That I may vse the wordea of the Poet Gratius. This dogge exceedeth all other in cruell conditions, his leering and fleering lookes, his steame 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 holde, 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 Bulle and may wortherly (as I think,) be companpiō 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.
VSe and custome hath intertaiued 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. 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. Ερωμεν αλλοτριαν, παϱοϱμεν συγγενεις.
Outlandishe toyes we take with delight
Things of our owne nation we haue in despight.
Which fault remaineth not in vs concerning dogges only, but for artificers also. And why? it is to manyfest that wee disdayne and contempne our owne workmen, be they neuer so skilfull, be they neuer so cunning, be they neuer so excellent. A beggerly beast brought out of barbarous borders, fro' the vttermost countryes Northward, &c., we stare at, we gase at, we muse, we maruaile at, like an asse of Cumanum, like Thales with the brasen shancks, like the man in the Moone.
