a mere manufactured mongrel, owing its origin to an admixture
of the Great Dane and the dog of the Pyrenees, modified and brought
to type by a cross with the Highland Deerhound. It was not
doubted--indeed, history and tradition clearly attested--that there
had existed in early times in Ireland a very large and rugged hound
of Greyhound form, whose vocation it was to hunt the wolf, the red
deer, and the fox. It was assuredly known to the Romans, and there
can be little doubt that the huge dog Samr, which Jarl Gunnar got
from the Irish king Myrkiarton in the tenth century and took back
with him to Norway, was one of this breed. But it was supposed by
many to have become extinct soon after the disappearance of the last
wolf in Ireland, and it was the endeavour of Captain Graham to
demonstrate that specimens, although admittedly degenerate, were
still to be found, and that they were capable of being restored to
a semblance of the original type.

At the time when he entered into the controversy, Captain Graham had
been actively interesting himself for something like a score of years
in the resuscitation of the breed, and his patience had been well
rewarded. By the year 1881 the Irish Wolfhound had been practically
restored, although it has taken close upon a quarter of a century
to produce the magnificent champions Cotswold and Cotswold Patricia,
those brilliant examples of the modern breed--a brace of Wolfhounds
who bear testimony to the vast amount of energy and perseverance which
Captain Graham and his enthusiastic colleague Major Garnier displayed
in evolving from rough material the majestic breed that holds so
prominent a position to-day.

There is little to be gathered from ancient writings concerning the
size and appearance of the Irish Wolfhounds in early times.
Exaggerated figures are given as to height and weight; but all
authorities agree that they were impressively large and imposing dogs,
and that they were regarded as the giants of the canine race.

It seems extraordinary that so little should have been accurately
known and recorded of a dog which at one time must have been a
familiar figure in the halls of the Irish kings. It was no mere
mythical animal like the heraldic griffin, but an actual sporting
dog which was accepted as a national emblem of the Emerald Isle,
associated with the harp and the shamrock.

As regards the origin of the Irish Wolfhound, more than one theory
is advanced. By some authorit