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.