398 British Dogs. 



the toy dogs of that time being true spaniels, but also that that pre- 

 sumption receives powerful corroborative support in Dr. Caius's remarks 

 on the colours of spaniels in general, when he describes them thus, " the 

 most part of their skins are white, and if they be marked with any spots 

 they are commonly red, and somewhat great therewithall, the hairs not 

 growing in such thickness but that the mixture of them may be easily 

 perceived. Others, some of them, be reddish and blackish, but of that 

 sort there be but a few." 



Now, although the latter is written of spaniels in general, I see no 

 reason against, but every reason for, taking it as applying to his spaniel 

 delicatus with equal force as to the varieties used in the pursuit of game ; 

 and, if I am right, we had the colours of our two great varieties of toy 

 spaniels recognised and described more than 300 years ago. 



That, at the present day, dogs have been considerably modified there 

 can be no doubt ; ideas of what constitutes beauty changes, and dogs, 

 like ladies' bonnets, have to be made to suit the prevailing fashion, 

 although some people seem, by persistent dinning into the ears of the 

 unthinking, to achieve ephemeral success in making or adopting a dog, 

 and then bringing fashion to smile upon it, much to their own benefit, 

 both in praise and profit. 



The old name of the spaniel gentle "The Comforter" is still pre- 

 served in use by old fashioned folks. When a child, I had a red and 

 white toy spaniel which my seniors versed in dog matters, called a "Com- 

 forter," it was a pure Blenheim, and it or its parents had been obtained 

 from Blenheim Palace. "Trifle" stands out in my memory as a bright 

 and sprightly playfellow, good in all the points of a Blenheim, but that 

 by modern fanciers he would have been voted too long nosed. 



The name " Comforter" was an expressive one, when we consider the 

 belief that obtained with our ancesters, that by the dog being borne in 

 the bosom of afflicted persons, the patient was comforted, and often 

 cured, the disease passing out of the human frame into that of the dog. 



Further remarks on toy spaniels will be more conveniently, and with 

 greater appropriateness, made in considering the two popular varieties 

 the Blenheim and the King Charles spaniel. 



