THE SPANIEL*, 



THIS Dog has its name of Hispaniolus, or Spaniel, 

 from Spain, the country from which we originally 

 derived the breed; but, like the last variety, it is 

 now so completely naturalized in Great Britain, 

 that we may properly consider it as a British ani- 

 mal. Its chief use is in the sports of the field; and 

 when hawking was a fashionabe recreation in this 

 country, it was the kind of Dog always taken out to 

 spring the game. 



Spaniels, in almost all ages, have been noted for 

 Jidelity, and attachment to their masters ; and the 

 instances that have been recorded, in proof of this, 

 are innumerable. I shall select a very remarkable 

 one. 



A few days before the overthrow of Robespierre, 

 a revolutionary tribunal had condemned Mons. 



R , an ancient magistrate, and a most estimable 



man, on the pretence that he had been guilty of 



conspiracy. Mons. R had a Spaniel, at that 



time about twelve years old, which had been 



* Canis familiaris extrarius. Linn(E\ts. V Epagneul. Buffbn. 

 See the Synopsis, p. 16, No. 9, VAR. 3. 



brought 



