234 The Dog Book 



as an instance. Stonehenge says of Brush that he was the very best speci- 

 men of the field spaniel he had ever seen, and is lavish of his praise. Dalziel 

 does not mention Brush, giving as his illustration of the black spaniel 

 the twenty-two-pound bitch Flirt; but among the measurements "fur- 

 nished by their respective owners" that of Brush appears, and Mr. Easton 

 states that he was fifteen inches at the shoulder and thirty-eight inches 

 from nose to set-on of tail. We saw Brush on one occasion, and we are 

 very decidedly of the opinion that he was not built that way at all. In 

 addition to which, the late Thomas Dawson, who came from Beverley, 

 in Yorkshire, gave us, about 1883, a small photo of Brush, which showed 

 him to be, so far as build was concerned, much on the lines shown in 

 Stonehenge. That photograph we have lost, but we fully recollect the 

 immense ringleted ears and his length of leg, which we should say was 

 more fitted for a dog of nearer seventeen inches. Mr. Dawson was inti- 

 mately acquainted with the Boulton spaniels, and wrote for us a criticism 

 on spaniels at the New York show of 1883, which we published in the 

 American Kennel Register. The following is an extract therefrom: 



"Coat is more artificial than natural, as I do not care how good a 

 dog's coat is, if it is neglected it will show some curl on the shoulder and 

 on the thigh. Brush was a notable example of this; he probably was 

 with the exception of being a trifle leggy, one of the best spaniels that ever 

 was exhibited. Well, when he was shown by Dr. Boulton, and afterward 

 by Mr. Easton, and cared for by John Reed, of Beverley, his coat was 

 perfection. Mr. Easton sold him for a long figure (about $500), and he 

 got into the hands of amateurs at exhibiting, and the dog came out with 

 curls all over." 



It will be noticed in the reproduction of the Stonehenge illustration 

 that Brush is built on lines precisely similar to the little eighteen-pound 

 red cocker of Mr. Langdale; indeed, if anything, he is not so long propor- 

 tionately. If Brush was only fifteen inches at the shoulder and thirty-eight 

 inches long, and Endcliffe Bishop is 14 x 35^, how could Brush be called 

 leggy ? 



After Brush the black spaniels were bred longer, lower and heavier, 

 but as is always the case when length is forced, and shortness of legs is 

 insisted upon, nature called upon the fore legs to assume the shape best 

 fitted to support that style of body, and crooked fore legs became notice- 

 able; but despite this acknowledged detraction in a spaniel, the desire 



