By Rawdon Briggs Lee
ALTHOUGH in the foregoing pages I have given
fourteen chapters to what may well be called
different varieties of the terrier, several of the race
remain yet unrepresented, and without any reproach
on the character of those already described, there
are other terriers quite equal to such as are given
precedence in the ” Stud Book ” and by me.
A few years ago an ” Old English Terrier Club ‘
was formed, and it sought to bring out of various
country districts that hardy, hard-bitten game dog
common thereto, and which was used for work.
So far this club has done its work but moderately ;
a few good dogs were through it introduced, but too
often the winner, in the special classes provided
were either Airedale terriers or Welsh terriers, and
a case has been known where a dog was by the
judges given honours in both its own class as an
Airedale terrier and in that for the so-called old
English variety, which is no variety at all.
Few sporting country districts are or were without
their own special strain of terriers, in which appear-
ance was of little object so long as gameness
predominated. By ” gameness ‘ : I do not mean
partiality to fighting and cat-killing, and standing
being cut up piece-meal without flinching or
whimpering, but killing vermin and going to
ground after fox, or badger, or otter wild animals,
and not tame, domesticated, and semi-tame
creatures. I have seen a dog of great excellence
and gameness in a street fight, which would
run away and yelp when a big buck rat seized
him by the nose. One harm dog shows have done,
they have distracted attention from the hardy,
intelligent, maybe cross-bred terrier, to what is
generally a more effeminate creature, though maybe
handsomer in markings and narrower in the chest.
As a matter of fact, a really first-class dog for the
show bench is far too valuable a creature to run any
risk of being killed underground by a badger or by
an earth or rock that might fall upon him.
Fancy a five hundred pound fox terrier running
after Tommy Dobson’s hounds over the mountains
of Eskdale, or doing the rough work that is required
of such dogs as the Robsons keep up in Northumber-
land ! Every time such dogs as these go out they
carry, as it were, ” their lives in their hands.” They
have to kennel with hounds who might worry
them, live on rough but homely fare, swim through
wet drains, or go to ground in huge fox earths from
which they may never see the light of heaven again.
There is the danger of receiving fatal wounds from
their game of fox or otter, sweetmart or foulmart,
any of which may tear up a nose or split an ear,
and finish the recipient of such an injury so far as
the show-bench would be concerned. There are
terriers which I have already described kept for the
latter alone, and no doubt many of them are game
enough, but for wild, rough work of hunting in its
various forms, other terriers are required as assistants
to the hounds, and such of them as I know shall
come under the heading of this chapter. And note
at the outset that I believe that the terriers of which
I am about to write have far hardier constitutions,
and are stronger physically than their more fashion-
able cousins. I have had prize fox terriers of my
own, about as good and game as ever were made,
properly trained, and entered and kennelled with
hounds. Such would go to ground and do all that
was required of them, but after a long day they re-
quired carrying home, when the so-called “mongrels”
were trudging away at the tails of the hounds.
They have heart enough, and the inclination,
but the physical strength is deficient.
There is or was no particular range or locality for
these working terriers ; they extended from Northum-
berland in the north, to Devonshire in the west, and
were to be met with in almost every intermediate
county.
Away in Devonshire the Rev. John Russell
possessed some almost entirely white, hard-jacketed
little fellows, whose good qualities are not yet for-
gotten. Then in far distant Yorkshire we had
another terrier, equally game and better looking,
and from which has sprung the rough-coated fox
terrier now so numerous at our leading dog shows.
Wherever hunting the fox, the badger, or the otter
was followed these good terriers were found, and
perhaps, with the two exceptions named and a few
others, such were black and tan, yellow or red of
various shades, or pepper and salt. Many of them
had some white on their breasts, a white foot or
two, and a dash of the same between the black
nose and the dark, piercing little eyes was not
uncommon. Such dogs varied in size, but were
usually less than 2olb. in weight, and if well trained
and entered, proved admirable hands at destroying
vermin. Some of them were fawn or red, others
pepper and salt. Old Will Norris, for fifty years
or more a noted earth-stopper connected with the
East Kent hounds, had a terrier which, to judge
from an engraving in the Sporting Magazine about
1 833, was an exact counterpart of some of those shown
not long ago by Mr. C. H. Beck, Dr. Edwardes-Ker,
Mr. Ashwen, and others as Welsh terriers. Yet his
was purely a local strain, that would well have been
worth preserving.
One has distinct recollections of various strains
of terriers, not show dogs, but animals kept as
companions, and trained to hunt and do the work
intended for them. Such had always good legs
and feet and strong constitutions, the latter not
a sine qua non in the champions of the present
era. The north of England was usually prolific
in producing terriers ; the working artisans in the
manufacturing centres owned them ; the masters
of hounds who hunted the foxes on the hills and
mountains, where horses could not follow, and only
few men, always required a ” creeping terrier,” that
would bolt a fox or worry him in the hole if he
refused to face the open. Some had a dash of bull
terrier blood in them, others had not. Of the former
was a well-known dog called Tory, about 22lb.
weight, with ears cropped. He was all white, had a
hard, wiry coat, narrow in front, possessed of good
legs and feet, and built somewhat on racing lines.
The latter gave him such pace, and he was so good
a killer, that he often ran far into a stake for
whippets, which were nothing else but miniature
greyhounds. Tory was a poacher’s dog ; he could
drive hares into the nets at night, and be useful with
the ferrets in the daytime ; moreover, as a killer of
vermin and cats unequalled, he was always in
request when the “mart-hunters’ required assist-
ance to their fox and otter hounds. He was quiet
and good-tempered, but when roused could fight
with, and more than hold his own against, any
quarrelsome collie in the district. The last of his
strain was Tory where he came from I know not
but as a workman no better dog ever lived.
About the same period, or a little later, a sporting
stonemason had a little terrier, not more than 61b. in
weight, a cross-bred one, with a longish coat, and
not the slightest sign of the Yorkshire toy about her,
which was a perfect wonder. As the fellow said,
” killing a score of rats was a little holiday to her,”
she would buckle a fox, and her love for creeping
was an actual nuisance, for if she ever saw an open
drain or sewer, ferret-like she would give herself a
shake, and immediately disappear on an exploration
sub-terrestrial. The only other bond fide toy I ever
knew that is, a dog under 61b. weight that loved
creeping was a little yellow bitch, which went with
the Stockton otter hounds some dozen years or so
ago. This was a game little creature, but, un-
fortunately, excitement with hounds, and a ” mark’
at some holt, repeatedly brought on a fit, which
quite spoiled the pleasure of seeing her good work.
