Early Spaniels and Setters 



103 



coated dogs close together, two setting and one pointing at a covey of 

 partridges. This the editor took to indicate that the pointer had been used 

 to cross with the spaniel, and when he comes to the pointer he takes Des- 

 portes's picture of two pointers to demonstrate that the pointer and fox- 

 hound had then been crossed. The Desportes painting we have seen shows 

 a well-built dog, all white except lemon ears. The dog is caught just as he 

 has dropped hot on the scent of a pheasant, but with head up. This, Mr. 

 Cunningham assured us, is a picture of the dog Blonde, one of a favourite 

 brace belonging to Louis XIV., the other being named Brunette. Blonde 

 is in many ways so dissimilar to the dogs shown with partridges that there 

 is no doubt it is a likeness. The nose tapers most decidedly to a point, 

 without any depth of flew, and the eyes are a gorgeous yellow, but beyond 

 these points there is not much to find fault with. Legs show plenty of bone 

 and the body is well filled out and well coated, with plenty of feathering on 

 the tail. These paintings prove nothing beyond what we already know, 

 namely, that spaniels of the seventeenth century were well diversified as to 

 size, but were not setters as we know them to-day — /. e. they were not the 

 distinct breed they now are, but merely a variety of the spaniel. 



It has been a very difficult matter to determine at what point to break 

 off in this general introduction to the members of the spaniel family. Per- 

 haps, in the estimation of some readers, we might have left some of the later 

 points to be developed in the articles on the several breeds, but it seemed to 

 us that we must trace clearly the development from the earliest history 

 of the dog that came from Spain to be used in hawking and questing game, 

 until it was so split up as to leave no doubt as to what it is and what it came 

 from. This we think we have conclusively done, and will now proceed to a 

 consideration of the several members of this family. 



THE ENGLISH SETTER 



From an old print 



