue the chase, or springeth the bird, and bewrayeth her flight by
pursuit. And as these are commonly called spaniels, so the other are named
hounds, whereof he maketh eight sorts, of which the foremost excelleth in
perfect smelling, the second in quick espying, the third in swiftness and
quickness, the fourth in smelling and nimbleness, etc., and the last in
subtlety and deceitfulness. These (saith Strabo) are most apt for game,
and called Sagaces by a general name, not only because of their skill in
hunting, but also for that they know their own and the names of their
fellows most exactly. For if the hunter see any one to follow skilfully,
and with likelihood of good success, he biddeth the rest to hark and
follow such a dog, and they eftsoones obey so soon as they hear his name.
The first kind of these are often called harriers, whose game is the fox,
the hare, the wolf (if we had any), hart, buck, badger, otter, polecat,
lopstart, weasel, conie, etc.: the second height a terrier, and it hunteth
the badger and grey only: the third a bloodhound, whose office is to
follow the fierce, and now and then to pursue a thief or beast by his dry
foot: the fourth height a gazehound, who hunteth by the eye: the fifth a
greyhound, cherished for his strength and swiftness and stature, commended
by Bratius in his _De Venatione_, and not unremembered by Hercules Stroza
in a like treatise, and above all other those of Britain, where he saith:
"Magna spectandi mole Britanni;" also by Nemesianus, libro Cynegeticôn,
where he saith: "Divisa Britannia mittit Veloces nostrique orbis venatibus
aptos," of which sort also some be smooth, of sundry colours, and some
shake-haired: the sixth a liemer, that excelleth in smelling and swift
running: the seventh a tumbler: and the eighth a thief whose offices (I
mean of the latter two) incline only to deceit, wherein they are oft so
skilful that few men would think so mischievous a wit to remain in such
silly creatures. Having made this enumeration of dogs which are apt for
the chase and hunting, he cometh next to such as serve the falcons in
their time, whereof he maketh also two sorts. One that findeth his game on
the land, another that putteth up such fowl as keepeth in the water: and
of these this is commonly most usual for the net or train, the other for
the hawk, as he doth shew at large. Of the first he saith that they have
no peculiar names assigned to them severally, but each of them is called
after the bird which by natural appointment he is allotted to hunt or
serve, for which consideration some be named dogs for the pheasant, some
for the falcon, and some for the partridge. Howbeit the common name for
all is spaniel (saith he), and thereupon alluded as if these kinds of dogs
had been brought hither out of Spain. In like sort we have of water
spaniels in their kind. The third sort of dogs of the gentle kind is the
spaniel gentle, or comforter, or (as the common term is) the fistinghound,
and those are called Melitei, of the Island Malta, from whence they were
brought hither. These are little and pretty, proper and fine, and sought
out far and near to falsify the nice delicacy of dainty dames, and wanton
women's wills, instruments of folly to play and dally withal, in trifling
away the treasure of time, to withdraw their minds from more commendable
exercises, and to content their corrupt concupiscences with vain
disport--a silly poor shift to shun their irksome idleness. These
Sybaritical puppies the smaller they be (and thereto if they have a hole
in the fore parts of their heads) the better they are accepted, the more
pleasure also they provoke, as meet playfellows for mincing mistresses to
bear in their bosoms, to keep company withal in their chambers, to succour
with sleep in bed, and nourish with meat at board, to lie in their laps,
and lick their lips as they lie (like young Dianas) in their waggons and
coaches. And good reason it should be so, for coarseness with fineness
hath no fellowship, but featness with neatness hath neighbourhood enough.
That plausible proverb therefore versified sometime upon a tyrant--namely,
that he loved his sow better than his son--may well be applied to some of
this kind of people, who delight more in their dogs, that are deprived of
all possibility of reason, than they do in children that are capable of
wisdom and judgment. Yea, they oft feed them of the best where the poor
man's child at their doors can hardly come by the worst. But the former
abuse peradventure reigneth where there hath been long want of issue, else
where barrenness is the best blossom of beauty: or, finally, where poor
men's children for want of their own issue are not ready to be had. It is
thought of some that it is very wholesome for a weak stomach to bear such
a dog in the bosom, as it is for him that hath the palsy to feel the daily
smell and savour of a fox. But how truly this is affirmed let the learned
judge: only it shall suffice for Doctor Caius to have said thus much of
spaniels and dogs of the gentle kind.
