54 The Collie or Sheep Dog. 



he was not beaten in his champion class at Birmingham 

 until the black and tan dog Rutland was placed over him in 

 1885. After being kept at home for a time one was some- 

 what taken aback to find the old dog, notwithstanding the 

 eleven years and more through which he had lived, occupy- 

 ing the first bench in the last show of the Collie Club, held 

 in Holborn in February, 1890. Yes! there he was, 

 surrounded by spectators as usual, grizzled and grey some- 

 what, yet retaining his old form and character in an 

 extraordinary manner. He had grown more like his grand 

 sire Cockie than ever. His coat was thick and dense as 

 ever, crispish, too, a good warm jacket if a little too curly 

 for modern tastes. He had little to beat in the department 

 of veterans he so well graced, but when the contest for the 

 sixty guinea challenge cup came on, in whicb he had to 

 compete against all the prize winners in the show, matters, 

 were different. He was not smart and brisk in the ring. 

 How could he be so? Still, the judge, Mr. Wake-Walker, 

 placed him over all, because he considered him best in 

 every way excepting so far as locomotion was concerned. 



Many bold bids of good money have been made for 

 Charlemagne, and at times dogs of much the same blood were 

 claimed at what must be considered exorbitant prices, the 

 little sable dog Eclipse to wit, which Mr. W. W. Thomson 

 secured at Birmingham, on behalf of Mr. George Krehl, for 

 100. This was a nice dog all round, too bitch-like though, 

 and by no means a bargain for the hundred pound note, 

 though no doubt in one way and another his owner made 

 him a remunerative speculation. Eclipse was a dog of 

 charming disposition and much sense, and no one need 

 desire a handsomer dog as a companion, for which purpose 

 the Scotch Collie has gradually drifted southwards from a 



