AKECDOTES.J 



FOR MOU^'TAIN, 1<1ELD, A.NU i'AUM. 



[^ANECUOTES. 



obsorvcd," says ho, " not wilhout pleaauro and | 

 surprisi«, that wlioii a lialtpt'iiny waa thrown 

 from a wiiulow, such were the sagacity and 

 the attention of this dog, that ho wont about 

 in quest of it, took it from the grouml with his 

 mouth, and put it into the blind n\an's hat. 

 Even when bread was thrown down, tlio ani- 

 mal would not taste it unless he received it 

 from the hand of his master." , 



Dogs can be taught io go to market with 

 money, to repair to a known shop, and carry 

 borne provisions in eafety. Daniel speaks of 

 a person who lived at a turnpike-house about 

 a mile from Stratford-ou-Avou, who had a dog 

 trained to go to a neighbouring town for any ^ 

 articles of grocery that he wanted. A note 

 mentioning these was tied round his neck, 

 and in the same manner the articles were fas- 

 tened. In these errands the commodities were 

 always brought safe to his master. 



Smellie, whom Lord Brougham compliments 

 in his admirable work on Instinct and Science, 

 tells us, in his Fliilosopliy of Natural History, 

 that a grocer in Edinburgh had a dog, wliich, 

 for some time, amused and astonished the 

 people in the neighbourhood. A man who 

 went through the streets ringing a bell and 

 selling penny pies, happened one day to treat 

 this dog with a pie. The next time he heard 

 the pieman's bell he ran to him with impetu- 

 osity, seized him by the coat, and would not 

 suffer him to pass. The pieman, who under- 

 stood what the animal wanted, showed him a 

 penny, and pointed to his master, who stood 

 at the street-door, and saw what was going on. 

 The dog immediately supplicated his master 

 by many humble gestures and looks. The 

 master put a penny into the dog's mouth, 

 which he instantly delivered to the pieman, 

 and received his pie. This traffic between the 

 pieman and the grocer's dog continued to be 

 daily practised for many mouths. 



On the authority of Dibdin, we quote the fol- 

 lowing from his Observations in a Tour through 

 England. At a convent in France, twenty 

 paupers were served with a dinner at a certain 

 hour every day. A dog belonging to the con- 

 vent did not fail to be present at this regale, 

 to receive the odds and ends which were now 

 and then thrown down to him. Tlie guests, 

 however, were poor and hungry, and, of course, 

 not very wasteful : so that tlieir pensioner did 



little more than scent the feast of which ho 

 would faiu have partaken. The portions wore 

 served by a person, at the ringing of a bell, 

 and delivered out by means of what, in reli- 

 gious houses, is called a tuur ; which is a ma- 

 chine like the section of a ea^k, tliat, by turn- 

 ing round upon a pivot, exhibits whatever is 

 placed on the concave side, without ditJcovering 

 the person who moves it. One day this dog, 

 who had only received a few scraps, waited till 

 the paupers were all gone, took the rope in his 

 moutli, and rang tlie bell. His stratagem suc- 

 ceeded. He repeated it the next day with the 

 same good fortune. At length the cook, find- 

 ing that twenty-one portions were given out 

 instead of twenty, was determined to discover 

 the trick : in doing whicli he had no great 

 difficulty ; for, lying perdu, and noticing the 

 paupers as they came in great regularity for 

 their different portions, and that there was no 

 intruder except the dog, he began to suspect 

 the real truth ; whicli he was confirmed, in 

 when he saw him wait with great deliberation 

 till the visitors were all gone, and then pull 

 the bell. The matter was related to the com- 

 munity ; and, to reward him for his ingenuity, 

 he was permitted to ring the bell every day for 

 his dinner, when a mess of broken victuals 

 was purposely served out to him. 



In Vol. III. of the Annical Hegister, we 

 find it stated, that " while a man of the 

 name of Eichardson, a waterman, near Ham- 

 mersmitl), was sleeping in his vessel, she 

 broke from her moorings, and was carried by 

 the tide under a west-country barge. Fortu- 

 nately for the man, his dog happened to be 

 with him ; and the sagacious animal awakened 

 him by pawing his face, and pulling the collar 

 of his coat, at the instant the boat was filling 

 with water. He seized the opportunity, and 

 thus saved himself from otherwise inevitable 

 death." 



About the end of the last century, a person 

 went to a bouse in Deptford, to take lodgings, 

 under pretence that he had just arrived from 

 the "West Indies. After having agreed on the 

 terms. he was to pay, he said he should send 

 his trunk that night, and come himself the 

 next day. About nine o'clock in the evening, 

 the trunk was brouglit by two porters, and 

 was carried into his bed-room. Just as the 

 family were going to bed, their little house- 



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