Various

“ Thus, like some wild-flaming, wild-thundering train of heaven’s artillery, does this mysterious mankind thunder and flame, in long-drawn, quick-succeeding grandeur, through the unknown deep. Thus, like a God-created, fire-breathing spirit-host, we emerge from the Inane, haste stormfully across the astonished earth, then plunge again into the Inane. ”

“ Scotland also was called by the early writers Scotia Minor, and Ireland Scotia Major. The colonization, therefore, of Scotland from Ireland, admits of little doubt. As the Irish wolf-dog was at that time in the enjoyment of his most extended fame, it was not to be expected that the colonists would omit taking with them such a fine description of dog, and which would prove so useful to them in a newly established settlement, and that too at a period when hunting was not merely an amusement, but one of their main occupations, and their main source of subsistence. ”

“ There lived in those days an adventurer, who, alone and unassisted, made it his occupation to destroy these ravagers. The time for attacking them was in the night, and midnight was the best time for doing so, as that was their wonted time for leaving their lair in search of food, when the country was at rest and all was still; then issuing forth, they fell on their defenceless prey, and the carnage commenced. There was a species of dog for the purpose of hunting them, called the wolf-dog; the animal resembled a rough, stout, half-bred greyhound, but was much stronger. ”

“ The Highland or Irish wolf-dog is a stately majestic animal, [Pg 355] extremely good tempered and quiet in his disposition unless when irritated or excited, when he becomes furious, and is, in consequence of his tremendous strength, a truly formidable animal. The size of these dogs has been much exaggerated. Goldsmith asserts that he saw several, some of which were four feet high! We cannot of course credit this, but there is no doubt that they were larger than most other dogs, and indeed the Highland deer-hound is now the tallest dog in existence. ”

“ I am at present acquainted with an old gentleman between 80 and 90 years of age, whose mother remembered wolves to have been killed in the county of Wexford about the year 1730-40; and it is asserted by many persons of weight and veracity that a wolf was killed in the Wicklow mountains so recently as 1770. I have other legends on the subject of wolf-hunting in Ireland in former times, but want of space compels me, for the present at all events, to conclude, which I do, trusting that what I have already written will gratify my readers. ”

“ Joking apart, I wish those who grumble most about Ireland would give us something to do, and find for us some rational occupation which might obviate the daily occurrence of those little extravagances of conduct which render our people a puzzle and a wonder to better regulated communities. ”

“ The amount of exports and imports to and from the Thames is estimated at £66,811,922 sterling annually, and the property floating in this vast city every year is £170,000,000 sterling. These circumstances may be sufficient to convince us of the amazing extent and importance of the capital of the British empire.
No person can be happy without friends. The heart is formed for love, and cannot be satisfied without the opportunity of giving and receiving affection. If we love others, they will love us; and in order to have friends, we must show ourselves friendly. ”

“ The Irish wolf-dog was thus carried into Scotland and became the Highland or Scottish wolf-dog, changing in process of time his name with his country; and in the course of ages when the wolves died out of the land, his occupation being no longer the hunting of those animals but of deer, he became known no longer as the Highland wolf-dog, but as the Highland deer-dog, though indeed he is to the present called by the former of these appellations by many writers both Irish and Scottish. In Ireland the wolves were in existence longer than in Scotland ”

“ There are those who hold this opinion, and there are likewise those who hold that while a particular breed was used, it was a sort of heavy mastiff-like dog, now extinct. It is the object of the present paper to show that not only did Ireland possess a peculiar race of dogs exclusively devoted to wolf-hunting, but that those dogs, instead of being of the mastiff kind, resembled the greyhound in form; and instead of being extinct, are still to be met with, although we are compelled to acknowledge that they are very scarce. ”

“ This fellow was not slow to perceive that a more pleasing and profitable occupation could be found for the exercise of the daring qualities which he possessed, than was afforded in the occasional outbreak at fair or pattern, to which he had hitherto in his simplicity restricted himself. A gentleman in the neighbourhood got into difficulties, and, poor man, had not a soul belonging to him who could direct the laudable exertions his tenants and followers were willing to make in his behalf, or show them how even to dispose of a bailiff. ”

