But all
the rest heretofore remembered in this chapter there is none more ugly
and odious in sight, cruel and fierce in deed, nor untractable in
hand, than that which is begotten between the bear and the bandog. For
whatsoever he catcheth hold of he taketh it so fast that a man may
sooner tear and rend his body in sunder than get open his mouth to
separate his chaps. Certes he regardeth neither wolf, bear, nor lion,
and therefore may well be compared with those two dogs which were sent
to Alexander out of India (and procreated as it is thought between a
mastiff and a male tiger, as be those also of Hircania), or to them
that are bred in Archadia, where copulation is oft seen between lions
and bitches, as the lion is in France (as I said) between she wolves
and dogs, whereof let this suffice, sith the further tractation of
them doth not concern my purpose, more than the confutation of
Cardan's talk, _De subt._, lib. 10, who saith that after many
generations dogs do become wolves, and contrariwise, which if it were
true, then could not England be without many wolves: but nature hath
set a difference between them, not only in outward form, but also
inward disposition of their bones, whereof it is impossible that his
assertion can be sound.
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