308 BRITISH DOGS 



"British Field Sports," "is a dog of high antiquity, and has ever 

 been applied to his present purposes, namely, those of finding and 

 bringing game when killed to his master, whether by land or water." 

 Taplin, in the "Sportsman's Cabinet" (1803), insists, also, upon 

 the similarity in type of the Setter (or Setting-Spaniel) and the 

 Springer (or Springing-Spaniel), so that Mr. Harewood's ideas in 

 J835, were by no means newfangled. 



These Spaniels were originally brought over from France some 

 hundreds of years ago, for Caius in 1576 treats of them at some 

 length and with evident knowledge, although Edmund de Langley 

 (1341-1402) and Juliana Berners (1486) apparently borrowed from 

 foreign sources their allusions to a dog known to them by repute 

 alone. 



In the British Museum there is a collection of sporting engravings, 

 dated 1551, after Jean de Tournes. One of these represents a French 

 Spaniel, or Barbet, retrieving a duck, and the dog is much of the same 

 type as Shirley in the illustration at Fig. 67. But, after all, the 

 main interest about the English Springer lies in his being to-day 

 the most generally useful gundog in Britain. Unique in his adapta- 

 bility, in his sunny disposition, and in his everlasting energy, no sort 

 of work can spoil him, if he be treated with ordinary care. He is 

 a sturdy dog of perfect symmetry, capable of overtaking a running 

 cock pheasant and retrieving it at the gallop. His size varies much. 

 The writer has seen good ones as small as 3olb. and as big as 

 6olb. ; but through them all the same characteristics have run 

 power without lumber, gentleness without fear. 



Years ago some feeble folk, certainly not practical sportsmen, 

 became alarmed at the swiftness latent in the Springer : because 

 " he could an' he would " travel much faster than human beings, 

 they fancied that he might some day run riot with impunity. These 

 worthies, therefore, devised the egregious plan, only worthy of a 

 Gilbertian opera, of shortening the dog's legs to vanishing point, so 

 that he might not be able to elude them ! In their haste to realise 

 their dreams, they had recourse to crosses with Dachshunds and 

 Bassets, which are among the most headstrong of dogs : the result 

 was a Spaniel (?) too slow to do his work, too obstinate to do his 

 master's bidding. 



Soon, however, the English Springer proper will be restored 

 again to his high place among the Spaniels, thanks to the action of 

 the Sporting Spaniel Society, and the lessons to be learned at their 

 trials. 



To assist in overcoming this dread lest the physical powers of 

 a symmetrical Springer may run away with his mental ballast, a 

 little advice on the choice of a pup, and his education, will not 

 be out of place ; and what is sauce for the Springer is sauce also 

 for the rest of the family of Land Spaniels. 



