CHAPTER LX 



THE TOY SPANIELS 



THESE taking little dogs are classed under four sub- 

 varieties Blenheims, King Charles or Black and 

 Tan, Ruby or Red, and Tricolour. The points of 

 each are practically identical, the main difference 

 being in markings. The only other distinction is 

 that the King Charles possesses somewhat longer 

 ears. Although by name associated with the first 

 Stuart monarch, these Toy Spaniels go back to a 

 still earlier period. There is no question about that. 

 T^hey were known in the time of Henry VIII., and 

 in the spacious Elizabethan days they were much 

 esteemed. On account of long associations, there- 

 fore, to say nothing of their intrinsic merits, it is 

 to be hoped that they will never be replaced by 

 newcomers from other lands. 



" Stonehenge," writing nearly fifty years ago, says : 

 " The King Charles is now always either black and 

 tan without white, or a mixture of these colours 

 in handsome patches, the tan spot over the eye in 

 the latter case being always an important feature. 

 In the time of Charles II. the colour, as shown 

 by Vandyck, was liver and white, which colour was 

 in vogue until the present century, when the black 

 and tan superseded it, and is now considered the 