Amongst other notable terriers was one of my own
earliest possessions, that was peculiar only so in
appearance. He was a chestnut in colour, darker
on the back, and shading down to tan on the legs
and sides ; his nose, too, was of the same hue, and
his eyes formed an exact match. Handsomeness
was not his characteristic. Then we called him a
Scotch terrier, now his coat would have been plucked
to make him eligible for the Welsh terrier class. His
accomplishments were many, for, in addition to
leaping through hoops, sitting up, and walking on
his hind legs, he could retrieve fur and feather well
and quickly. In the field, either above or under
ground, he would do all required of a terrier, and, as
a rat hunter at the water’s edge, he had few
superiors ; and a big, strong rat in the river or canal
affords sport well, certainly of a higher class than
pigeon shooting and rabbit coursing with fox terriers.
A little hard-coated, dirty-coloured fawn bitch,
about i61b. weight, of the common strain the writer
possessed, showed a wonderful nose (we broke them
to trail hunting when about six months old), and at
seven she would run the scent of a rabbit skin a
couple of miles and beat all competitors. Unfortu-
nately, this bitch was ill-natured, and was not kept
long. Several of her sisters, brothers, and cousins
were celebrities in their various stations of life. They
could kill a fox or foulmart, and were what is known
now as being ” dead game.” These were longish-
coated dogs, generally in colour fawn, or fawn tinged
with brown, varying from I4lb. to 2olb. in weight;
they had small drop ears, which sometimes hung
down at the sides of the cheeks, and possessed a
certain amount of otter-hound character. Rather
more terrier-like was a strain once kept by the
gunpowder makers at Elterwater, in the English
lake district, where there was a pack of otter hounds.
The, men here living almost at the foot of the
lake mountains, had ample opportunity to try their
dogs with the mountain foxes, marts, and stoats,
which in past days were not uncommon. One of
the coopers possessed a little, pale red bitch called
Worry, not more than i4lb. in weight, and worth
her weight in gold, so everybody said. That she
was a good one could not be doubted ; a five-
pound note was more than once refused for her, and
her owner got from fifteen to twenty shillings each
for her puppies. In those times half-a-crown was a
common price for a four weeks old puppy, and less
than a sovereign for a broken dog. Thus Worry’s
reputation was a great one, and when I saw her
without a whimper, and with little trouble, kill a
huge foulmart in a plantation by the river side, it
was plain enough that her reputation had not been
obtained by fraudulent means.
Such terriers as the latter were, half a century
and longer ago, common enough in Cumberland
and Westmoreland. The old printer, who taught
me how to dress flies and catch trout, was never
tired of talking about his little Pepper, who had,
however, died long before I was born. Poor little
chap, they docked his tail on the ” making-up
stone ‘ in the ” composing ‘ room of a now defunct
local newspaper, and then took him into the editorial
office below, where the carrier had brought from
Martindale Fells a beautiful ” sweetmart ” (Martes
foina). Notwithstanding the still bleeding stump,
Pepper was ready for the fray, and, though in the
combat his nose was twice split, the formidable
“marten cat ‘ : was ultimately made ready for the
earlier process of the taxidermist’s skill. Worry,
mated with another wonderfully game terrier a
dark-coloured one, Cockerton’s Crab produced a
litter of puppies, one of which won prizes in the
earlier days of dog shows. Crab won second prize
at Kendal show in 1872, had no superior under
ground, and many are the foxes he has driven from,
or killed in, the huge earths, which are, however, of
B B rock, that honeycomb Whitbarrow Scar. Mr.
W. H. B. Cockerton, of Richmond, Surrey, has in
his possession a portrait of his brother taken over
thirty years ago, in which one of this strain of
terriers occupies a leading position. This variety
of a useful sort of dog is now lost. No care was
taken to breed him in continuity, there was no
adoption of type, and on the introduction of the
smooth fox terrier, which could be sold for more
money, the less fashionable and coarser looking
creature had to give way.
Of these North-country terriers a correspondent,
writing from Devonshire to the Field in 1886, says :
” The dormant spirit of an old fell hunter has
recently been keenly awakened at the mention of
the Elterwater terriers, which breed, I am informed,
is nearly extinct. Thirty years ago Mr. Robinson,
of Elterwater, kept a pack of rough hounds equally
good at otter or marten cat. The summers were
devoted to the pursuit of the ‘ fishmonger’; in the
winter the marten cat was our game. I can endorse
every word of your correspondent as to the game-
ness of the terriers that followed Tom Myers (the
huntsman) over crag and fell. The origin of the
breed is rather confused, and not to be relied on ; ‘Ye
ken John Peel, I reckon ? one of his sort,’ was the
usual Westmorland reply to the inquiring stranger.
” Let me try to describe one of the best terriers
that ever went to ground after otter, badger, fox,
or marten. Old Mart weighed 12lb. or 14lb. ; long-
backed, broken-haired, with black back and tan
legs ; a small head, with powerful jaws ; ears small
and tulip-shaped so small that they almost looked
as if they had been cropped. Then there was
Wasp, out of Mart by a dog that followed the
Patterdale hounds. Wasp was low set, of a blueish
colour, smaller than her mother in fact, she
reminded you of a diminutive Bedlington. Then
we had a larger terrier, broken-haired, which I
always fancied had a touch of the bull in him.
One who has hunted on foot with them for ten
years, and is now nearly ‘ shelved,’ may be pardoned
for a little senile egotism.
” Let me relate the pluck of these three little
beauties. Returning home from a marten hunt
from Seat Sandal, our terriers marked, and went
to ground under Helm Crag, which consists of large
boulders and loose stones. We were not long waiting
before a scrimmage was taking place far beneath
us. To get them away by calling was useless ;
the labour of removing the rubbish was immense.
With the aid of some willing assistance, after
working all night, we came upon the terriers with
their foe, a badger. They had fought the badger
for more than ten hours. Poor Mart was lifted out
almost lifeless, and never recovered her assailant’s
bites ; Pincher lost his nose, and his frontispiece
was forever marked ; while little Wasp seemed to
have escaped with few scars. Rydal Head and
Helvellyn have been the scenes of many a joyous
hunting day after marten cat and foulmart.
” I brought down to North Devon a pup of
Wasp’s ; she did not disgrace the courage of her
progenitors. Many an otter has she tackled on
the river Taw, and on my fishing excursions my
faithful companion has roused me by her fighting
an otter under the banks. After a time otter
and. terrier would bolt into the river, Vic holding
on and going under water with the otter until
breath failed. I regret to say that old age has
told its tale, and she has departed a game and
faithful companion for fourteen years.
” The Elterwater terriers had plenty of go in
them, and no shaking or trembling at your heels,
in frost and snow, like so many of the terriers of the
present day.”
Of course, masters of otter hounds continue to
keep hard cross-bred terriers, for it is a fact that
a majority of the fashionably bred ones cannot
stand hard, wet work and kennel living. Mr.
Carrick, when master of the Carlisle pack, had that
wonderful little fellow Teddy and many others.
