' WHO SHALL DECIDE ? ' 163 



battle, if it can be called a wordy battle, where the 

 words were all on one side and the facts on the 

 other. On reading this controversy, I am irresistibly 

 reminded of one in which I was an unwilling par- 

 taker. 



Like many better men than myself, I had been 

 misled by popular prejudice, and had thought the 

 bulldog to be a stupid, fierce, morose, savage animal, 

 always ready to assault any being except his master, 

 and good for nothing except fighting. 



By some chance it happened that I became the 

 possessor of an infantile bull pup, and in consequence 

 had to alter all my ideas on the subject. I found 

 that ' Apollo,' as I named him, because I then lived 

 at Belvedere, in Kent, was the sweetest in temper, 

 the most loyally affectionate, and, with one excep- 

 tion, the most intellectual dog that I ever knew. 

 No bloodhound could surpass him in scent, and no 

 retriever could have beaten him in water or on land. 



As in duty bound, I took the first opportunity 

 of recanting my former opinions, and was very 

 much amused by the criticisms to which I was sub- 

 jected. 



On the one side, a leading journal in the sporting 

 interest was derisively incredulous, on the ground 

 that no bulldog could have behaved in such a 

 manner, therefore that ' Apollo ' could not have been 



M 2 



