, and thence was derived the term
greyhound
. This derivation, however, is somewhat too far-fetched.
occurs of the greyhound in a very early period of the British history. He was an inmate of the Anglo-Saxon kennels in the time of Elfric, king of Mercia. There are paintings of him that can be satisfactorily traced to the ninth century.
the time of Canute he was reckoned first in degree of rank among the canine species, and no one under the degree of a gentleman,
liberalis
, or more properly, perhaps a
freeholder