Annotated Bibliography

11) Brindle. The dogs plea: or reasons most humbly submitted by the barking fraternity of Great Britain, to the men their masters.London, 1753.

Brindle’s account takes on the voice of a dog as an active narrator.  The dog is a narrator, but it takes on the role as intellect/speaker in his debate on the role of dogs.  This is interesting, because the dog is arguing its place in humanity and society, and at one point it accepts its role as a hunting dog.  This account is interesting because it combines the role of dog in Coventry’s Pompey the Little and Cavendish’s “The Hunting of the Hare.”  The brutish/emotionless account of Cavendish’s hunting dog, is combined with the intellect of Pompey, and unites them together in argument and species.  The Hunting Dog and the Lap Dog are one and the same in Brindle’s account of the dog.  However, this is even more interesting because it accepts what the dog is in society.  Brindle’s dog uses its loyalty as a main argument of what the dog is and this can be used if manners and genteelness of the dog is explored within my essay.  This piece does not venture far into the reality of the dog, and is literary source.  This does not change its value, but will not likely be the most valuable of resources.  It will relate mostly to Coventry’s Pompey, as Brindle’s dog has many similarities to Pompey.  However, they differ because of Brindle’s dog’s voice.  This gives the power of a greater intellect to Brindle’s dog, and challenges Descartes idea of intellect being strictly to human and our voice.  

2)  Hamilton, Robert. Remarks on Hydrophobia or the Disease Produced by the Bite of a Mad Dog or Other Rabid Animal. London, 1798.

Hamilton’s piece is an interesting account on the science behind animal diseases and how to cure them.  This is an incredibly long piece and is in two volumes, so I have not yet finished reading it.  It is a scientific look into the discovery of disease in dogs.  This relates life between humanity and animals through disease and death, but shows curiosity in the contraction of disease between species.  This scientific account looks at the dog as a means to finding cures to diseases that are linked to dogs.  This shows the dog as a cur, and not a special animal, as seen in Coventry and Brindle.  This may prove to be interesting as it goes into further detail of the scientific purpose of the dog.  The disease of the dog relates the dog to animals like the rat (rat being a vessel of the plague), as the dog is a vessel of “madness.”  Due to the accounts of authors like Christopher Smart, madness is something that is feared in society, and the dog may be a vessel of this fear.  This piece will be important for my essay as it takes a different approach than the literary defence of the dog.  Hamilton does not defend the dog, rather he creates problems of the dog within society.  He villainizes the dog and creates problems in its role in society.  The madness of the dog lowers its hierarchy to that of the rat, but is even more interesting because it animalizes the dog.  The only problem may be its length, but the table of contents will help me in the research.   

3) Unknown Author. "The Dog Tax." England, 1796.

“The Dog Tax” is a poem by an unknown author, and is a commentary on the role of dogs and the governing of dogs in England during the 18^th Century.  Due to the time it was written, it is a commentary of late English policy of dogs.  It is another literary piece that takes on the voice of the dog, as the tune of the poem is “bow wow wow.”  It shows a sense of fun within the poem, and may be actually be a mocking sense within the author.  This may be interesting to an essay about the history of dogs, as it introduces another level of the dog, which is the political sense and the role in the Empire that the dog played beyond utility.  There is a contrast between dog of utility versus the lap dog, as the prince has a lap dog that snarls at everyone.  The dog may just be a motif in the poem, but it also shows the role of the owner in the embodiment of the dog.  This poem may prove to be useful because it may lead me to research more on the dog tax, that is introduced in other poems that I have found on dogs on ECCO.  However, it is similar to the other poetry and art that I have seen in the contrasting of the lap dog and the work dog, except it paints a more negative image of the lap dog, that is unseen in Coventry and Brindle.