247 



connection with Dorothy Wordsworth and Edward Quillinan. Dorothy was not 



naturally fond of dogs, but this one, a spaniel. Prince by name, attached himself 



to her and accompanied her unheeded during her long solitary walks. On the eve 



of one of her departures from the Court he discovered what was about to happen, 



and lay at her bedroom door all night. The following morning he secreted 



himself in the cart that conveyed her luggage to Hereford, and finally met her at 



the coach. It was with difficulty that they prevented the animal from following 



her, and got him to go home. Some time after, when poor Prince was stricken in 



years, he became sadly infirm, and a burden not only to those about him, but also 



to himself. However, his young ma.ster, George Hutchinson, did not find the old 



dog a burden, and when the command to get rid of him was repeatedly issued, he 



begged him off with entreaties and tears. At last, however, the fiat went forth 



that Prince must die, so the faithful dog was hanged by a servant named Jerry 



Preece during the temporary absence of his friend George. Quillinan was staying 



at the Court at the time, and was engaged in laying night-lines across the moat. 



When the boy returned he unadvisedly sent him. to search for worms in " the 



ducks' nest," a spot referred to by Wordsworth in his fifteenth miscellaneous 



sonnet. When George, in high spirits at his quest, drew near this retired place he 



chanced to look up at a neighbouring willow tree. There he saw his beloved 



Prince ignominiously hanging by the neck. The shock was so great that the boy 



went half mad with grief, and would not be consoled. Quillinan, who had not 



known of the place of e.xecution, was much distressed. Retiring to his room, he 



hastily wrote the following impromptu lines by way of cimsolation, which he 



threw out of the window facing the cedar and moat to the boy wailing beneath, 



with the words, " Look, George ; here's an epitaph " : — 



"epitaph on a favourite noG." 



" Stop ! passenger, and drop a tear, 



A most ill-fated Prince lies here ; 



His reign in youth was wild and pleasant, 



He hunted rabbit, hare, and pheasant. 



Grown old he bid adieu to sport, 



And mildly ruled at Brinso]) Court ; 



But shame on these reforming times* 



Of revolutionary crimes ! 



This harmless old and good Prince-royal, 



Was vilely used by hands disloyal ; 



His noble neck was hempen-collared. 



And stretched upon a willow pollard. 



Oh ! wicked traitor, Jerry Preece, 



Repent if you would die in peace." 



These lines were engraven on a stone and placed at the head of Prince's 

 grave. The remains of the good dog still rest at Brinsop Court, but the tomb- 

 stone has been removed to Miss Hutchinson's garden at West Malvern. 



It is a singfular coincidence that on the very day of the above-recorded 

 excursion of the Woolhope Club, the widow of the youngest son of the Poet 

 Wordsworth died — viz., Mrs. Fanny E. Wordsworth, of The Stepping Stones, 

 Rydal, relict of Mr. William Wordsworth, J.P., D.L. The deceased lady was in 

 her 68th year. 



^1832. 



