If it chaunce that the master bee oppressed, either by a multitude, or by the greater violence & so be beaten downe that he lye groueling on the grounde, (it is proued true by experience) that this Dogge forsaketh not his master, no not when he is starcke deade: But induring the force of famishment and the outragious tempestes of the weather, most vigilantly watcheth and carefully keepeth the deade carkasse many dayes, indeuouring, furthermore, to kil the murtherer of his master, if he may get any aduantage. Or else by barcking, by howling, by furious iarring, snarring, and such like meanes betrayeth the malefactour as desirous to haue the death of his aforesayde Master rigorouslye reuenged. An example hereof fortuned within the compasse of my memory. The Dogge of a certaine wayefaring man trauailing from the Citie of London directly to the Towne of Kingstone (most famous and renowned by reason of the triumphant coronation of eight seuerall Kings) passing ouer a good portion of his iourney was assaulted and set vpon by certaine confederate theefes laying in waight for the spoyle in Comeparcke, a perillous bottom, compassed about wyth woddes to well knowne for the manyfolde murders & mischeefeous robberies theyr committed. Into whose handes this passinger chaunced to fall, so that his ill lucke cost him the price of his lyfe. And that Dogge whose syer was Englishe (which Blondus registreth to haue bene within the banckes of his remẽbrance) manifestly perceauyng that his Master was murthered (this chaunced not farre from Paris) by the handes of one which was a suiter to the same womã, whom he was a wooer vnto, dyd both bewraye the bloudy butcher, and attempted to teare out the villons throate if he had not sought meanes to auoyde the reuenging rage of the Dogge. In fyers also which fortune in the silence and dead time of the night, or in stormy weather of the sayde season, the older dogges barcke, ball, howle, and yell (yea notwithstandyng they bee roughly rated) neyther will they stay their tounges till the householde seruauntes, awake, ryse, searche, and see the burning of the fyre, which beyng perceaued they vse voluntary silence, and cease from yolping. This hath bene, and is founde true by tryall, in sundry partes of England. There was no faynting faith in that Dogge, which when his Master by a mischaunce in hunting stumbled and fell toppling downe a deepe dytche beyng vnable to recouer of himselfe, the Dogge signifying his masters mishappe, reskue came, and he was hayled up by a rope, whom the Dogge seeyng almost drawne up to the edge of the dytche, cheerefully saluted, leaping and skipping vpon his master as though he woulde haue imbraced hym, beyng glad of his presence, whose longer absence he was lothe to lacke. Some Dogges there be, which will not suffer fyery coales to lye skattered about the hearthe, but with their pawes wil rake up the burnyng coales, musying and studying fyrst with themselues how it myght conueniently be done. And if so bee that the coales cast to great a heate then will they buyry them in ashes and so remoue them forwarde to a fyt place wyth theyr noses. Other Dogges bee there which exequute the office of a Farmer in the nyghte tyme. For when his master goeth to bedde to take his naturall sleepe, And when,
A hundred barres of brasse and yron boltes,
Make all things safe from startes and from reuoltes.
VVhen Ianus keepes the gate with Argos eye,
That daungers none approch, ne mischiefes nye.
As Virgill vaunteth in his verses, Then if his master byddeth him go abroade, he lingereth not, but raungeth ouer all his lands lying there about, more diligently, I wys, then any farmer himselfe. And if he finde anything their that is straunge and pertaining to other persons besides his master, whether it be man, woman, or beast, he driueth them out of the ground, not medling with any thing which doth belong to the possession and vse of his master. But how much faythfulnes, so much diuersitie there is in their natures,
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For there be some, | Which barcke only with free and open throate but will not bite, Which doe both barcke and byte, Which bite bitterly before they barcke, |
The first are not greatly to be feared, because they themselues are fearefull, and fearefull dogges (as the prouerbe importeth) barcke most vehemently.
The second are daungerous, it is wisedome to take heede of them because they sounde, as it were, an Alarum of an afterclappe, and these dogges must not be ouer much moued or prouoked, for then they take on outragiously as if they were madde, watching to set the print of their teeth in the fleshe. And these kinde of dogges are fearce and eager by nature.
The thirde are deadly, for they flye upon a man, without vtteraunce of voyce, snatch at him, and catche him by the throate, and most cruelly byte out colloppes of fleashe. Feare these kind of Curres, (if thou be wise and circumspect about thine owne safetie) for they bee stoute and stubberne dogges, and set vpon a man at a sodden vnwares. By these signes and tokens, by these notes and argumentes our men discerne the cowardly curre from the couragious dogge the bolde from the fearefull, the butcherly from the gentle and tractable. Moreouer they coniecture that a whelpe of an yll kinde is not worthe the keeping and that no dogge can serue the sundry vses of men so aptly and so conueniently as this sort of whom we haue so largely written already. For if any be disposed to drawe the aboue named seruices into a table, what mã more clearely, and with more vehemency of voyce giueth warning eyther of a wastefull beast, or of a spoiling theefe then this? who by his barcking (as good as a burning beacon) foreshoweth hassards at hand? What maner of beast stronger? what seruaũt to his master more louing? what companion more trustie? what watchman more vigilant? what reuenger more constant? what messinger more speedie? what water bearer more painefull? Finally what packhorse more patient? And thus much concerning English Dogges, first of the gentle kinde, secondly of the courser kinde. Nowe it remaineth that we deliuer vnto you the Dogges of a mungrell or a currishe kinde, and then will wee perfourme our taske.