THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES Digitized by tine Internet Archive in 2008 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.archive.org/details/doginbritislipoetOOIeon THE DOG IN BRITISH POETRY THE DOG IN BRITISH POETRY EDITED BY R. MAYNARD LEONARD And when his son hadprepared all things for the journey, Tobit said, Go thou with this man, and God, which dwelleth in Heaven, prosper your journey, and the angel of God keep you compa7iy. So they went forth both, and the yomig man's dog with them. Tobit v. i6. I LONDON Published by DAVID NUTT in the Strand 1893 TO THE CYNICS ^(T^k^^O^S /H PREFACE While tlil^ collection of poems was being made, a well- known author and critic took occasion to gently ridicule anthologies and anthologists. He suggested, as if the force of foolishness could no further go, that the next anthology published would deal with dogs. Undismayed, however, by this, I persevered in my preparations, confident that the voice of the great dog-loving public in this country would drown that of the critic in question. It is rather remarkable that no one has yet published such a book as this. Nearly thirty years ago Mr. G. R. Jesse brought out very valuable 'Researches into the History of the British Dog,' hut his two stout volumes chiefly consisted of prose. Miss Frances Power Cobbe has more recently written ' The Friend of Man—and his friends the Poets,' but she has contrived to cover after a fashion the literature of the whole civilised world in less than two hundred pages, and her chief object seems to have been to attack the practice of vivisection. The ground is, therefore, quite clear for the present volume, but I have to express my indebtedness to both Mr. Jesse and Miss Cobbe. The poems that follow speak for themselves, and show sufficiently the place of the dog in British poetry. It viii PREFACE would be imperjluonn to trace here, the Jihlory of the doij in this coiudry, for that gigantic task has often been attempted from the time of the ' learned Fhisition and flood man,' Dr. Cains, to that of Mr. Ilagh Dalziel in recent years. 1 trill only call attention to the fact that the inhabitants of Great Britain have always highly prized the dog, and we know, too, that the Romans set great value on ' the jiainted Briton's pride.' If evidence ivere needed with regard to the latter statement, I have only to refer the reader to Whitaker's rendering of Faliscus and Oppian, quoted in the importing Section. It is interesting to observe in the following pages the light in which successive generations have regarded the dog. At first, for instance, we find that the poets seem to consider a dog's prowess in the field to be its superlative ' me7-it. It is the hound ' that they celebrate, and they seldom condescend to distinguish between the ' thousand families' to tohich Tickell has referred. Perhaps, incidentally, they admit the animal's usefulness as a guardian of the sheepfold or of the dwelling-house, but they are seldom so unstinting in their praise as Caiyierarius as translated by Molle. Homer, it will be remembered, makes Odysseus, wishing to hide his feelings, ask depreciatingly whether old Argus has been kept merely for ornament ; and Homer is the father of the poets as Plato is of the philosophers. Later we find the hound giving place to the lap-dog, extolled in characteristic fashion by Swift and Gay. More modern poets, on the other hand, do fitting honour to the dog. There is no great poet of latter days who has not loved PREFACE ix the dumb coiiip(udoii.s/tip oj' 'the friend of iniin,' a/thouyh all who have described the dog have not done him equal justice in their verse. Pope's 'poor Indian,' it will be seen, was a pioneer of the belief of modern poets in canine inimortaliti/. I trust that my arrangement of the poems will commend itself. The notes are fuller than those generally supplied to collections of verse, but I have striven to make them more than ordinarily interesting. In the notes will be found my acknowledgments to those authors and publishers who have so kindly given me permission to quote copyright poems. Anonymous verse I have used as sparingly as possible, for the sentiment of the great unknown is more creditable than their style. On the other hand, I have admitted translations from dead languages, but only when done by standard poets. In view of the fact that this book is intended for the general reader, I have not hesitated to omit several passages from various poems, and have moreover modernised the spelling of the more ancient authors. It was 7iever my intention to gather together a complete collection of even British poems about dogs. I have sought to secure a representative rather than an exhaustive anthology, and I believe that I have overlooked no poem bearing directly on dogs that is of any great importance. It has not been possible, however, in every case to gain permission to reproduce copyright poems. Scott has well said, ' The Almighty, who gave the dog to be the companion of our pleasures and our toils, hath invested him with a nature noble and incapable of deceit.' : X PREFACE Tke suhjcrt-niatter of this volume needb- no npoloyij. 