But one equally good, and which had appearance
likewise to recommend him, was Mr. Wilkinson’s
favourite when he had his hounds at Neasham
Abbey. The name of this terrier, which we have
seen drive three otters from one drain, we cannot
just call to mind ; he was a miniature of that grand
old Adam which, shown by McAdam Graham, more
than once figured on the show-bench successfully.
Almost all huntsmen^who work the rough districts
of England and Wales have dogs which will do the
duty required of them, and to some such are
invaluable. Mr. John Benson had some hard
terriers running with the West Cumberland otter
hounds, and for two or three seasons a good-looking
white “show-ring dog” did yeoman’s service, at times
swimming with the hounds as well as going to
ground as occasion required. This was one of
the few exceptions where handsomeness and utility
were combined in one fox terrier.
Away in the wildest portions of the Cumberland
lake district, little Tommy Dobson, bobbin-turner
by trade and foxhunter by inclination and repute,
is as well known as ever Dick Christian was with
the Quorn ; but Dobson has to kill his foxes up
in the hills and fastnesses of Eskdale, round about
Wast Water, and elsewhere, amidst rocks and
crags. He does this by running them to ground
with a few couples of foxhounds, of a lighter build
than those of Leicestershire and other hunting
countries. When once marked, the terriers do the
remainder, in many cases killing the fox in his
earth, in others maiming him so that he is easily
caught by the hounds, and in the remainder making
the “red rover” bolt, when he perhaps will make
the best of his way to more ” fox holes,” where he
may remain in safety, if not in the meantime pulled
down in the open. This ” great little huntsman ‘
has generally two or three brace of terriers, whose
working qualities cannot be surpassed. Their con-
stitutions are hard as nails, for they have to live
on the poorest of fare, and even in some cases
require to sup with Duke Humphrey after an
arduous day on the hills. These, again, are of no
particular strain mongrels, if you will, and some
of them have been personally known to me. Yellow
Jack, to outward appearance a half-bred Bedlington,
would go out of sight anywhere, and face otter or
fox, and fight with either or both. This dog was
not fond of water, but when out with the Kendal
otter hounds, and game was afoot, he hesitated at
nothing, and swam wet drains which other terriers
dared not enter. He would fight and punish any
otter until it was forced to bolt. Tinker was a
dog of a different stamp, smooth-coated, and dark
brown or liver-coloured ; his head, ears, and feet
were so good that, white and hound-marked, his
figure at the Fox Terrier Club’s show would have
attracted attention. As good in some respects as
Jack, Tinker was quarrelsome underground, where
he has repeatedly fought and killed a strange dog ;
and querulousness is a great fault in any terrier.
A snap at a hound in a kennel may cause a com-
motion likely to prove fatal, and a dog ill-natured
with his own species is not always so game to
the core as one which keeps his ferocity in check
until it be required against the enemy of his race.
In North Yorkshire there is still to be found a
similar terrier. The southern counties, too, have
always had some of them, and ” Devonian,” writing
to the Field in June, 1885, draws attention thereto.
The Earl of Macclesfield had a strain of black and
tan hard-haired terriers in Warwickshire. Another
family of the same type was to be found in Hertford-
shire; and “Badger,” in the columns of the Field has
told us of Squire Jenny’s Monk, whose excellences
were often shown after a run with his master’s
foxhounds in Suffolk. Various engravings and
paintings to be seen in old magazines, sporting
works, and hanging on the walls of our country
mansions likewise afford proof that a black and tan
terrier, with a rough coat, was more common in
almost every county in England than the white or
patched fox terrier was at the same time. And
fawn or red dogs, and others pepper and salt of the
same strain, were great favourites with the people.
Colour was of little consideration so long as the dog
could do the work his master intended him for.
Crab was the name of another little terrier, a
great celebrity with one of the best north country
packs of otter hounds. I fancy he was of the same
strain that Tom Andrews, the Cleveland huntsman,
formerly possessed, but Tom has been dead for
twenty years, and it is doubtful to what extent
his strain now survives. Certainly it does not do so
in sufficient numbers to reintroduce the genuine
article to the great British public. Of course, a
spurious imitation could be manufactured easily
enough, but in this there would be that something
missing character it is called which in humanity
marks the man of noble blood a distinct being from
the one of plebeian origin.
A good stamp of terrier is depicted in that fine
old engraving, ” Safer Within than Without,” where
the terriers watch the rat inclosed in the wire
trap ; and ” Distinguished Burrow Members,” sitting
near sundry rabbit holes, a group a good deal
quieter in the pursuit of their duties than many
distinguished and honourable Borough Members of
the present day. These two engravings are admir-
able as representative of a variety of terrier seldom
found now, and certainly more picturesque than
some modern strains.
A few years since I came across a somewhat odd,
but not an unusual mixture to find in a man a
combination of gamekeeper, fisherman, poacher, and
labourer. He belonged to the north country, and
always told me his blood was of the best. Certainly
his name was the same as that of a family that had
been settled on land of their own before the
conqueror William came over, and whose pride it
was to boast that they had never paid fee or fealty
to any Norman invader. This fellow and I were
friends for years. He was fond of sport of all kinds,
observant of the habits of animals and fish, whilst
the rarer plants and ferns did not escape his
penetrating eyes. The first time we met was at the
riverside, when fishing a deep hole for salmon with
worm. Whilst I was tying up my rod he had a bite,
which he said was that of an eel, for the line quietly
travelled down the current just in the manner it does
when such a fish is running away with the bait.
However, in this instance the eel turned out to be a
nice, bright 7lb. grilse, which was hooked, and, in
due course, neatly netted by the writer.
My newly-found acquaintance proved a good
fisherman in all branches of the craft, and, although
never confessing to the soft impeachment, I fancy
he was as well acquainted with the use of the net as
with the rod, reel, and line. He owned a useful sort
of dog, about 2olb. in weight, smooth but close-
coated, almost all tan in colour, still with sufficient
black on the back to make a black and tan terrier
without much exaggeration. But it was nothing
like the Manchester strain of to-day. He was a
leggy dog, and like galloping ; his ears were small,
V-shaped, and ” dropped ‘ beautifully. His excel-
lence lay in the formation of his head, which, of
gr&at length from occiput to nose, was of perfect
terrier shape, with immense jaw power ; his eyes, too,
were perfect. A dog of his kind you seldom find
without good legs and feet and strongly developed
in his muscles generally. Nor was this any excep-
tion to the rule ” You’ve a niceish terrier there,”
said I. ” Yes,” was the reply, ” it’s a fair ‘un.
You kna a bit aboot dogs, mister,” he continued,
“but you mappen don’t ken this sort?” “No,
indeed I don’t,” was the reply. ” Whia he’s a
Bewcastle tarrier ! ‘ Such a variety I had not
previously heard of, nor have I since. Still, the
animal had unmistakable distinctive features, and,
as usual, he was ” the best in the world.” She,
rather, I should say, for the ‘ Bewcastle terrier ‘
was a female.
