CHAPTER LIII 

 THE PUG 



IT is not uncommon for people to be misled by sound as to fact. 

 Quoting from " Hudibras " in confirmation of this statement : 



Agrippa kept a Stygian Pug 

 I'th' garb and habit of a dog, 

 That was his tutor. 



To go from Butler to Gay, we find these lines : 



Poor Pug was caught, to town conveyed, 

 There sold. How envied was his doom, 

 Made captive in a lady's room ! 



Howell, writing in 1660, says : " My pretty pug, ma belle, 

 m'amie" This appears to have been, at the time, a commonly 

 familiar and endearing form of address. 



From the more pleasing poetical allusions and illusions let us 

 turn to the practical naturalist. 



Richardson says : " The Pug is a flat-nosed dog, so called from 

 its resemblance to a monkey." 



Bell, author of "British Quadrupeds," says : "The Pug, which 

 has somewhat the aspect of the Bulldog, is a small variety with 

 the same projection of the lower jaw, the same close, short hair, 

 and similar conformation of body. It is, however, the very reverse 

 of that savage race in disposition, being remarkably timid, and 

 though possessing little sagacity, tolerably good-tempered. It is 

 useless in the field, and kept only as a pet, for which purpose, 

 however, it is greatly inferior to most other dogs." 



Although the word pug originally meant an imp, or little demon, 

 the name is not applied to the dog in a sinister sense, but with a 

 kindly feeling, as we playfully call a spirited child a little imp, as 

 that most kind-hearted of poets, the Ettrick Shepherd, wrote of 

 his children : 



My imps, though hardy, bold, and wild, 

 As best befits the mountain child. 



This point has been dwelt upon because so many present-day 

 writers have copied " Idstone's " errors. 



