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The skin has been of great ufe in all ages. The ancient Britons, before they knew a better method, built their boats with ofiers, and covered them with the hides of bulls, which ferved for short coafting voyages.

Primum cana falix madefacto vimine parvam
Texitur in Puppim, cæfoque induta juvenco,
Vectoris patiens, tumidum fuper emicat amnem:
Sc Venetus ftagnante Pado, fufoque Britannus
Navigat oceano.
LUCAN. lib. iv. 131.

The bending willow into barks they twine;
Then line the work with spoils of slaughter'd kine.
Such are the floats Venetian fishers know,
Where in dull marshes stands the fettling Po;
On fuch to neighbouring Gaul, allured by gain,
The bolder Britons cross the fwelling main.

ROWE.

Veffels of this kind are ftill in ufe on the Irish lakes; and on the Dee and Severn: in Ireland they are called Curach, in England Coracles, from the British Caraugl, a word fignifying a boat of that structure.

At prefent, the hide, when tanned and curried, ferves for boots, fhoes, and numberlefs other conveniencies of life.

Vellum is made of calves fkin, and goldbeaters skin is made of a thin vellum, or a finer part of the ox's guts. The hair mixed with lime is a neceffary article in building. Of the horns are made combs, boxes, handles for knives, and drinking veffels; and when foftened by water, obeying the manufacturer's hand, they are formed into pellucid laminæ for the fides of lanthorns. Thefe laft conveniencies we owe to our great king Alfred, who first invented them to preferve his candle time meafurers from the wind; or (as other writers will have it) the tapers that were fet up before the reliques in the miferable tattered churches of that time.

In medicine, the horns were employed as alexipharmics or antidotes against poifon, the plague, or the fmall-pox; they have been dignified with the title of English bezoar; and are faid to have been found to answer the end of the oriental kind: the chips of the hoofs, and paring of the raw hides, ferve to make carpenters glue.

The bones are ufed by mechanics, where ivory is too expenfive; by which the common people are ferved with many neat conveniencies at an eafy rate. From the tibia and carpus bones is procured an il much ufed by coach-makers and others

in dreffing and cleaning harnefs, and all trappings belonging to a coach, and the bones calcined afford a fit matter for tests for the use of the refiner in the finelting trade.

The blood is ufed as an excellent manure for fruit-trees; and is the bafis of that fine colour, the Pruffian blue.

The fat, tallow, and fuet, furnish us with light; and are alfo ufed to precipitate the falt that is drawn from briny fprings. The gall, liver, spleen, and urine, have alfo their place in the materia medica.

The uses of butter, cheese, cream, and milk, in domeftic economy; and the excellence of the latter, in furnishing a palatable nutriment for most people, whose organs of digeftion are weakened, are too obvious to be infifted on.

§ 3. The SHEEP.

It does not appear from any of the early writers, that the breed of this animal was cultivated for the fake of the wool among the Britons; the inhabitants of the inland parts of this ifland either went entirely naked, or were only cloathed with fkins. Those who lived on the fea-coafts, and were the most civilized, affected the manners of the Gauls, and wore like them a fort of garments made of coarse wool, called Bracha. These they probably had from Gaul, there not being the leaft traces of manufactures among the Britons, in the hiftories of thofe times.

On the coins or money of the Britons are feen impreffed the figures of the horse, the bull, and the hog, the marks of the tributes exacted from them by the conquerors. The Reverend Mr. Pegge was fo kind as to inform me, that he has feen on the coins of Cunobelin that of a sheep. Since that is the cafe, it is probable that our ancestors were poffeffed of the animal, but made no farther use of it than to ftrip off the fkin, and wrap themselves in it, and with the wool inmoft obtain a comfortable protection against the cold of the winter feafon.

This neglect of manufacture may be eafily accounted for, in an uncivilized nation whofe wants were few, and those eafily fatisfied: but what is more furprising, when after a long period we had cultivated a breed of sheep, whofe fleeces were fuperior to those of other countries, we still neglected to promote a woollen manufacture