'An honest dog 's a nobler theme bi/ far,' an Bloomjield de- clares, than many a one chosen by the poets. lam not con- cerned to defend the merits of the following verse. Most of the poems are good, but some, certainly, do not reach a high poetic standard ; yet I hope that all will be found interesting, even by the cynics to whom I have flung my glove. With regard to some, the reader may very properly bear in mind Cowper's request 'Spare the poet for the subject's sake.' ROBERT MAYNARD LEONARD. — 1 C O N T E N T S Part I. Narralive Poems JOHN BARBOUR 320 ?- ?). page ( 1 1 395 I. BRUCK AND THK BLOODHOUND . 3 GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1328-1400). II. THE RAPE OF CHANTICLEER . 5 BLIND HARRY THE xMINSTREL (d. 1492 ?). III. ON Wallace's track .... 5 WILLIAM STEWART (0. 1481). IV. THE BATTLE ABOUT A DOG ... 7 GEORGE CHAPMAN (i 557-1634). V. ODYSSEUS AND THE SWINEHERD . 9 THOMAS YALDEN (1671-1736). VI. TREACHEROUS TOWSER . lO JOHN GAY (1688-1732). VII. THE YELPING NUISANCE OF THE WAY . 1 VIIL THE MEDDLING MASTIFF . .12 IX. THE TURNSPIT TAUGHT . 14 8 xii CONTENTS ALEXANDER POPE (1688-1744) .age X. ARGUS . .16 OLIVER GOLDSiMITH (1728-1774). XI. THE MAD ])0«i . l? WILLIAM COUTER (i 73 1-1800J. XII, BEAU AND THE WATER LILY . 1 ALEXANDER GEDDES (1737- 1802). XIII. INFALLIBLE DOUSSIEKIE . 20 GEORGE CRABBE (1754- 1832). XIV. THE miser's ONLY FRIEND . 21 ROBERT BURNS (i 759-1 796). X\'. THE TWA DOGS ..... 23 SAMUEL ROGERS (1763- 185 3). XVI. BARRY, THE ST. BERNARD . .2^ THE HON. WILLIAM ROBERT SPENCER (1 770- 1 834). XVII. BETH GELERT ..... 26 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (i 770-1 850). XVIII. A dog's TRAGEDY . 30 XIX. FIDELITY . -31 SIR WALTER SCOTT (i 771 -1832). XX. THE wanderer's DOG ... 34 XXI. BRANKSOMe's heir AND THE HOUND . 36 XXII. POOR YARROW . ^y J 1 CONTENTS xiii ROBERT SOUTHEY (1774-1843)- page . XXIII. RODERICKS FAITHFUL TIIERON . 39 CAROLINE BOWLES SOUTHEY (1787-1854^ XXIV. A TALE OP THE REIGN OP TERROR . 4 CAROLINE FRY (WILSON) (1787- 1846). XXV. THE DOG OF ST. BERNARd's . 47 RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM (1788-1845)- XXVI. sanchOj the bagman's dog . 49 GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON (1788-1824). XXVII. abdiel . • • - 53 XXVIII. AT THE SIEGE OF CORINTH ... 54 XXIX. DON JUAn's spaniel . • - 55 WILLIAM MAGINN (1793- 1842). XXX. ODYSSEUS AND ARGUS ... 5" THOMAS AIRD (1802- 1876). XXXI. FELLOWSHIP IN GRIEF ... 5° RICHARD HENGIST HORNE (1803- 1884). - XXXII. BETH GELERT . • 59 EDWARD BULWER, LORD LYTTON (1803-1873)- XXXIII. GAWAINE AND THE HOUND ... 67 68 XXXIV. BLOODHOUNDS ON ARTHUr's TRACK . MARY HOWITT (i 804-1 XXXV. Tobias's dog . • - 7^ — xiv CONTENTS ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (1806-1861). PAGE XXXVI. FLUSH OR FAUNUS ... 7 ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (1809- 1892). XXXVII. OLD ROA „ ROBERT BROWNING (18 12- 1889). XXXVIII. TRAY A HERO .... 78 WILLIAM ROUNSEVILLE ALGER {b. 1823). XXXIX. charity's eye . 79 SIR EDWIN ARNOLD {b. 1832). XL, mercy's reward . gj ROBERT BUCHANAN {b. 1841). XLI. THE schoolmaster's STORY go GEORGE R. SIMS (6. 1847). XLII. TOLD TO THE MISSIONARY ... 88 UNKNOWN. XLIII. THE DOG AND THE ADDER ... 92 XLIV. MURDER WILL OUT . q^ XLV. DOUBT AS TO IDENTITY . lOO XLVI. THE INDIAN HERo's CREED . lOI Part II. snorting Poemfi GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1328-1400). XLVII, THE FAWNING WHELP .... iqj XLVIII. LYCURGUS' ALAUNS . Io8 CONTENTS XV JULIANA BERNERS (b. 1388?). page XLIX. THE PROPERTIES OF A GOOD GREYHOUNn loS ROBERT CROWLEY (1518 ?-i588). L. SUNDAY BEAR-BAITING . lOQ GEORGE TURBERVILLE (1530?- 1594?). LI. THE BLAZON PRONOUNCED BY THE HUNTSMAN . .110 LII. THE WOPUL WORDS OF THE HART . Ill LIII. THE hare's COMPLAINT . .Ill SIR JOHN HARINGTON (1561 ?-i6i2). LI\'. THE TUMBLER . .112 LV. GREYHOUND IN SLIP . .112 MICHAEL DRAYTON (1563 ?-i63i). LVI. THE COURSING . WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (i 564-1616) LVII. THE MUSIC OF THE HOUNDS . 115 LVIII. RIVAL FAVOURITES 116 LIX. THE BEAR-BAITING CUR 117 LX. ROMAN HUNTING 117 LXI. VENUS WITH ADONIs' HOUNDS 118 SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT (1605-1668). LXII. THE LOMBARD STAGHU NT . II9 SAMUEL BUTLER (i6 12- 1680). LXIII. BEAR-BAITING . .122 xvi CONTENTS 1- PACE JOHN DRYDEN ( 163 1700).