720 The Dog Book 



relieved by tan markings, exactly similar to the markings of the black and 

 tan terrier. This breed the late Duke of Norfolk preserved with jealous care. 

 That amiable and excellent lady the Princess Sophia of Gloucester, shewed 

 me a very fine specimen presented to her by that nobleman, after receiving 

 a promise, guaranteed by her royal brother, that she was not to breed from 

 it in a direct line. Another was shewn to me by the late Lady Castlereagh, 

 received after a similar restriction. Even the Duchess of York could nor 

 obtain one but on the same terms as she herself informed me. " 



The foregoing quotation is longer than what will be found in Chapter 

 XV on the Norfolk Spaniel in which we confuted the claim that the large 

 ducking spaniel used in Norfolkshire and other parts of England got its 

 name from this nobleman's spaniels. Elaine's remarks might leave the 

 question of size of the Duke's spaniels an open one, also whether they 

 might not be the large black and tan he mentions as being one of the var- 

 ieties in the King Charles's period paintings. A perusal of page 266 and 

 part of 267 is recommended as tending to show to whom we probably owe 

 the small black and tan spaniel. The beginning of the quotation from 

 Southey's Anecdotes we draw particular attention to as giving a possible 

 clue to the name we know the black and tan spaniel by. " Our Marlborough 

 and King James's spaniels are unrivalled in beauty. The latter breed, that 

 are black and tan, with hair almost approaching to silk in fineness (such as 

 Van Dyck loved to introduce into his portraits), were solely in the possession 

 of the late Duke of Norfolk." 



That quotation can be studied out in several ways, but in one direction 

 it seems to bear out what appears to us to be the solution of this King 

 Charles business. It is thoroughly well known that he was very partial to 

 small spaniels and it is not at all improbable that ail small spaniels were re- 

 garded as alike favoured by the king, and gradually became known as King 

 Charles spaniels on account of their size and not any special colour. So 

 far as we can trace the use of the name it does not go much, if any, further 

 back than about 1750. The Duke of Marlborough's spaniels were then 

 well known as small sporting or covert spaniels and were not the Blenheim 

 of to-day, but larger and stouter dogs than the Van Dyck spaniels. By 

 this time the small liver and white Van Dyck spaniel seems to have dropped 

 out altogether and the name of King Charles thus became specially attached 

 to the small black and tan which must have been fostered very much during 

 the eighteenth century, because it is recognised by BufFon as the small 



