lk-Lore of the Northern Counties," p. 48.

[413] See "English Folk-Lore," p. 101.

[414] See Hardwick's "Traditions, Superstitions, and
Folk-Lore," p. 171.

Capitolinus narrates, too, how the dogs, by their howling, presaged the
death of Maximinus. The idea which associates the dog's howl with the
approach of death is probably derived from a conception in Aryan
mythology, which represents a dog as summoning the departing soul.
Indeed, as Mr. Fiske[415] remarks, "Throughout all Aryan mythology, the
souls of the dead are supposed to ride on the night-wind, with their
howling dogs, gathering into their throng the souls of those just dying
as they pass by their houses."

[415] "Myths and Mythmakers," 1873, p. 36.

Another popular superstition--in all probability derived from the
Egyptians--refers to the setting and rising of Sirius, or the dog-star,
as infusing madness into the canine race. Hence the name of the
"dog-days" was given by the Romans to the period between the 3d of July
and the 11th of August, to which Shakespeare alludes in "Henry VIII."
(v. 3): "the dog-days now reign." We may, too, compare the words of
Benvolio, in "Romeo and Juliet" (iii. 1):

"For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring."

It is obvious, however, that this superstition is utterly groundless,
for not only does the star vary in its rising, but is later and later
every year. The term "dog-day" is still a common phrase, and it is
difficult to say whether it is from superstitious adherence to old
custom, or from a belief in the injurious effect of heat upon dogs, that
the magistrates, often unwisely, at this season of the year order them
to be muzzled or tied up. It was the practice to put them to death; and
Ben Jonson, in his "Bartholomew Fair," speaks of "the dog-killer" in
this month of August. Lord Bacon, too, in his "Sylva Sylvarum," tells us
that "it is a common experience that dogs know the dog-killer, when, as
in times of infection, some petty fellow is sent out to kill them.
Although they have never seen him before, yet they will all come forth
and bark and fly at him."

A "curtal dog," to which allusion is made in "Merry Wives of Windsor"
(ii. 1), by Pistol--

"Hope is a curtal dog in some affairs,"

denoted "originally the dog of an unqualified person, which, by the
forest laws, must have its tail cut short, partly as a mark, and partly
from a notion that the tail of a dog is necessary to hi