x Billy : a Memoir of an old Friend 259 



Billy's vacations were spent in the country, and 

 he was my companion in all my rambles after birds. 

 But it is perhaps with Oxford that I shall most 

 closely associate his memory; for in all the three 

 admirable photographs of him which I possess he 

 appears in his capacity as a college dog. Two of 

 them are college groups, where he is conspicuous 

 among sixty or seventy figures ; in the third and best 

 he is associated with five grave dons, of whom three 

 are now professors in different parts of the world, 

 and the fourth is the head-muster of a famous school. 

 Even here his appearance is in perfect keeping with 

 his surroundings. He has an air of gravity, if not of 

 learning; he seems to share the sense of responsi- 

 bility which shows itself in the composed and 

 thoughtful features of his distinguished friends. Yet 

 there is just that touch of pathos about his expres- 

 sion which reminds one that it is after all only a dog 

 and a dependant, a pathos that combines a little 

 oddly with his sturdy frame and stubborn hair. But 

 it is as an oddity that he will be remembered by 

 all who were admitted to his friendship ; an honest, 

 blunt, warm-hearted oddity, quaint alike in his many 

 virtues, and in those frequent shortcomings without 

 which he would have been no true dog. 