Dogs of the homely kind are either shepherd's curs or mastiffs. The first
are so common that it needeth me not to speak of them. Their use also is
so well known in keeping the herd together (either when they grass or go
before the shepherd) that it should be but in vain to spend any time about
them. Wherefore I will leave this cur unto his own kind, and go in hand
with the mastiff, tie dog, or band dog, so called because many of them are
tied up in chains and strong bonds in the daytime, for doing hurt abroad,
which is a huge dog, stubborn, ugly, eager, burthenous of body (and
therefore of but little swiftness), terrible and fearful to behold, and
oftentimes more fierce and fell than any Archadian or Corsican cur. Our
Englishmen, to the extent that these dogs may be more cruel and fierce,
assist nature with some art, use, and custom. For although this kind of
dog be capable of courage, violent, valiant, stout, and bold: yet will
they increase these their stomachs by teaching them to bait the bear, the
bull, the lion, and other such like cruel and bloody beasts (either
brought over or kept up at home for the same purpose), without any collar
to defend their throats, and oftentimes there too they train them up in
fighting and wrestling with a man (having for the safeguard of his life
either a pikestaff, club, sword, privy coat), whereby they become the more
fierce and cruel unto strangers. The Caspians make so much account
sometimes of such great dogs, that every able man would nourish sundry of
them in his house of set purpose, to the end they should devour their
carcases after their deaths, thinking the dog's bellies to be the most
honourable sepulchres. The common people also followed the same rate, and
therefore there were tie dogs kept up by public ordinance, to devour them
after their deaths: by means whereof these beasts became the more eager,
and with great difficulty after a while restrained from falling upon the
living. But whither am I digressed? In returning therefore to our own, I
say that of mastiffs, some bark only with fierce and open mouth but will
not bite; but the cruelest do either not bark at all or bite before they
bark, and therefore are more to be feared than any of the other. They take
also their name of the word "mase" and "thief" (or "master-thief" if you
will), because they often stound and put such persons to their shifts in
towns and villages, and are the principal causes of their apprehension and
taking. The force which is in them surmounteth all belief, and the fast
hold which they take with their teeth exceedeth all credit: for three of
them against a bear, four against a lion, are sufficient to try mastries
with them. King Henry the Seventh, as the report goeth, commanded all such
curs to be hanged, because they durst presume to fight against the lion,
who is their king and sovereign. The like he did with an excellent falcon,
as some say, because he feared not hand-to-hand match with an eagle,
willing his falconers in his own presence to pluck off his head after he
was taken down, saying that it was not meet for any subject to offer such
wrong unto his lord and superior, wherein he had a further meaning. But if
King Henry the Seventh had lived in our time what would he have done to
our English mastiff, which alone and without any help at all pulled down
first a huge bear, then a pard, and last of all a lion, each after other
before the French King in one day, when the Lord Buckhurst was ambassador
unto him, and whereof if I should write the circumstances, that is, how he
took his advantage being let loose unto them, and finally drave them into
such exceeding fear, that they were all glad to run away when he was taken
from them, I should take much pains, and yet reap but small credit:
wherefore it shall suffice to have said thus much thereof. Some of our
mastiffs will rage only in the night, some are to be tied up both day and
night. Such also as are suffered to go loose about the house and yard are
so gentle in the daytime that children may ride on their backs and play
with them at their pleasures. Divers of them likewise are of such jealousy
over their master and whosoever of his household, that if a stranger do
embrace or touch any of them, they will fall fiercely upon them, unto
their extreme mischief if their fury be not prevented. Such a one was the
dog of Nichomedes, king sometime of Bithynia, who seeing Consigne the
queen to embrace and kiss her husband as they walked together in a garden,
did tear her all to pieces, maugre his resistance and the present aid of
such as attended on them. Some of them moreover will suffer a stranger to
come in and walk about the house or yard where he listeth, without giving
over to follow him: but if he put forth his hand to touch anything, then
will they fly upon them and kill them if they may. I had one myself once,
which would not suffer any man to bring in his weapon further than my
gate: neither those that were of my house to be touched in his presence.
