60 INTRODUCTION. 



willingly trespass the bounds of truth. The facts were 

 detailed to me by several persons of veracity, who pro- 

 fessed to have been eye-witnesses of them ; and all the 

 circumstances appeared to be well known in the neigh- 

 bourhood. 



A butcher and cattle dealer, who resided about nine 

 miles from the town oi Alston, in Cumberland, bought a 

 dog of a drover. This butcher was accustomed to pur- 

 chase sheep and kine in the vicinity, which, when fat- 

 tened, he drove to Alston market, and sold. In these 

 excursions he was frequently astonished at the adroit- 

 ness of his dog, and at the extreme dexterity with which 

 he managed the cattle. At last, so convinced was he 

 of his sagacity as well as fidelity, that he wagered he 

 would entrust him with a certain number of oxen and 

 sheep to drive, wholly unattended, to Alston market. It 

 was stipulated that no person should be within sight or 

 hearing who had the least controul over the dog; nor 

 was any spectator to interfere, nor be within a given 

 distance. On trial, this extraordinary animal proceeded 

 with his business in the most steady and dexterous 

 manner; and although he had frequently to drive his 

 charge through other herds who were grazing, yet he 

 never lost one, but, conducting them into the very yard 

 to which he was used to drive them when with his 

 master, he significantly delivered them up to the person 

 appointed to receive them, by barking at his door. 

 What more particularly marked the dog's sagacity was, 

 that, when the path the herd travelled lay through a spot 

 where others were grazing, he would run forward, stop 

 his own drove, and then, driving the others away, col- 

 lect his scattered charge, and proceed. He was, I 

 believe, several times afterwards thus sent alone, for the 

 amusement of the curious or the convenience of his 

 master, and always acquitted himself in the same 



