2 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



time uncommon jibber, when he takes it in his head 

 to be heav}^, or hang from the collar, moved on, and 

 I became the owner of a dog. " Grumbo" was the 

 son of " Bull," whose full-length portrait, by Chal- 

 lon, ornaments my dining-room, in honour of his 

 race. Grumbo was of the bull and mastiff breed ; his 

 sire, the property of my brother, ]\Ir. Augustus Berke- 

 ley, perhaps one of the gamest fighting dogs that 

 ever competed for a prize. In addition to his pug- 

 nacious propensities, Bull added an amusing inclina- 

 tion to retrieve cats from whatever situation they 

 might at the time be in ; and my brother, then fresh 

 from sea, used to keep him in continual practice. 

 In walking down a street, his master had only to 

 show him a cat sitting in a shop-window, and pre- 

 sently, at the distance of some hundred yards, to 

 make him a sign. The office received. Bull would 

 trot back, with the utmost coolness, to the shop-door; 

 and whether the cat still sat in the window, or had 

 removed to the counter or lap of its mistress, made 

 no difference, Bull seized it with a " grab," and 

 making a leisurely retreat, shaking the cat all the 

 time, to keep clear of the claws, he might be seen 

 returning, followed by all sorts of missiles pitch- 

 poling along the pavement in his wake. Cat-hunting 

 with Bull by night, even in London, was a favourite 

 recreation : although too young to particij)ate in the 

 amusement myself, I greedily devoured the history 

 of it on the following morning ; how many cats were 

 killed, what numbers of helpless and coat-impri- 

 soned watchmen thrown or knocked down, and all 

 the escapes and hair-breadth chances incident on 

 springing rattles. When I was a child, the combat 

 between boxers in the ring was in its glory ; and 



