Note 360 — CANES VENATICI. Class I.
William Dansey translation
Minshæi Emendat. p. 451.
The duke considers alauntz primarily derived from Spain, not natives of Britain; “As men clepyn greihoundes of England of Scotland and of Bretayn right so the alauntez and the houndes for the hawke cometh out of Spayn.” Minsheu deduces Alani “à regione quadam Epyri, quæ Albania dicitur, undè primùm advecti creduntur hi canes.” But they probably were bull-dogs in the common acceptation of the term.
The reader will remember the Alauntes of Chaucer, on which Dryden has bestowed rejuvenescence under the type of greyhounds, attendants of “the surly king of Thrace:”
Palamon and Arcite. B. 3.
Ten brace, and more, of greyhounds, snowy fair, And tall as stags, ran loose, and cours’d around his chair; A match for pards in flight, in grappling for the bear.