I was soon a willing listener to all the stories of
the feats this wonderful bitch (( Bess ‘ had per-
formed ; foxes killed ” single-handed,” otters bolted,
foulmarts and sweetmarts exterminated ; but all tales
were ” capped ‘ by one, where, in conjunction with
her owner, she killed twenty-three weasels out of a
large pack which attacked them one afternoon.
This was the usual weasel tale, when one, being
hunted and sorely pressed, squeaked or chattered
an alarm, and forthwith scores of little heads peered
from a stone wall, to be followed by the bodies of
the active little creatures, which swarmed round
man and dog. Both had to fight hard for their lives.
Bess was sorely bitten, and it was not until close on
two dozen ferocious little blood suckers had bitten
the dust that the survivors beat a retreat. Person-
ally, I always considered Bess a mongrel, and when
I found that her owner never saved her puppies, but
lent their dam out as a foster-mother to a greyhound
breeder, my opinion was in part justified. Still, she
was a stamp of terrier quite attractive, and possessed
the sense of a man. The way in which she once
ran alongside a stone fence to take a short cut to a
gap through which a hare we had started was likely
to go, proved her a poacher of the first water, and
when she made her stroke at puss she killed.
Without vouching for the truth of her feats with the
larger vermin and the weasels, I can speak in the
highest terms of her credentials as a bitch to shoot
fur over, which she retrieved capitally. Her end
was an untimely one, being brought about by a
runaway engine on a local railway line.
It will be nearly thirty years since a sporting high
sheriff brought north from London a black terrier
with cropped ears and a short wiry coat. This was
a 24lb. dog, low on the legs, sturdily and stoutly
made ; he was said to be of fighting strain, and his
character was such that a good round sum (for those
days) had been paid for him. In the north he was
a failure, for the country dogs could beat him at his
own job; and in hunting and rough fell work he was no
use at all, for his early training had been neglected.
Some there may be reading this chapter who will
recollect Spring, a rough-coated black and tan
terrier, about I5lb. in weight, celebrated more for a
wonderful knack he had of catching rabbits on their
seats than for any actual gameness. This dog was
light in limbs, but close in coat, which was rather
long ; he had a nice ” whip ” tail, carried straight,
in correct show form fashion ; his ears were small
and dropped well ; but his jaw was somewhat weak,
and he lacked terrier character. A distinctive
feature he possessed was an enormous quantity of
hair and jacket about his neck ; I never saw a terrier
that had so much, and it is to be regretted that this
leading and protective characteristic of the working
terrier is lost sight of almost entirely nowadays. I
rather fancy Spring had some of the Elterwater
strain in him, but, his education being conducted by
a gamekeeper and rabbit catcher, it was as the latter
he excelled. On an occasion, specially invited to
witness Spring’s excellence at rabbiting, in one
afternoon he caught no fewer than twenty-four
rabbits on their ” forms,” or seats, and the two guns
had not opportunity to shoot more than a dozen in
addition. This was on wildish, semi-cultivated
ground, where the rabbits either sat in tufts and
bunches of dead grass or underneath small bushes.
I do not know whether it is an unusual gift, possessed
by some terriers, to be able to distinguish a hare
from a rabbit, but about the same time that Spring
was in his hey-day, an old gamekeeper in Westmore-
land had a yellow terrier that would not follow a
hare a yard. On the contrary, after a rabbit he
would go until, without fail, the latter was either
caught or run to ground. This terrier was a
murderous sort of creature, his wide chest and broad
skull denoted a cross of the bulldog, which he
undoubtedly possessed, and his fighting propensities
made it an impossibility to work him in company
with other dogs. Rabbits or rats might surround
him, but such small vermin would be totally
neglected if there were a dog within sight to worry.
Some of the navvies who worked in the construction
of the early lines of railways owned sundry hard
terriers, mostly dashed with bulldog blood. These,
like their masters, could fight, were generally kept
for such a purpose, and when once properly entered
thereto, were almost useless for the actual work a
terrier is required for.
Dr. Edwardes Ker wrote to me some six or seven
years ago of a strain of black and tan wire-haired
terriers, once common in Suffolk and round about.
His informant, Mr. Sharpe Sharpe, was at that time
approaching a hundred years old, and for nearly
seventy he had been master of fox hounds. These
terriers were described as built on modern fox terrier
lines, and so game as to go ” screaming mad at fox
and badger and at anything worth going for.” But,
as I have said, it was indeed a poor sporting district
which did not possess at any rate one fairly distinct
strain of terrier, whether such was known under
the then all-embracing title of Scotch terrier or the
narrower one of the town, mansion, or locality to
which it was indigenous. About 1886 several letters
were published relative to these old-fashioned terriers,
and following them, classes were provided at two or
three shows, but such were not successful in
unearthing the true article, and the majority of the
awards went to miniature Airedale terriers, certainly
dogs whose dimensions were too great to allow them
to perform their work satisfactorily in a badger or fox
earth, and classes provided for similar terriers a
dozen years before met with little support.
Some little time ago, I was much struck with a
number of terriers in the possession of Mr. J. H. B.
Cowley, of Callipers, near King’s Langley. I do
not know that I ever came across any little dogs
that more appealed to me. They were mostly white
or marked like a fox terrier, their coats were hard
and wiry, without fluffiness about them, and they
were short on the leg, nearly as much so as a
Scottish terrier, and their heads and jaws were long
and powerful, almost out of proportion to the size of
their bodies. They had drop ears, but like most
long, heavily-bodied dogs, were inclined to be crooked
on their fore legs. 1 have not of late seen any
strain of terrier which better deserves perpetuating
than this of Mr. Cowley’s. They are very game,
are kept for their legitimate work of assisting at
underground work where badger and fox are
concerned, and are adepts at killing rats and other
vermin. I need hardly say that they abound in
character, and are not more than i61b. weight each.
The white dogs in Mr. Wardle’s drawing are two of
Mr. Cowley’s noted terriers. I may say he keeps a
Stud Book of his own, and mates all his bitches
carefully. However, I will, in his own words, give a
few particulars of Mr. Cowley’s favourably known
strain of terrier.
He says, ” This strain has practically the same
blood in them as several show dogs on the benches.
But ever since I kept a terrier I have always gone
in for a short-legged one, as I think such are more
suited for all the work a terrier ought to be called
upon to do, and particularly underground, where
long legs are practically useless, and often in the
way. Therefore I always breed with this point in
view, selecting the shortest legged ones out of each
litter to work and breed from if they enter all right ;
using now and again a ‘ show dog ‘ as cross out if
he is a worker, and has other points I want to get.
Those puppies that take after the bitch I keep in
preference to those taking after the sire in length
of leg. I have also gone to the Sealy Ham strain.
The points I try to breed for are especially long,
powerful heads, small drop ears, weather-resisting
jackets ; if a little long in the back none the worse
for work underground, where they can turn and twist
about better than a very short coupled dog. Nearly
all animals that live much underground are made
thus, long in body compared to length of leg, such
as moles, weasels, stoats, polecats, badgers, &c.
