The Irish Terrier. 197 



Ireland. Such dogs were then, excepting by a few 

 persons who knew them and kept them in their 

 native country, considered mongrels, and so no doubt 

 they would have continued had not their gameness 

 and general excellence been suddenly discovered 

 by the general public. That they are admirable 

 companions cannot be denied, and one I have in the 

 house now, a relative of champions, and by no means 

 a bad-looking dog himself, is about as perfect a 

 specimen of a dog of the London suburbs as can be 

 imagined. But perhaps more of him anon, and any 

 further remarks of my own shall be preceded by the 

 opinions of one or two gentlemen who have given 

 more attention to the Irish terrier than I could 

 possibly have done, but that they are more ardent 

 admirers of him I will not allow. 



Mr. W. J. Cotton, of Blessington, co. Wicklow, 

 who has bred and kept Irish terriers for a great 

 number of years, writes characteristically of their 

 origin as follows : 



" To Sir Walter Raleigh, through potato skins, 

 the Irish cottier, and hardships, we owe the Irish 

 terrier. When Ireland was more thickly inhabited, 

 there were small parties of cottiers grouped together ; 

 each had his cabbage and potato garden badly 

 fenced, and each family spent the greater portion of 

 their time round the turf hearth, watching the 



