Est hic urcanus, sæva bestia, & intractabilis iræ (ut Gratii poetæ verbis utar) cæteros canes nostros omnes feroci crudelitate superans, vel aspectus torvitate terribilis, in pugna acris & vehemens, tantaque mordacitate, ut citius discerpas quàm dissolvas; nec lupum nec taurum, ursum aut leonem reformidat: vel cum cane illo Alexandri Indico certe conferendus. Sed de his hactenus ut de Britannicis verba fecimus.
The _Vrcane_ which is bred of a beare and a dogge,
Is fearce, is fell, is stoute and stronge, And byteth sore to fleshe and bone, His furious force indureth longe In rage he will be rul'de of none.
That I may vse the wordes of the Poet _Gratius_, This dogge exceedeth all other in cruell conditions, his leering and fleering lookes, his stearne and sauage vissage, maketh him in sight feareful and terrible, he is violent in fighting, & wheresoeuer he setteth his tenterhooke teeth, he taketh such sure & fast hold that a man may sooner teare and rende him in sunder, then lose him and seperate his chappes. He passeth not for the Wolfe, the Beare, the Lyon, nor the Bull, and may wortherly (as I thinke) be companiõ with _Alexanders_ dogge which came out of _India_. But of these, thus much, and thus farre may seeme sufficient.
A starte to outlandishe Dogges in this conclusion, not impertinent to the Authors purpose.
[Externi canes.] Externos aliquos & eos majusculos, Islandicos dico & Littuanicos, usus dudum recepit: quibus toto corpore hirtis, ob promissum longumque pilum, nec vultus est, nec figura corporis.
Vse and custome hath intertained other dogges of an outlandishe kinde, but a fewe and the same beyng of a pretty bygnesse, I meane Iseland, dogges curled & rough al ouer, which by reason of the lenght of their heare make showe neither of face nor of body.
[Externa prælata.] Multis tamen quòd peregrini sunt, & grati sunt, & in Melitæorum locum assumpti sunt: usque adeo deditum est humanum genus etiam sine ratione novitatibus. #erômen allotriôn, parorômen sungeneis#, miramur aliena, nostra non diligimus.
And yet these curres, forsoothe, because they are so straunge are greatly set by, esteemed, taken vp, and made of many times in the roome of the Spaniell gentle or comforter. The natures of men is so moued, nay rather marryed to nouelties without all reason, wyt, iudgement or perseueraunce. #Erômen allotriôn, parorômen sungeneis#.