t ■ 



288 FACT AGAIN.ST IICTION. 



laid it at tlio fool's feet, sliook liis wot and froezing 

 coat so as to sprinkle tlie tiling called a nian with 

 water. Any dog is mucli too sensible to deem 

 this thoughtless brutality as any recompense for 

 his pains ; and if sensible dogs of this kind are 

 to be assigned to senseless fools, the dog Avill not 

 be of half the value to his master that thoughtful 

 and kind treatment would have made him. 



I deeply regret to say that the immortal bard, 

 Shakspere, — said to be a sportsman j but, from all 

 we can gather, he was only a poacher or deer- 

 stealer, — speaks disparagingly of the beautiful com- 

 panion of our leisure hours, and, indeed, con- 

 temptuously enough, when he says, '^ Tlirow physic 

 to the dogs, I'll none of it." ''A hang-dog 

 look " is commonly in the mouths of foolish 

 j)eo2)le ; and the same idiotic feeling may be 

 traced in the remonstrative expression of ^'You 

 treat me like a do^:.-' 



I kiss the smooth foreheads of my dogs, and, 

 adopting an expression usually applied to a 

 caressing dog, I '^fawn" on them as much as 

 they faT\m on me. My setter Nellie, her face, 

 when she brought me a partridge, landrail, or 

 snipe, was, as she held it up to me^ redolent of 