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at home. That valuable branch of bufinefs lay for a confiderable time in foreign hands; and we were obliged to import the cloth manufactured from our own materials. There feems indeed to have been many unavailing efforts made by our monarchs to preserve both the wool and the manufacture of it among ourfelves: Henry the Second, by a patent granted to the weavers in London, directed that if any cloth was found made of a mixture of Spanish wool, it fhould be burnt by the mayor: yet fo little did the weaving bufinefs advance, that Edward the Third was obliged to permit the importation of foreign cloth in the beginning of his reign; but foon after, by encouraging foreign artificers to fettle in England, and inftruct the natives in their trade, the manufacture increased fo greatly as to enable him to prohibit the wear of foreign cloth. Yet, to fhew the uncommercial genius of the people, the effects of this prohibition were checked by another law, as prejudicial to trade as the former was falutary; this was an act of the fame reign, againit exporting woollen goods manufactured at home, under heavy penalties; while the exportation of wool was not only allowed but encouraged. This overfight was not foon rectified, for it appears that, on the alliance that Edward the Fourth made with the king of Arragon, he prefented the latter with fome ewes and rams of the Cotefwold kind; which is a proof of their excellency, fince they were thought acceptable to a monarch, whofe dominions were fo noted for the fineness of their fleeces.

In the first year of Richard the Third, and in the two fucceeding reigns, our woollen manufactures received fome improvements; but the grand rife of all its profperity is to be dated from the reign of queen Elizabeth, when the tyranny of the duke of Alva in the Netherlands drove numbers of artificers for refuge into this country, who were the founders of that immenfe manufacture we carry on at prefent. We have ftrong inducements to be more particular on the modern state of our woollen manufactures; but we defit, from a fear of digreffing too fat; our enquiries must be limited to points that have a more immediate reference to the study of Zoology.

No country is better fupplied with materials, and thofe adapted to every species of the clothing bufinels, than Great Bri

tain; and though the fheep of these islands afford fleeces of different degrees of goodnefs, yet there are not any but what may be ufed in fome branch of it. Herefordfhire, Devonshire, and Cotefwold downs, are noted for producing fheep with remarkably fine fleeces; the Lincolnshire and Warwickshire kind, which are very large, exceed any for the quantity and goodness of their wool. The former county yields the largeft fheep in these islands, where it is no uncommon thing to give fifty guineas for a ram, and a guinea for the admiffion of a ewe to one of the valuable males; or twenty guineas for the use of it for a certain number of ewes during one feafon. Suffolk alfo breeds a very valuable kind. The fleeces of the northern parts of this kingdom are inferior in finenefs to thofe of the fouth; but ftill are of great value in different branches of our manufactures. The Yorkshire hills furnifh the looms of that county with large quantities of wool; and that which is taken from the neck and fhoulders is used (mixed with Spanish wool) in fome of their fineft cloths.

Wales yields but a coarfe wool; yet it is of, more extenfive ufe than the fineft Segovian fleeces; for rich and poor, age and youth, health and infirmities, all confefs the univerfal benefit of the flannel manufa&ture.

The sheep of Ireland vary like thofe of Great Britain. Thofe of the fouth and eaft being large, and their flesh rank. Thofe of the north, and the mountainous parts, fmall, and their flesh fweet. The fleeces in the fame manner differ in degrees of value.

Scotland brceds a fmall kind, and their fleeces are coarfe. Sibbald (after Boethius) fpeaks of a breed in the ifle of Rona, covered with blue wool; of another kind in the ifle of Hirta, larger than the biggest he-goat, with tails hanging almost to the ground, and horns as thick, and longer than thofe of an ox. He mentions another kind, which is cloathed with a mixture of wool and hair; and a fourth fpecies, whofe flesh and fleeces are yellow, and their teeth of the colour of gold; but the truth of thefe relations ought to be enquired into, as no other writer has mentioned them, except the credulous Boethius. Yet the lait particular is not to be rejected: for notwithstanding I cannot inftance the teeth of fheep, yet I faw in the fummer of 1772,

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at Athol house, the jaws of an ox, with teeth thickly incrufted with a gold-coloured pyrites; and the fame might have happened to those of sheep had they fed in the fame grounds, which were in the valley beneath the house.

Befides the fleece, there is fcarce any part of this animal but what is useful to mankind. The flesh is a delicate and wholefome food. The skin dreffed, forms different parts of our apparel; and is ufed for covers of books. The entrails, properly prepared and twifted, ferve for trings for various mufical inftruments. The bones calcined (like other bones in general) form materials for tests for the refiner. The milk is thicker than that of cows, and confequently yields a greater quantity of butter and cheese; and in fome places is fo rich, that it will not pro. duce the cheese without a mixture of water to make it part from the whey. The dung is a remarkably rich manure; infomuch that the folding of fheep is become too ufeful a branch of hufbandry for the farmer to neglect. To conclude, whether we confider the advantages that refult from this animal to individuals in particular, or to thefe kingdoms in general, we may with Columella confider this in one fenfe, as the first of the domeftic animals. Poft majores quadrupedes ovilli pecoris fecunda ratio eft; quæ prima fit fi ad utilitatis magnitudinem referas. Nam id præcipue contra frigoris violentiam protegit, corporibufque noftris liberaliora præbet velamina; et etiam elegantium menfas jucundis et numerofis dapibus exornat.