” I try to breed the terriers as straight in the legs
as I can, but like most short-legged breeds, -vide
Scottish terriers, Dandie Dinmonts, and some spaniels,
it is hard to get them perfectly straight the shorter
the leg the more difficult it becomes to get them
perfectly straight. I would not draft an otherwise
good dog because he turns his toes out. As for
weight, I like i61b. for dogs and i4^1b. for bitches.
At this weight they can possess bone enough and
have their ribs well sprung, and need not have such
exaggerated narrow fronts, which a big dog must
possess if he is to get into an ordinary-sized earth
suffering consequently, I think, from insufficient
room for play of lungs and heart. For all work that
a terrier is called upon to do, I think a i61b. dog is
the best.
“I do not think a terrier’s place is with a crack
pack of foxhounds in a grass country after cubbing
time.”
Mr. Cowley further says, that some of the terriers
are almost too game underground, as when they
are so they are liable to get terribly punished by the
badgers. There are usually about four to six couples
of full-grown terriers in the kennels at Callipers,
where great pains have been taken to individualise
the game and interesting little dogs during the past
twenty years. He first commenced his strain with
a little short-legged terrier purchased from Patrick,
stud groom to the old Surrey Foxhounds, and
a very game wire-haired bitch, showing a little
bulldog blood in her face. She was bred to a son
of old champion Tyrant, a small dog and very game,
as most of this grand old dog’s stock were. Mr.
Cowley proceeds, ” but perhaps a bitch called Sting,
bred in Cornwall, by a fox terrier out of a low-legged,
yellow, wire-haired bitch, much of the shape and
form of the modern Scottish terrier, did more than
any other dog I ever owned to get me the stamp
that I particularly fancy. Through her have come
all my best, including Viper, the best of all [the
white dog to the left in the group of terriers at
the commencement of this chapter] ; Sting was his
gr- g r – g r – r – dam -”
There is a strain of terrier much talked about of
late known as the Sealy Ham, so called from the
seat near Haverfordwest of the Edwardes’, whose
family it is said, have had the strain for well on to a
hundred years. This is another short-legged, long-
bodied terrier, with certain characteristics of the
fox terrier. He has a hard, wiry, weather-resisting
coat ; is mostly white, with black or brown, or brown
and black marks, occasionally pure white, and
certainly not more than i81b. or so in weight. He
has been described as a short-legged, longish-
backed dog, strong and muscular, of unflinching
courage, hard biters (too much so in some
instances), and of unflinching courage.” The black
and tan marked dog in the centre of the group
heading this chapter is a Sealy Ham terrier.
Another writer says the Sealy Ham terrier,
whose fame has spread far beyond the boundaries
of Pembrokeshire, is mostly used for otter hunting.
It is a distinct type of terrier, which by judicious
breeding the Edwardes family succeeded after many
years careful mating in producing, with long, wiry
bodies and short legs. This terrier resembles in
certain features the animal whose destruction it was
bred to accomplish, namely, the otter. The late
Capt. Edwardes was extremely proud of the working
capabilities of his dogs, and never tired of relating
encounters which his dogs frequently experienced
with badgers, otters, foxes, polecats, &c. Many is
the time that the foxhounds have had to enlist the
services of the Sealy Ham terriers in bolting a fox
which had gone to earth. It is said of the late
Capt. Edwardes, that on one occasion, when
presiding at a political meeting at Fishguard, he
was accompanied on to the platform by two of
these terriers. This same Capt. Edwardes set a high
value on the pedigree of his family’s terriers, and
at one of the Haverfordwest dog shows three years
or so ago the following entry from him appeared
in the catalogue, there being a class especially
provided for “working’ 1 terriers: “Capt. 0. T.
Edwardes’ Tip, 3 years, pedigree known for a
hundred years, warranted to go to ground to fox,
badger, and otter ; ^”5.”
Some admirers of these Sealyham terriers claim
that they can hunt and kill an otter in a manner
similar to that in which otter hounds perform their
work. Unfortunately, I am an unbeliever in any
terrier in such a capacity, for only the old-fashioned
looking otter hound, with his immense jaws, slow
but sure on his drag, powerful in water as on land,
can hunt the otter as it ought to be done,
though the well trained foxhound comes in well
as a second edition ; terriers should only be used as
accessories to the sport. As to the capabilities of
terriers to kill an otter, I may say that something
like twenty-five years ago a 21lb. otter was caught
in a trap, and, being comparatively uninjured, was
next day let loose in a large pool of water, where it
was free to fight, but could not well escape, though
an island in the centre of the pond afforded a
resting place, and it could come out on to the bank
also. All the afternoon, for four hours or more,
was the poor creature attacked and worried by over
two dozen terriers of all degrees and sizes, many of
them with a good dash of bulldog blood in them,
and 3olb. weight each, or more. In the end the
gamest dogs were placed hors de combat, and the
otter was recaptured, evidently no worse for the
punishment he must have received. Being present
at this, and also having repeatedly seen a pack
of hounds in a meadow worrying an otter for
five minutes, the latter all the time working
towards the stream, and eventually escaping, are,
I think, sufficient reasons for doubting the powers
of a dozen, or even two or three dozen, Sealyham
or any other terriers Irish, Dandies, and Scotch
thrown in to kill an otter by their own powers,
and without the unfair assistance of poles and
sticks, nets and big stones.
Writing on the above strain of terriers reminds me
of a peculiar episode Captain Medwyn mentions in
his “Angler in Wales’ (1834), an amusing book
and interesting, especially as the gallant captain and
his friends were well acquainted with Byron and
Shelley during the time they resided in Greece and
Italy. The heroes are Vixen and Viper, called
Scotch terriers, but almost all terriers were Scotch
in those days ; perhaps they might have been Sealy
Hams, or at any rate they were doubtless of Welsh
extraction. A half-pay naval captain had killed an
otter with them the day before Captain Medwyn
met and recognised him as an old acquaint-
ance. They set out to hunt the Tivy, and the
particulars thereof I shall give in the author’s own
words.
” Each of us was armed with a harpoon. The
shafts were nearly eight feet long, and had been
attached by a carpenter over night to spear-heads
forming part and parcel of my naval friend’s imple-
ments of warfare. . . . Our eagerness for the
sport was whetted by stories on stories which he
graphically told, of several of the feats performed by
Vixen and Viper, and their perilous ‘scapes from
the jaws of sundry of these amphibious savages.
We came at last to an unfrequented, un-
tracked region, a likely haunt. One side was
denuded of wood, and on the other a steep bank ran
shelving down to the river’s edge, clothed with
underwood, so closely intertwined as hardly to admit
of the dogs penetrating it.
