Setter

a dog of the spaniel family. It gets its name from a habit of crouching when it scents its quarry. Darwin thinks this habit merely the exaggerated pause of an animal about to spring upon its prey. While the natural thing for a setter to do is to set or crouch, the dog has been trained to stand rigidly erect like a pointer when it has found game. It is much used as a bird dog in this country. The common setter is a large, handsome, active dog, speedy rather than courageous. Its color is generally white, with large, liver-colored spots. The Irish setter, similar in form and habits, is of a solid, dark, mahogany-red color. The Gordon setter is black with red or tan marks on each side of the muzzle, on the hind legs below the hocks, and on the fore legs below the knees. English setters are divided into two classes, the Lewellyns, and the Laveracks. The former are black, white, and tan in color, the latter black and white.

Seven against Thebes, Expedition of the, in Grecian legend an expedition of seven heroes against Thebes. When Oedipus was driven forth from his kingdom of Thebes, his two sons, Eteocles and Polynices, agreed to share the kingdom and reign alternately year by year. Eteocles had the first turn, and was so delighted with his power that, when the year was up, he refused to surrender the kingdom to his brother. Polynices fled to King Adrastus of Argos for help. Adrastus raised an army to help Polynices, and asked Amphiaraus, his brother-in-law, to join them. Amphiaraus was a soothsayer and, foreseeing disaster and his own death, advised against the expedition. But when Amphiaraus married Adrastus' sister, Eriphyle, he had agreed that any dispute arising between himself and Adrastus should be settled by Eriphyle: Polynices knew this, and bought Eriphyle's favor with the necklace and peplus of Harmonia, which fortunately he had brought with him from Thebes. Eriphyle insisted on the expedition, therefore, and Amphiaraus was obliged to consent. The others who made up the "Seven" were Tydeus, Hippomedon, Capaneus, and Parthenopaeus, king of Arcadia. All met death except Adrastus. This expedition was a favorite subject for the epic and tragic poets of Greece. Ten years later the Epigoni (or descendants), the seven sons of these seven chiefs, undertook a second expedition against Thebes, which was successful. They thus avenged the death of their fathers. See Oedipus