“ To be sure they have their propensities, among the most favourite of which are fighting, farming, and love-making; but should any untoward obstacle prevent their indulgence in any of these tastes, they by no means sink into an apathetic despondency like many of their neighbours: they have too many resources for that, upon some one of which they immediately fall back with as much zeal and energy as if it had been the original occupation of their choice. ”

“ It usually happens that where a great many people are endeavouring each to get a blow at one unfortunate, he against whom this united ill will is directed comes off pretty safe in the scramble. In Ireland, at all events, the luxury of thrashing one’s neighbour is so highly prized, that one can bear no interference when enjoying it, and thus a well-meaning auxiliary in the grateful occupation is likely to fall in for worse treatment than was originally intended for the first victim. ”

“ Are we not spirits, shaped into a body, into an appearance, and that fade away again into air and invisibility? This is no metaphor; it is a simple scientific fact: we start out of nothingness, take figure, and are apparitions; round us, as round the veriest spectre, is eternity ”

“ Public opinion has long been divided respecting the precise appearance and form of this majestic animal, and so many different ideas have been conceived of him, that many persons have been induced to come to the conclusion that no particular breed of dogs was ever kept for wolf-hunting in this country, but that the appellation of “wolf-dog” was bestowed upon any dog swift enough to overtake and powerful enough to contend with and overcome that formidable animal. ”

“ I suppose every body is aware of the indiscretions, irregularities, and extravagances which in that facetious process are alleged against the person whom it seeks to disturb. I need not, therefore, say with what amazement the poor man perused the weighty charges of assault and battery so circumstantially laid against him, or how deeply he puzzled his memory in ransacking it to discover when he could, by any possibility, have committed all these outrages. ”

“ Lombard says that the finest hunting dogs in Europe were produced in Ireland: “Greyhounds useful to take the stag, wild boar, or wolf.” Pennant describes these dogs as scarce, and as being led to the chase in leather slips or thongs, and calls them the “Irish greyhound.” Ray describes him as the “greatest dog” he had ever seen. ”

“ Positively there is no other country on the face of the earth, the inhabitants of which have wrought out for themselves so many different professions, occupations, and ingenious expedients, to make the time pass agreeably: let any change in the constitution of society require the exercise of any particular faculty for good or for evil, and straightway the vacancy is filled up with an expedition and efficiency truly wonderful. Astounding as the proposition may sound to the wise men and women of the empire, the fact is, that Irishmen hate idleness ”

“ An ancient Irish harp, popularly known as the harp of Brian Boriumha, still preserved in Trinity College, Dublin, is ornamented with a figure of the wolf-dog, which, as representing him under the form of a rough strong greyhound, precisely similar to the animal now known as the Highland deer-hound, furnishes an additional argument to the correctness of the position above advanced. ”

“ I shall not say that this neglect on the part of our antiquaries has arisen from a distaste for investigations which, as they require merely a little learning and common sense, allow no indulgence for the mind to soar into the dim and distant upper regions of romance and fanciful conjecture, where such qualities would be found but weighty and earthly incumbrances. ”

“ That the Irish wolf-dog was a tall rough greyhound, similar in every respect to the Highland dog of the present day, I beg to adduce in proof the following authorities:—Strabo mentions a tall greyhound in use among the Pictish and Celtic nations, which he states was held in high esteem by our ancestors, and was even imported into Gaul for the purposes of the chase. ”

“ A settlement is demanded—the inheritor finds himself fifty per cent worse than nothing—redemption is out of the question—he plunges into tenfold dissipation and extravagance, knowing that he wastes nothing which it is in his power to retain or retrieve. A short life and a merry one, is his maxim ”

