Bewick's Collies. 23 



to be obtained, and, so far as can be made out, Thomas 

 Bewick, the eminent wood engraver, was the earliest 

 writer who used the word as applied to the dog. The first 

 edition of his Natural History was printed in 1790. It 

 contains a portrait of " The coaly," another form in w r hich 

 the word is to be found, and the great master in wood 

 engraving was fond of transferring his ideal sheepdog to 

 the charming little tail-pieces which adorn so many works. 

 Bewick's collie was evidently a dark-coloured, probably a 

 black and white, dog, with the white collar around his neck, 

 the white frill on his breast, sometimes two white forelegs, 

 and generally with semi-erect ears. There was no mis- 

 taking Bewick's collies, he drew them full of character, just 

 as they were found, unadulterated and unimproved, round 

 about Newcastle and on the borders, where they earned 

 their living by looking after the sheep, and not by taking 

 long railway journeys from town to town to bring grist 

 into the coffers of their owners the modern duties of all 

 good-looking dogs. 



The Rev. W. Bingley, M.A., in his memoir of " British 

 Quadrupeds" (1809), publishes one of Hewitt's lovely 

 etchings, which is called the "shepherd's dog," and not the 

 English sheepdog, the expression other contemporary writers 

 most frequently used. Here we have a black and white 

 dog driving, at a rapid pace, a small flock of sheep on the 

 mountains or fells. His head is long, ears semi-erect, and 

 he possesses a long bushy tail, which, judging from its 

 position, would, when its owner was walking, be carried 

 gracefully drooping with the end just turned upwards 



A gawkie tail, wi' upward curl. 

 The form of the dog in Howitt's etching is excellent ; 



