422 BRITISH DOGS 



century would appear to be the time when the Fox-terrier, with 

 considerable resemblance to his successor of the present day, first 

 began to be kept as an ornament and for pleasure, as well as for 

 sporting purposes. It was, consequently, a necessity of the case 

 that, being advanced to a closer intimacy with man, more regard 

 would be paid to his external appearance. "The Sportsman's 

 Cabinet" tells us that, u by the prevalence of fashion, they were 

 bred of all colours " ; and, further, that it was " the white-pied 

 bitch " we have just noticed as one of the three in the plate that was 

 the dam of the " wonderful progeny," her litter of seven puppies 

 having sold at the Running Horse livery stables, Piccadilly, for one- 

 and-tiventy. guineas a very high price at that time ; and of them 

 Taplin wrote : " These are as true a breed of the small sort as any 

 in England." It would be exceedingly interesting could the puppies 

 referred to be traced, and to know if they were bred from, and 

 the strain preserved in tolerable purity. One looks in vain for 

 records throwing light on the subject, but the fact of calling atten- 

 tion to the matter may yet bring information to those interested. 

 There appears to be no accessible records from which to trace the 

 history of the Hound-marked variety that ultimately gained the 

 ascendancy it now holds ; but the above fact proves that it was at 

 least coming into fashion close on a century ago. 



As already noted, Mr. T. H. Scott is of opinion that the 

 Fox-terrier is not a modern dog ; and the evidence from writers, 

 down to the first decade of last century, confirms that. Mr. Scott 

 ventures to assert that there were as good dogs fifty years ago as 

 there are now ; and if by good is meant capacity for the work 

 required of them, there can be no doubt about it. It has been seen 

 that, even earlier, the form and the colour were approached in the 

 fashionable strain; and Mr. Scott, writing in 1876, tells us he was 

 assured of the pure breeding of some of our most valued existing 

 strains for forty years, thus taking us back almost within a decade 

 of Lawrence. 



Before leaving this portion of a very interesting subject, some 

 further evidence might be adduced that there existed rather more 

 than thirty years ago Fox-terriers which for work generally were 

 superior to their modern relatives as seen upon the show-bench. 

 Moreover, as the statements about to be quoted emanated from a 

 prominent member of the Kennel Club, an erstwhile successful 

 breeder and exhibitor of the variety, and one, too, frequently called 

 upon to adjudicate upon the breed, his pronouncement certainly 

 carries weight. The writer refers to Mr. Harding Cox, whose very 

 able letter to the Field in April, 1897, under the heading of " A 

 Danger to Dogs," is worthy of the consideration of the practical 

 breeder of to-day. Fox-terriers were not the only breed scheduled 

 on the occasion, but it was the variety which more than any other 



