FRENCH AND OTHER CONTINENTAL HOUNDS. 493 



and long erect ears, and stilty legs, it gives 

 one the impression that it is masquerading 

 as a Greyhound or an overgrown Whippet. 

 Its innate sporting qualities are mostly ex- 

 ercised on its own account, but with training 

 it might be made a creditable hound. 



The gardens at Sans Souci, where the 

 graves of many dogs are to be seen, bear 

 testimony to the high regard in which 

 Frederick the Great held his hounds, and 

 in the Palace of Potsdam there is a statue 

 of the dying king surrounded by his favourite 

 canine friends. A story is told of how a 

 pair of his dogs saved the king's life. 



Frederick was accustomed to drink a cup 

 of chocolate in the middle of the morning, 



THE SPANISH PODENGO TURCO. 

 PROPERTY OF SENOR J, DE ROSADO, 

 ARRAYOTTOS. 



and on one occasion, when sitting at his 

 writing-table, he reached for the cup and 

 saw that a spider had dropped into it from 

 the ceiling. Not wishing to share the 

 chocolate with the insect, he poured the 

 liquid into the saucer, and gave it in turn 

 to two of his Greyhounds. The dogs drank 

 it, but to the king's alarm they were almost im- 

 mediately seized with convulsions. Within 

 an hour they were both dead, evidently 

 from poison. The French cook was sent 

 for, but on hearing of the death of the hounds 

 and the cause of their death, he blew out his 



brains, dreading the discovery which was 

 afterwards made that he was in the pay of 

 Austria, and had poisoned the chocolate. 



These two dogs were Potsdam Grey- 

 hounds, a breed of Italian origin, much 

 favoured by Frederick the Great, who kept 



POTSDAM GREYHOUND KAISER. 

 BRED AND OWNED BY LADY PAUL. 



many of them as companions, and pampered 

 them so much that they had special valets 

 to attend them exclusively, and were always 

 allowed the best seats in the royal coach. 

 They were strictly preserved as a breed 

 peculiar to Potsdam, and were maintained 

 as a distinct strain until long after the reign 

 of their great master was ended. But in 

 the time of the late Emperor Frederick only 

 one pair remained. This pair. Dandy and 

 Fty, came by the Emperor's bequest into 

 the possession of Countess Marie Munster, 

 daughter of the German Ambassador at the 

 Court of St. James's, and from them have 

 descended specimens now treasured by the 

 Duchess of Somerset and Lady Paul, of 

 Ballyglass, Waterford. 



Lady Paul describes them as resembling 

 the Italian Greyhound, but that they are 

 larger, standing some twenty inches high. 

 Unlike the ordinary Greyhound, they have 

 wonderfully good noses, and will follow a 

 scent like a terrier. Their coats are very 

 fine in texture, and in colour fawn, blue, 

 black, silver grey or a peculiarly beautiful 

 bronze. They are exceedingly clean and 

 exceptionally affectionate. Essentially they 