“ Attempts at landscapes, and the imitation of natural objects, were usually failures in former times, mere works of labour, which did not attain their object; but of late works have been produced in this art, in which are represented groups of flowers and fruit, vases, musical instruments, and other compatible objects, with a truth and beauty which excite the utmost admiration and surprise. ”

“ Generation after generation takes to itself the form of a body, and, forth issuing from Cimmerian night on heaven’s mission, APPEARS. What force and fire is in each he expends: one grinding in the mill of industry ”

“ The Irish greyhound is nearly extinct: it is much taller than a mastiff, but more like a greyhound, and for size, strength, and shape, cannot be equalled. Roderick, King of Connaught, was obliged to furnish hawks and greyhounds to Henry II. Sir Thomas Rue obtained great favour from the Great Mogul in 1615 for a brace of Irish greyhounds presented by him. ”

“ Some rich men spare to-day, as if they feared starving tomorrow, and the indigent often consume in an hour what they may feel the want of for a week. These properties are the more unaccountable, because parsimony is chiefly found to predominate in aged people, who may expect death every day, and extravagance chiefly in the young, who may reasonably hope to live many years; as if old people hoard money because they cannot want it, and young ones throw it away because it is necessary to their subsistence. ”

“ One of the most remarkable facts respecting the size of this dog, is the great disparity which exists between the sizes of the male and female of the breed, many of the latter being very diminutive, while their male offspring invariably attain the full stature of its race. ”

“ Hence it is every one’s duty to cultivate a cheerful and obliging disposition. It is impossible to be happy without it.
He who would do justly to all men, must begin from knowing to be not unjust to himself. ”

“ Still, however, from the imperfection consequent on the recent formation of our collections of antiquities, the era at which seals began to be used in Ireland remains undecided; for although we have no seals of an earlier age than the thirteenth century, it would be as yet premature to conclude that none such ever existed. Till a recent period it was the opinion of the English antiquaries generally that the use of signets was unknown to the Saxons, and was introduced into England by the Normans ”

“ It is needless to paint the dismay which these bold arrangements scattered through the camps of the various claimants, who thus, at the very moment when each congratulated himself upon the immediate prospect of snatching the prize which the operation of nature, anticipating that of law, had thrown into his hands, found this unexpected and formidable opponent start up in their path, with his audacious pretensions, so audaciously, but at the same time so seriously supported. ”

“ No individual of the canine race has attained an equal amount of fame, or excited an equal degree of attention through Europe, not merely in the days of his acknowledged existence amongst our dogs of chase, but even now, that he is considered to be extinct, with that once possessed by the superb creature whose picture adorns our title-page, and an account of whom forms the subject of the present article. ”

“ Silaus calls it also a greyhound, and asserts that it was imported into Ireland by the Belgæ, and is the same with the renowned Belgic dog of antiquity, and that it was, during the days of Roman grandeur, brought to Rome for the combats of the amphitheatre. Pliny relates a combat in which the Irish wolf-dogs took a part; he calls them “Canes Graii Hibernici,” and describes them as much taller than the mastiff. Hollinshed, in speaking of the Irish, says, “They are not without wolves, and greyhounds to hunt them.” ”

“ Truly it would not become an ignorant simple man like him to pretend to settle a question which puzzled the judges themselves. As soon as the rightful owner was declared, he would be ready to quit in his favour ”

“ This animal is nearly extinct. Even Glengarry, whose dogs were once so famous, has not one genuine specimen left, and but a few remain scattered here and there through the north of Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. Mr Nolan’s dog “Oscar,” whose portrait heads this article, is the finest specimen of the kind I have ever seen, standing 281⁄2 inches in height at the shoulders; their average height in their very best days seems to have been about 30 inches. The colour of these dogs varies, but the most esteemed are dark iron-grey, with white breast. This is the colour of Oscar. ”

“ The mansion-house was a strong substantial building, and there, with a judgment that would have been creditable to the most eminent general who ever conquered on a field of battle, he removed his head-quarters, and proceeded to lay in such stores of food, arms, and ammunition as would enable him to meet the danger in a manner worthy of the stake he was playing for. ”