‘ It was just such a spot as otters would choose
for their kennels, and R (who was master of
the terriers) soon descried a spraint which appeared
fresh. He immediately hied on the dogs. Their
rough wiry skins seemed impenetrable to the thorns
and brambles, and they began to beat actively
among the briar-work.
” It was soon surmised that they were on the
scent of game, and R , who was acquainted
with their habits, said, ‘ They are on another ! Look
out ! They are not far from him ! Push him out,
Vixen ! At him, Viper ! ‘
” He had hardly spoken when a rustling was
heard, the leaves trembled and shook, and a dog
otter of prodigious size rushed from his couch
among the roots of the alders, and took to the water,
the two terriers close behind.
” ‘ There cannot be a finer spot,’ said R , ‘ for
a successful chase. Once drive him on the opposite
side, and he will find it difficult to hide himself, and
must be ours. . . . Well done, Vixen ! ‘ But
the dogs required no encouragement, and as the
otter dived they dived also ; and such a monster
was he in size that when he rose to take breath
he could hardly at first be distinguished from the
terriers.
” R had waded the river, and the dourghie
was for some time lost, the dogs swimming round
and round, anxiously looking about for his reappear-
ance. He did not remain many minutes invisible,
the fresh-water seal soon showing himself again,
This time he was not above fifteen yards from
where R was posted, and he was afraid of
throwing his harpoon for fear of spearing Vixen,
so close did he rise to her.
” He now mounted the bank, and crossed the
meadow, where he was soon hidden from view by
the high grass . . . Tally ho ! he has again
taken to the water, and concealed himself in one of
his old holts, or burrows, under the bank.
” It was some time before we could persuade him,
by shaking the ground, to stir from his well known
retreat. But he again bolted, and just as he was
about to land on our side was prevented from so
doing by seeing us. I threw my harpoon and
missed him. He again dived, and we thought we
had lost him, but he at last came up, and was
so much exhausted from being hard pushed and
remaining so long under water, that he was forced
to make for the same shore to take breath, and
having reached a bush that projected over the
stream, and screened him from our sight, prepared
to stand at bay. He had posted himself with his
back to some old rat holes, and, his flanks protected
by two stumps of trees, he presented his front to his
enemies, only one of whom could come at him at a
time. He showed good generalship, and had all the
advantage of position.
” Vixen, swimming across to the place, soon
pinned the otter by the neck, a favourite point of
attack of hers, as I afterwards heard from her
master ; but the powerful animal shook her off, and
seized her in turn in his terrific jaws. Vixen,
extricating herself from his grip, returned with fresh
courage to the conflict ; but, owing to the projec-
tion of the bank and the thick bush overhanging
the water, R could not come to the assistance
of his little favourite, and stood, not without some
misgivings as to the result, within a few paces of
the combatants. The battle was long doubtful, but
at length the otter seized Vixen by the throat, and
made his fangs meet in her jugular vein. The water
was dyed with blood. The bitch gave a short, low
howl of agony, and in a few minutes we saw her
extended on her back as if dying, and borne down
with the current.
” R ? forgetting the otter in his anxiety for
his little pet, rushed into the water up to his middle,
and succeeded in reaching and bearing her out,
when he laid her on the grass and endeavoured to
staunch the blood with his handerchief.”
The otter ultimately escaped, the wounded terrier
was taken to the inn, and made as comfortable as
possible. ” Viper lay down by Vixen, and by low
whines told the excess of his grief, and endeavoured
to lick the mortal wound. He could not be induced
to take any food or to quit her side.” As expected,
poor Vixen was found dead in the morning.
The day following Viper was missing, and after
several hours’ search it was thought he had been
stolen. The otter hunting expedition thus being
spoiled, R returned to Builth, and Captain
Medwyn, with his angling friends, sought the banks
of the Tivy, the waters of which were now swollen
by over-night rains. The narrative proceeds : f< We
came at length to the spot which had been the
scene of the otter hunt so fatal to the brave little
Vixen. Curiosity led me to look if any fresh marks
of the dourgie were visible, or if he had forsaken
his kennel. To my surprise I perceived some drops
of blood ; these we followed ; they became more
numerous, and led to what do you suppose, reader ?
Yes ; rolled up together, and stiff and cold, were
discovered, in the embrace of death, the otter and
Viper. From the appearance of the ground the
battle had been a desperate one, the turf was red-
dened with their gore. … It was a memorable
incident, a proof of sagacity an instance of
memory, thought, and reasoning combined in one of
the canine species, which proves their intellectual
superiority to all other animals.”
The terrier was buried, the otter taken away as a
trophy; it was found to weigh 3olb., and was the
Other Terriers. 395
largest the Tivy ever produced. So much for the
terriers that Captain Medwyn saw when he was in
Wales.
One of the most useful strains of terrier which
still survives, and has done so without the bolstering
up of any specialist clubs or dog shows, but lives
and excels on its own merits alone, is a rough and
ready sort of dog kept in Northumberland and on
the Borders. This dog is neither a Dandie Dinmont
nor a Bedlington terrier, and I am inclined to agree
with what those who keep it say, that it is an older
breed than either. Mr. Jacob Robson, of Byrness,
near Otterburn, forwarded me a photograph of a
team of these terriers, and Mr. Wardle has success-
fully copied the group, so those who are interested
in the matter will be well able to see what these
terriers are like. Lately the name ” Border Terrier’ 1
has been given to them, an apt enough nomenclature,
but whether they require any particular designation
now after doing their work so well for a hundred
years, and perhaps more, is an open question.
These terriers are exact counterparts of such as
we had in Westmoreland twenty, thirty, and more
years ago ; they are like such as the Cockertons had,
and similar to those the gunpowder makers owned
at Elterwater. The yellow dogs are of the same
stamp as the little bitch Worry, already alluded to,
though they appear to be a trifle heavier and with
more coat ; the black and tans, or pepper, on the
right and left resemble the good terriers that won on
the bench and were bred from Worry and Crab. It
is remarkable how most of these Border terriers
have kept their good looks whilst they have been
bred only for work at least some of them have, and
I do not care a jot whether a terrier has a white
chest or not so long as he does his duty well.
Indeed, a good dog cannot be a bad colour, and I
am not certain whether one or two cherry or Dudley
nosed terriers I have known have not been amongst
the gamest of which I have had experience, and it
does not require a man to have a particular eye for
beauty to find out how ugly a red nosed dog looks.
I take it that these Border terriers have been
running up and down Northumberland and other of
the more northern counties from time immemorial
almost. Of later years they have been taken in
hand by some of the ” hunting men ” on the Borders,
as more useful for their purpose than any of what
may be called, without prejudice, fancy or fashionable
varieties.
