CHAPTER LXVI 

 THE BLENHEIM SPANIEL 



F all the varieties of spaniel none seems to have been better 

 known than the breed kept by the Duke of Marlborough 

 if we take the writings of the first of the nineteenth century 

 as evidence. They are not spoken of as toys, but as small 

 shooting dogs, merely a smaller variety of the cocking 

 spaniel. The only suggestion we have seen of their orgin was that on the 

 day of the battle of Blenheim the Duke of Marlborough was followed all day 

 by a spaniel, and the inference from this story was that this dog was the 

 original Marlborough spaniel. It is a very weak peg upon which to hang 

 the breed and as the present day Blenheim is a long way removed from the 

 Marlborough spaniel we will allow the lawyers objection that it is immaterial 

 and irrelevant. 



The Marlborough spaniels were red and white, not at all an uncom- 

 mon colour for English spaniels, large or small, at the time the Duke's dogs 

 were first known, and the only special reason for their mention seems to 

 have been that they were smaller than the ordinary gun spaniel. The 

 Sportsman's Repository thus describes the dog as he was known about 

 1800. " His Grace the Duke of Marlborough was reputed to possess the 

 .smallest and best breed of cockers in Britain; they were invariably red and 

 white, with very long ears, short noses and black eyes." No reference being 

 made to any special enlargement or dome of the skull the inference is that 

 they were not peculiarly different in that respect from other small spaniels. 

 We find the same thing in Youatt's description. "This spaniel may be 

 distinguished by the length and silkiness of the coat, the deep fringe about 

 the ear, the arch and deep feathering of the tail, the full and moist eye and 

 the blackness of the palate." Compare that with the following of the King 

 Charles: "The King Charles breed of the present day is materially altered 

 for the worse. The muzzle is short and the forehead as ugly and prominent 

 as the veriest bulldog. The eye is increased to double its former size and 

 has an expression of stupidity with which the character of the dog too often 



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