The sheep, as to its nature, is a most innocent, mild, and fimple animal; and, confcious of its own defenceless state, remarkably timid if attacked when attended by its lamb, it will make fome fhew of defence, by ftamping with its feet, and pufhing with its head it is a gregarious animal, is fond of any jingling noife, for which reason the leader of the flock has in many places a bell hung round its neck, which the others will conftantly follow: it is fubject to many diseases: fome arife from

infects which depofit their eggs in different parts of the animal; others are caused by their being kept in wet pastures; for as the fheep requires but little drink, it is naturally fond of a dry foil. The dropfy, vertigo, (the pendro of the Welth) the phthific, jaundice, and worms in the liver, annually make great havoc among our flocks: for the firit difeale the shepherd finds a remedy by turning the infected into fields of broom; which plant has been alfo found to be very efficacious in the fame diforder among the human species.

The fheep is alfo infefted by different forts of infects: like the horse it has its peculiar ceftrus or gadfly, which depofits its eggs above the nofe in the fronted finuses; when thofe turn into maggots they become exceffive painful, and caufe_thofe violent agitations that we so often fee the animal in. The French fhepherds make a common practice of eafing the sheep, by trepanning and taking out the maggot; this practice is fometimes used by the English fhepherds, but not always with the fame fuccefs: be fides thefe infects, the sheep is troubled with a kind of tick and loufe, which magpies and starlings contribute to ease it of, by lighting on its back, and picking the infects off.

§ 4. The Doc.

Dr. Caius, an English physician, who flourished in the reign of queen Elizabeth, has left, among feveral other tracts relating to natural hiftory, one written expressly on the fpecies of British dogs: they were wrote for the ufe of his learned friend Gefner; with whom he kept a strict correfpondence; and whose death he laments in a very elegant and pathetic manner.

Befides a brief account of the variety of dogs then exifting in this country, he has added a fyftematic table of them his method is so judicious, that we shall make use of the fame; explain it by a brief account of each kind; and point out those that are no longer in use among us.

SYNOPSIS

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The first variety is the Terrarius or Terrier, which takes its name from its fubterraneous employ; being a small kind of hound, used to force the fox, or other beats of prey, out of their holes; and (in former times) rabbets out of their burrows

into nets.

The Leverarius, or Harrier, is a fpecies well known at prefent; it derives its name from its ufe, that of hunting the hare: but under this head may be placed the foxhound, which is only a stronger and fleeter variety, applied to a different chase.

The Sanguinarius, or Blood-hound, or the Sleuthounde of the Scots, was a dog of great ufe, and in high esteem with our anceftors: its employ was to recover any game that had efcaped wounded from the hunter; or been killed and ftole out of the foreft. It was remarkable for the acutenefs of its fimell, tracing the loft beaft by the blood it had spilt: from whence the name is drived: This fpecies could, with the utmost certainty, discover the thief by following his footsteps, let the diftance of his Hight be ever fo great, and through the moft fecrct and thickeft coverts: nor would

Wappe
Turnipit
Dancer.

it ceafe its purfuit, till it had taken the felon. They were likewife ufed by Wallace and Bruce during the civil wars. The poetical hiftorians of the two heroes frequently relate very curious paffages on this subject; of the fervice thefe dogs were of to their mafters, and the elcapes they had from thofe of the enemy. The blood-hound was in great requeft on the confines of England and Scotland; where the borderers were continually preying on the herds and flocks of their neighbours. The true blood-hound was large, ftrong, mufcular, broad breasted, of a ftern countenance, of a deep tancolour, and generally marked with a black fpot above each eye.

The next divifion of this fpecies of dogs, comprehends thofe that hunt by the eye: and whofe fuccefs depends either upon the quicknefs of their fight, their swiftness, or their fubtilty.