Or if I had beaten any of my children, he would gently have essayed to
catch the rod in his teeth and take it out of my hand or else pluck down
their clothes to save them from the stripes: which in my opinion is not
unworthy to be noted.
The last sort of dogs consisteth of the currish kind meet for many toys,
of which the whappet or prick-eared cur is one. Some men call them
warners, because they are good for nothing else but to bark and give
warning when anybody doth stir or lie in wait about the house in the night
season. Certes it is impossible to describe these curs in any order,
because they have no one kind proper unto themselves, but are a confused
company mixed of all the rest. The second sort of them are called
turnspits, whose office is not unknown to any. And as these are only
reserved for this purpose, so in many places our mastiffs (beside the use
which tinkers have of them in carrying their heavy budgets) are made to
draw water in great wheels out of deep wells, going much like unto those
which are framed for our turnspits, as is to be seen at Roiston, where
this feat is often practised. Besides these also we have sholts or curs
daily brought out of Ireland, and made much of among us, because of their
sauciness and quarrelling. Moreover they bite very sore, and love candles
exceedingly, as do the men and women of their country: but I may say no
more of them, because they are not bred with us. Yet this will I make
report of by the way, for pastime's sake, that when a great man of those
parts came of late into one of our ships which went thither for fish, to
see the form and fashion of the same, his wife apparelled in fine sables,
abiding on the deck whilst her husband was under the hatches with the
mariners, espied a pound or two of candles hanging on the mast, and being
loath to stand there idle alone, she fell to and eat them up every one,
supposing herself to have been at a jolly banquet, and shewing very
pleasant gesture when her husband came up again unto her.
The last kind of toyish curs are named dancers, and those being of a
mongrel sort also, are taught and exercised to dance in measure at the
musical sound of an instrument, as at the just stroke of a drum, sweet
accent of the citharne, and pleasant harmony of the harp, shewing many
tricks by the gesture of their bodies: as to stand bolt upright, to lie
flat on the ground, to turn round as a ring holding their tails in their
teeth, to saw and beg for meat, to take a man's cap from his head, and
sundry such properties, which they learn of their idle roguish masters,
whose instruments they are to gather gain, as old apes clothed in motley
and coloured short-waisted jackets are for the like vagabonds, who seek no
better living than that which they may get by fond pastime and idleness. I
might here intreat of other dogs, as of those which are bred between a
bitch and a wolf, also between a bitch and a fox, or a bear and a mastiff.
But as we utterly want the first sort, except they be brought unto us: so
it happeneth sometime that the other two are engendered and seen at home
amongst us. But all the rest heretofore remembered in this chapter there
is none more ugly and odious in sight, cruel and fierce in deed, nor
untractable in hand, than that which is begotten between the bear and the
bandog. For whatsoever he catcheth hold of he taketh it so fast that a man
may sooner tear and rend his body in sunder than get open his mouth to
separate his chaps. Certes he regardeth neither wolf, bear, nor lion, and
therefore may well be compared with those two dogs which were sent to
Alexander out of India (and procreated as it is thought between a mastiff
and a male tiger, as be those also of Hircania), or to them that are bred
in Archadia, where copulation is oft seen between lions and bitches, as
the lion is in France (as I said) between she wolves and dogs, whereof let
this suffice, sith the further tractation of them doth not concern my
purpose, more than the confutation of Cardan's talk, _De subt._, lib. 10,
who saith that after many generations dogs do become wolves, and
contrariwise, which if it were true, then could not England be without
many wolves: but nature hath set a difference between them, not only in
outward form, but also in inward disposition of their bones, whereof it is
impossible that his assertion can be sound.