Mr. Jacob Robson, who has been connected with
the Border Foxhounds all his life, and whose family,
I need scarcely say, is one of the very oldest in the
county, says ;
” The strain of terriers that has been bred by my
family, and in Northumberland and the Border, for
so long, is now called the Border terrier, from the fact
that they are principally used and bred in the
country hunted by the Border Foxhounds. This
nomenclature is, however, of recent date, as they
used formerly to have no particular name, but were
well known for their hardness and gameness. Reed-
water, North Tyne, Coquet, Liddesdale, and the
Scottish borders are the districts where they have
been principally bred. My father, when he lived at
Kielder, had some rare representatives of the breed,
and Mr. Hedley, Bewshaugh, and Mr. Sisterson,
Yarrow Moor, near Felstone, have also bred
excellent terriers of this strain. My father and
the late Mr. Dodd, of Catcleugh, preferred this
breed of terriers to all others for bolting foxes, their
keenness of nose and gameness making them very
suitable for this purpose.
“They vary in weight, from 15lb. to 181b. is the
best size, as when bigger they cannot follow their
fox underground so well, and a little terrier which is
thoroughly game is always best. Flint, a mustard
dog we had here nearly twenty years ago, was small,
but the best bolter of foxes I ever saw. He was
slow in entering to fox, but when he did begin was
so thoroughly game and keen of nose that he very
rarely failed to bolt his fox, in fact I have seen six
or seven terriers, considered good ones at their work,
tried at a hole without going to their game, but as
soon as Flint was put in he challenged his fox,
and without what is locally termed as ‘ manning ‘
(encouragement by word of mouth). Flint was a
very wise dog, and if he passed a hole you might
feel quite certain there was not a fox there. I have
known him on several occasions to be in a hole
for three days at a time with a fox, and taken out
none the worse for the prolonged sojourn under-
ground.
” The favourite colour is red or mustard, although
there are plenty of the variety pepper coloured, and
others black and tan. Their coat or hair should be
hard and wiry and close, so as to enable them to
withstand cold and wet. They have generally been
bred for use and not for looks, but I have seen some
very bonny terriers of this same strain. They
should stand straight on their legs, with a short
back, and not made like a Dandie Dinmont, long-
backed and crooked ; their ears ought to drop like
those of a fox terrier, but this is not a sine qua non.
A strong jaw is a great point, but not nearly so long
in the nose as the usual strains of Dandies and
Scottish terriers. They may be either red or black
nosed ; in fact, the former colour is often preferred,
as there is a belief that the red-nosed dogs are
keener scented than those with black noses.
” Some of the best of the breed I have known
were Nailer and Tanner, belonging to the late Mr.
Dodd, of Catcleugh ; Flint, Bess, Rap, Dick, and
Pep of Byrness ; Rock, a son of Flint’s, belonging
to Mr. Hedley, Burnfoot ; Tanner, Mr. R. Oliver’s
Spithopehaugh ; Bob, Mr. Elliott’s, of Hindhope ;
and Ben, belonging to Mr. Robson, of Newton.
As I have said, a number of grand terriers of the
strain have been bred by the Sistersons, of Yarrow
Moor in North Tyne, and in Lidderdale by the
Scotts, Ballantynes, and others. I have also been
told that the terriers owned by Ned Dunn, of
Whitelee, Reedwater, were more of the type of these
Border terriers than of the Dandie Dinmont, and I
rather think that the Dandies of fifty or more years
ago resembled the Border terrier in many respects,
more so, at any rate, than they do now.”
To further prove, if further proof were required,
that the Border terrier, although new in name, is
not a modern creation, it may be stated that there
is, in the Robson family, a picture of a once well-
known character in Tynedale, Yeddie Jackson, who
was known as the” hunter king ” in North Tyne and
throughout Lidderdale and the adjoining country.
The painting, which was executed about 1820 or a
few years later, includes a foxhound and a terrier,
the latter just the same kind as the strain of which
I now write. As Mr. Jacob Robson says, the
colours are mostly red, wheaten, or what I should
call a yellow, in varying shades ; others are pepper
and salt, more or less light or dark, the latter almost
approaching black ; white is usually found on the
chest, a white foot or two occasionally, less
frequently they have a white streak up the face ;
black and tan is not often found, and entirely black
and white and tan markings, as on a modern fox
terrier, are never found in the pure strain, and it has
been kept entirely pure now for fifty years or more,
whatever might have been the case earlier.
Some of the terriers follow hounds regularly, and
are continually brought into use, not only amongst
the rocks and in rough ground of that kind, but in
equally or in more dangerous places wet drains or
moss holes, or “waterfalls,” as they are called in
Northumberland. A dog that goes in here may
have to swim underground and find his fox, which
is perhaps lying up in a side drain or earth quite
dry. There are numerous crossings and cuttings
in these peat moss drains, which are more or less,
as the case may be, natural or artificial. It is by
no means unusual for terriers to be lost therein, and
even when rescued to have afterwards died from the
undue exertion, the lack of air, and the general
unhealthiness of being some hours underground in
a peat bog. And this though the Border terrier
has an excellent constitution. If he had not he
would never have survived amongst the hardy
northern sportsmen, who consider him the best of
all the terriers so far as work is concerned. He
can go where a Dandie Dinmont cannot follow him,
or a Scottish terrier either, and, quite as game
as the Bedlington, he is not nearly so quarrel-
some.
In the chapter on fox terriers allusion was made
to a strain once owned by the late Mr. Donville
Poole at Maybury Hall, Shropshire, and which
had more than . a local notoriety for gameness.
It had been said of them that they had attacked
and worried a postman. However, these dogs were
not fox terriers as we know the variety now ; what
they were, and how game they were, the following
contribution from the late Mr. S. W. Smith so
great an authority on terriers in his day will tell.
The article first appeared in one of the weekly
papers devoted to dogs and poultry, but before his
death Mr. Smith kindly gave me permission to use
it as I like. He wrote :
” The Squire, as he was called, seldom left his
seat, but spent his money in the town. He kept,
I should say, from fifty to one hundred terriers,
chiefly smooths, with short, dense, and hard coats.
I do not recollect one of his over i61b. or many
much under I4lb., but occasionally there were some
under the latter weight. All were dead game, or if
they did not prove themselves such they were not
alive long after having had their trial. I never saw
a terrier amongst his lot with black or black and tan
markings, and it was not until many years after that
the black and tan marked ones began to crop up ;
all the smooth-coated were all white with few excep-
tions, which were marked with a brickdust kind of
tan patch on back, setting on of stern, or head and
ears. The colour was similar to that which is now
called the Belvoir tan ; they were perfectly compact
and well-made little animals, always on the qui vi’ve,
and full of fire and go ; the ears of some were carried
erect, like a fox’s, but the others are small (all thin
in texture), nicely shaped, and as well carried as
they are now, or rather should be, i.e., dropping
from the spring of the ear close to the skull, the
corner or point coming near to the eye, and not set
on wide, standing out from the head. The head
was much smaller compared with the terriers of the
present day, more rounded in skull and shorter in
muzzle, the eye was more rounded and prominent,
with a flesh or red coloured cere round it, evidently
showing not a very remote cross with the bull or bull
terrier.
