DOGS. 101 



being the first stage of a shooting excursion in another 

 county. The carriage was so constructed that the 

 opening to admit air was above and not at the sides, 

 so that Flush could not possibly have seen any part of 

 the road. On his arrival in town, the groom tied him 

 up by a cord, with access to a kennel in the yard of the 

 inn where my father stopped. He saw him the last 

 thing at night ; but in the morning the rope had been 

 severed, and the dog was gone. All inquiries proved 

 fruitless. It was supposed the great value of the dog had 

 tempted some one to purloin him ; and in great trouble 

 his master wrote home his lamentations. Late in the 

 evening of the day in which he was missed, my mother 

 heard a scratching and whining at the front door as she 

 passed through the hall. Not supposing in any way it 

 could relate to her, she did not heed it. In about half 

 an hour a smothered bark met her ears, and then she 

 ordered a servant to open the hall-door and ascertain 

 the cause. There was poor Flush wet, dirty, hungry, 

 and weary with the remainder of the rope hanging to 

 his neck. He had never been a house-dog, and that he 

 should seek the dwelling-house rather than the stable 

 at some little distance, was another proof of his sagacity. 

 He knew he should be there more immediately cared 

 for ; and so he was. My mother fed him herself ; and 

 stretched before the fire, he forgot his troubles. The 

 joyful news was conveyed to my father as fast as the 

 post would take it ; and from that time Flush was a 

 companion in the drawing-room, as well as in the shoot- 

 ing excursion. 



The infinite variety of Spaniels almost precludes a 

 separate enumeration of each in a limited work. I shall, 

 therefore, confine myself to a few general remarks. He 



