Page:Of-englishe-dogges.djvu/50

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A treatiſe of

his master, whether it be man, woman, or beast, he driueth them out of the ground, not meddling 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,

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 bee wise and circumspect about thine owne safetie) for they be stoute and stubborne dogges, and set vpon a man at a sodden vnwares. By these signes and tokens, by these notes and arguementes 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 mā more clearely, and with more vehemency of voyce giveth warning eyther of a wastefull beaste, or of a spoiling theefe than this? who by his barcking (as good as