1.62 HISTORY OF THE DOG. 



around, the dog penetrated into the hall, and couched 

 himself between the legs of the unhappy man, whom he 

 was abouf to lose for ever. 



" The fatal hour of execution arrives ; the doors open ; 

 his dog receives him at the threshold ! his faithful dog 

 alone, even under the eye of the tyrant, dared to own a 

 dying friend ! He clings to his hand undaunted. ' Alas ! 

 that hand will never more be spread upon thy head, poor 

 dog!' exclaimed the condemned. The axe falls! but the 

 tender adherent cannot leave the body ; the earth receives 

 it, and the mourner spreads himself upon the grave, where 

 he passes the first night, the next day, and the second 

 night. The neighbor, meantime, unhappy at not seeing 

 the dog, and guessing the asylum he had chosen, steals 

 forth by night, and finding him, caresses and brings him 

 back. The good man tries every way that kindness could 

 devise to make him eat; but, in a short time, the dog 

 escaping, regained his favorite place. Every morning for 

 three months, the mourner returned to his protector merely 

 to receive his food, and then returned, to the ashes of his 

 dead master ! and each day he \vas more sad, more 

 meagre, and more languishing. 



"His protector, at length, endeavored to wean him ; he 

 tied him ; but what manacle is there that can ultimately 

 triumph over nature ? He broke or bit through his bonds ; 

 again returned to the grave, and never quitted it more. It 

 was in vain that all kind means were used to bring him 

 back. Even the jailer, who had witnessed the strength 

 of his attachment, used to carry him food ; but his affection 

 for his master seemed to strengthen as his frame became 

 weaker; and sometimes after he had ceased to take any 

 nourishment, he began digging his own grave in the earth 

 which covered the remains of the object of his attachment, 

 continuing in the feeble performance, till he expired half 

 buried in his master's grave." 



The chief difference between spaniels and the other 