“The wire-hairs were a little larger, as a rule, in
size, with coats of a fair length, always of a strong pig’s
bristle, pin-wire kind of texture, while the colour of
all I ever saw was alike or nearly so, being white
with patches of a blackish-blue grizzly mixture like
Mr. Shirley’s celebrated Tip and Mr. D. H. Owen’s
Saracen. Not unfrequently red or plum-coloured
noses appeared amongst the smooth-haired, but to
the best of my recollection I never remember
seeing one amongst the wire-haired ones. Under-
shot ones were always discarded.
” The greater number of the Squire’s dogs were
sent out to be reared on walks amongst the trades-
men he dealt with and farmers, cottagers, and his
keepers, &c. ; my father always keeping two for
him one a smooth, the other a wire-haired one. I
remember we had a brace for a length of time, one
named Tyke, the other Trimmer ; these were with
us, accepting when they were invited to the Hall
for a few days to perform before an audience of
visitors and neighbours, they being of a sporting
turn of mind, and never so happy as when among
the tykes at work. I seldom reared a bad one,
i.e., a coward that would not take his gruel freely,
because I used always to keep them well up in
their training whenever an opportunity occurred,
and when I could get some game for sport, had an
occasional private rehearsal.
” Trials of the Marbury young tykes were held
periodically. On these occasions the youngsters out
at walk were collected together for the fray, and
woe be to the tykes when the day of trial came if
they did not come up to the Squire’s standard !
It did not matter how smart or good-looking they
were, unless they answered the Squire’s motto, which,
was, ‘They must be stout as steel, good as gold,
and hot as fire,’ and if they were not all this on
their day of trial, death was their doom very shortly.
When sufficient game was got together to give the
tykes a trial, a day was fixed, and on most of these
occasions no one except the squire and his keepers
were allowed to witness it, except a reverend divine
occasionally, and old Tom Rogers (there were two
Toms old Tom and young Tom), who was generally
there at the trials. Sometimes, however, the Squire
would invite a few friends, farmers who kept terriers
for him, to witness the sport, and at such times as
these there was always a grand field day.
” Old Tom Rogers was a master sweep, and such
in those days earned as much or more money than
most men in trade at that period. Sweeping chim-
neys with machines was not in vogue then, but
small boys, who were dressed in calico knicker-
bockers down to their knees (no shoes or stockings
as a rule), and a calico blouse and cap that could
be drawn over the face like a culprit’s, went up the
chimneys, the little imps, with hand-brush in hand,
climbing, brushing, and scraping as they went up,
until they came out at the top and shouted, ‘ Sweep,
all alive, oh ! ‘ Old Tom was very kind to these
boys, providing them with comfortable living and
sleeping apartments. He never did any work him-
self, young Tom superintending the business. Old
Tom, with his round, red (not black), ruddy face,
drove about, dressed in breeches and top-boots,
with a heavy chain and seals hanging from his
fob pocket, bright-coloured waistcoat, bottle-green
swallow-tailed coat with gilt buttons, tall beaver hat
made of rabbit skins ; high white shirt collar, with
neck handkerchief twice round neck, and tied in two
bows in front. You will pardon this departure ; it
will help to let you see how the Squire got together
the great quantity of game he required from time
to time for his trials. Old Tom was the Squire’s
factotum, and foremost with him in all his favourite
sports. He did most of the business at gentlemen’s
residences for miles round, so that this brought him
in contact with keepers, trappers of all kinds of
vermin, farmers, and others, from whom he got his
different kinds of game, viz., foxes, badgers, wild
and other cats, fitchets, stoats, weasels, &c., &c. ;
and at Marbury Hall there were places where these
animals were kept and well fed and attended to
until they were wanted.
” Early on the morning of the trials out comes
the Squire with his friends and retinue, and the sport
begins, the vermin being placed at the far end of
the receptacles prepared for them, such as troughs
made of wood, with curves, &c., in them, drainpipes
of different sizes, all laid underground, tubs, boxes,
and a heap of faggots, &c. When all was ready
the Squire would give the signal, and an old tried
veteran would be let go, a tribe of youngsters being
held round and about the entrance, to show the
youngsters ‘ how it should be done.’ Up the old
tyke would go, and come back with his game most
likely, and you would not hear a sound. After this
the young ones were tried, either singly or some-
times a brace, the keepers encouraging them,
shouting, ‘ Run in, Bunser ! ‘ Buster, Varmint,
Tinker, Tancred, &c., &c. ; this, with the sharp
ring of the bark of the tykes waiting for their turn
to come, the yelping, &c., of those who had just
tasted blood and were getting punished, together
with the bottle and glass circulating freely, made
one’s blood all a-fire. Some of the dogs came
back again quickly with their tails between their
legs, others came or had to be got out hanging
like grim death to the varmint, both oftener than
not having had enough, not unfrequently one or
two dead as a door nail. Those that had come out
rudder down were never seen any more, whilst the
others could not be bought. Still, the Squire gave
many away to friends.
” The Squire used to drive in a four-wheel dog-cart
about the town of Whitchurch, sitting himself in
front with coachman behind, with from three to
eight or nine of his favourites running about ; and
woe be to any cat if they saw it, or a big dog !
Immediately they got sight of one or the other, off
they dashed in full cry and chase, and if they caught
their object it would be hard lines with it before the
little varmints could be got off by the coachman and
other bystanders. The Squire all this time (having
pulled up) would be sitting as erect as a marble
statue, turning neither to the right or the left, but
anyone in near proximity to him would observe a
very broad smile on his face. I was once an eye-
witness to one of these ‘ bits of fun,’ as I call it.
A miller’s waggon was standing opposite a flour and
corndealer’s shop, and with the waggoner was a large
foxhound. The squire came driving up the street,
with about a half-dozen of his varmints following,
408 Modem Dogs.
when they caught sight of Mr. Foxhound, when full
cry and in at him they dashed ; he turned tail and
ran into the shop, jumping right into a bin nearly
full of flour, that would hold about two sacks, the
varmints jumping in after him, when such a dust and
scuffle ensued it is impossible to imagine. No smoke
was ever so dense, and when all was quiet (which
was not soon), and the dogs got out into the street,
such a lot of sorry-looking rascals I never saw.
These Marbury Hall terriers are now extinct.”
There are, perhaps, some other strains of terriers
with reputations, whose names have not reached me,
and which might be considered worth notice here,
but, so far as I can make out, there are none besides
those already alluded to, producing progeny so far
true to type as to entitle them to a position as a
variety of their own.
I may have written and quoted too freely about
these working terriers whose names do not appear
in the Stud books; my excuse for so doing is the
admiration I bear for them and because I wish to
do my best towards perpetuating such strains as are
most useful for the duties terriers were originally
brought into the world to perform.
THE END.
