THE shepherd's DOG. 727 



signal, so as to let him know the individuals he wanted, to the 

 number of perhaps from ten to twenty, out of a flock of 

 some hundreds ; he then went away, and from a distance of 

 several miles sent back the dog by himself in the night- 

 time, who picked out the individual sheep that had been 

 pointed out to him, separated them from the rest, and drove 

 them before him the distance of ten or twelve miles, till 

 he came up with his master, to whom he delivered his 

 charge. 



"My dog Sirrah," says the late celebrated author, Mr. James 

 Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, " was, beyond all comparison, 

 the best dog I ever saw : he was of a surly and unsociable 

 temper — disdaining all flattery, he refused to be caressed ; 

 but his attention to my commands and interests, will never 

 again, perhaps, be equalled by any of the canine race. 

 When I first saw him, a drover was leading him in a rope ; 

 he was both lean and hungry, and far from being a beautiful 

 animal for he was almost all black, and had a grim face, 

 striped with dark brown. The man had bought him of a boy 

 somewhere on the border for three shillings, and had fed 

 him very ill on his journey. I thought I discovered a 

 sullen intelligence in his countenance, notwithstanding his 

 dejected and forlorn appearance : I gave the drover a guinea 

 for him, and I believe there never was a guinea so well laid 

 out, at least I am satisfied that I never laid out one to so 

 good a purpose. He was scarcely a year old, and knew so 

 little of herding, that he had never turned a sheep in his 

 life ; but as soon as he discovered that it was his duty to do 

 so, and that it obliged me, I can never forget with what 

 anxiety and eagerness he learned his difierent evolutions. 

 He would try every way deliberately until he found out 

 what I wanted him to do, and when I once made him under- 

 stand a direction, he never forgot or mistook it again. 



