174 SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS DOGS. 



had a four-footed friend, a Newfoundland, called Boatswain, 

 which he loved tenderly, and whose elegant monument now 

 forms one of the principal ornaments of the garden of 

 Newstead Abbey, and upon it may be read this inscrip 

 tion : 



&quot;Near this spot 



Are deposited the remains of one 



Who possessed beauty without vanity, 



Strength without insolence, 



Courage without ferocity, 



And all the virtues of man without his vices. 



This praise, which would be unmeaning flattery 



If inscribed over human ashes, 

 Is but a just tribute to the memory of 



BOATSWAIN, a dog, 



Who was born at Newfoundland, May, 1803, 

 And died at Newstead Abbey, Nov. 18, 1808.&quot; 



On the other side of the monument the poet inscribed 

 these lines in praise of dogs in general, which I would 

 recommend you to show to any of the despisers of dogs: 



&quot; When some proud son of man returns to earth 

 Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth, 

 The sculptor s art exhausts the pomp of woe, 

 And storied urns record who rests below. 

 But the poor dog, in life the firmest friend, 

 The first to welcome, foremost to defend, 

 Whose honest heart is still his master s own, 

 Who labors, fights, lives, breathes, for him alone, 

 Unhonored falls, unnoticed all his worth, 

 Denied in heaven the soul he held on earth. 