The Agafeus, or Gaze-hound, was the firft: it chafed indifferently the fox, hare, or buck. It would felect from the herd the fatteft and faireft deer; pursue it by the eye: and if loft for a time, recover it again by its fingular diftinguishing facul

ty;

ty; and fhould the beast rejoin the herd, this dog would fix unerringly on the fame. This fpecies is now loft, or at least un

known to us.

It must be observed that the Agafæus of Dr. Caius, is a very different fpecies from the Agaffeus of Oppian, for which it might be mistaken from the fimilitude of names; this he defcribes as a fmall kind of dog, peculiar to Great-Britain; and then goes on with thefe words;

Γυρὸν, ἀσαρκότατον, λασιότριχον, ἔμμασι
κωθές.

Curvum, macilentum, hifpidum, oculis pigrum. what he adds afterwards. ftill marks the difference more strongly;

Ρίνεσι δ' αὖτε μάλιςα πανέξηκος είν
ἀγασσες.

Naribus autem longè præftantiffimus eft agaffeus. From Oppian's whole defcription, it is plain he meant our Beagle.

The next kind is the Leporarius, or Grey-hound. Dr. Caius informs us, that it takes its name quod præcipui gradus fit zater canes, the first in rank among dogs: that it was formerly esteemed fo, appears from the foreft laws of king Canute; who enacted, that no one under the degree of a gentleman thould prefume to keep a gre-hound; and (till more strongly from an old Welfh faying; Wrth ei Walch, ei Farch, a'i Filgi, yr adwaenir Bonbeddig: which fignies, that you may know a gentleman by his hawk, his horse, and his grehound.

Freiffart relates a fact not much to the credit of the fidelity of this fpecies; when that unhappy prince, Richard the Second, was taken in Flint caftle, his favourite gre-hound immediately deferted him, and fawned on his rival Bolingbroke; as if he understood and forefaw the misfortunes of the former,

The variety called the Highland grehound, and now become very scarce, is cf a very great fize, ftrong, deep-chefted, and covered with long and rough hair. This kind was much esteemed in former days, and used in great numbers by the powerful chieftains in their magnificent hunting matches. It had as fagacious noftrils as the Blood-hound, and was as fierce. This feems to be the kind Boethius ftyles genus venaticum cum celerrimum tum audaciffimum: nec modo in feras, fed in hoftes etiam latronefque: præfertim fi dominum ductoremve injuriam offici cernat aut in vos concitetur.

The third ipecies is the Levinarius or Lorarius; the Leviner or Lyemmer: the first name is derived from the lightness of the kind, the other from the old word Lyemme, a thong; this fpecies being used. to be led in a thong, and flipped at the game. Our author fays, that this dog was a kind that hunted both by fcent and fight; and in the form of its body obferved a medium between the hound and the grehound. This probably is the kind now known to us by the name of the Irish gre-hound, a dog now extremely scarce. in that kingdom, the late king of Poland having procured from them as many as poffible. I have feen two or three in the whole island: they were of the kind called by M. de Buffon Le grand Danois, and probably imported there by the Danes, who long poffeffed that kingdom. Their ufe feems originally to have been for the chase of wolves, with which Ireland fwarmed till the latter end of the lalt century. As foon as thofe animals were extirpated, the numbers of the dogs decreased; for from that period they were kept only for ftate.

The Vertagus, or Tumbler, is a smooth fpecies; which took its prey by mere fubtilty, depending neither on the fagacity of its nofe, nor its swiftnefs: if it came into a warren, it neither barked, nor ran on the rabbets; but by a feeming neglect of them, or attention to fomething else, deceived the object till it got within reach, so as to take it by a fudden fpring. This dog was less than the hound; more fcraggy, and had prickt-up ears; and by Dr. Caius's defcription feems to answer to the modern lurcher.

The third divifion of the more generous dogs, comprehends those which were used, in fowling; firft the Hifpaniolus, or fpaniel: from the name it may be fuppofed that we were indebted to Spain for this breed: there were two varieties of this kind, the first used in hawking, to spring the game, which are the fame with our ftarters.

The other variety was used only for the net, and was called Index, or the fetter; a kind well known at prefent. This kingdom has long been remarkable for producing dogs of this fort, particular care having been taken to preferve the breed in the utmoft purity. They are ftill diftinguished by the name of English fpaniels; fo that notwithstanding the derivation of the name, it is probable they are natives of GreatBritain. We may ftrengthen our fufpicion by faying, that the first who broke a dog

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