114 THE AMERICAN BOOK OF THE DOG. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE ENGLISH POINTER, 



When the improved Pointer first began to be the fashion 

 in England among sportsmen, the Duke of Kingston had 

 the reputation of possessing one of the finest strains; and 

 after his death, his dogs were sold for what were considered 

 enormous prices in those days. Subsequently, the breed 

 deteriorated somewhat, because of a too rash use of Grey- 

 hound blood to secure speed, and ghastly -looking dogs bore 

 the name of Pointers, possessing but few of the natural 

 qualities of that noble dog, and being defective in pluck, 

 vigor, and constitution. 



In the early part of the present century, Mr. Mattingley, 

 in the North of England, and Mr. Webb Edge, as late as 

 1845, did a great deal for the proper development of the 

 breed. Mr. Meynell and Mr. Osbaldiston, together with 

 Lord Derby, Lord Lichfield, Lord Sefton, Lord Stamford, 

 Sir E. Antrobus, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Comber bache, Mr. 

 Darbyshire, Lord Kennedy, Sir R. Sutton, Sir R. Musgrave, 

 Mr. Greene, R. J. Lloyd Price, Lord Berwick, and Messrs. 

 Pilkington, Garth, Brockton, and Brierley, were also among 

 those to whom the modern lovers of the Pointer owe the 

 deepest obligations for their intelligent and judicious efforts 

 in his behalf. Upon this point, the Rev. Thomas Pearce, 

 who, under the pseudonym of " Idstone," has published one 

 of the most lucid, comprehensive, and valuable of our smaller 

 works on the dog, remarks as follows : 



As soon as dog-shows became general, several eminent dogs came to 

 the front, the first celebrity being Mr. Newton's Ranger, a grand liver-and- 

 white dog of the Edge kennel stamp and color. When the first trial of dogs 

 in the field took place, Ranger had lost his pace, and the chief distinctions 

 were gained by Mr. Brockton's Bounce, liver-and-white, for large dogs, and 

 by Mr. Garth's Jill, and Mr. Whitehouse's orange-and-white Hamlet, for dogs 

 of less size. Amongst other dogs which acquitted themselves well, were Mr. 

 Swan's Peter, a white dog of exquisite form, with liver head and liver-and- 

 white ears, and Mr. Peter Jones' Brag. 



Hamlet subsequently gained great and deserved popularity by winning 

 the Bala sweepstakes, of twenty-five guineas each, against any dog that could be 

 brought against him; although, from a mistake of the judge in counting his 

 marks, much unpleasantness ensued the real winner being the Marquis of 

 Huntley's Young Kent, according to the rules laid down. 



