CHAPTER II. 



THE COLLIE THE MEANING OF THE WORD THE 

 " SPORTSMAN'S CABINET " TAIL CUTTING NORTH 

 COUNTRY COLLIES IN LITERATURE AND ART His 

 CHARACTER WORK v. SHOW. 



IF late years the handsome and intelligent collie 

 has, with the equally good-looking and engaging 

 fox terrier, divided the fashionable world in its 

 love for the dog. Both, in their way, are perfect as com- 

 panions, but the shorter coat of the terrier, his smaller 

 size, and better adaptability for the house, have given him 

 priority, and as a fashionable companion the collie has had 

 to play second riddle. Long before he came to be an 

 inhabitant of the drawing-room Mrs. Rawdon Crawley (nee 

 Becky Sharp) asked her dear Captain to obtain a shep- 

 herd's dog for her; not a dog in fact, but a companion, who 

 would protect our heroine from the scandals of the gossips, 

 and allow her to go about with a legitimate protector. 

 Thackeray little knew when he wrote his best of novels, 

 that the shepherd's dog was in the end to become the 

 ladies' companion he had suggested, and as it now appears 

 in the form of the Scotch collie. 



