114 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



keeper. That noble house-dog, who has been the 

 subject of your admiration, was, fortunately, preserved, 

 by having been sent for by a gentleman who resided 

 in the next county. 



" A most extraordinary insensibility to danger was 

 evinced by the female members of my household. 

 Unluckily, Antony was absent in the mountains, setting 

 a broken bone ; the keeper had accompanied me ; every 

 one acquainted with the habits and management of dogs 

 was from home ; and the kennel was entrusted to the 

 kitchen-boy. On this occasion the disease appears to 

 have come on gradually, and for days the setter betrayed 

 the customary signs of incipient madness. Had he 

 been tied up even when the malady was fully established, 

 no mischief might have resulted. But until his violence 

 became frightful, he was actually permitted to run 

 about the house, and got access to the kennel, while 

 the boy was carrying food to his charge. 



" The escape of the servants was miraculous. The 

 day only before my arrival, the dog, in a paroxysm of 

 suffering, had thrown himself across the fireplace. 

 ' Come away from that, Biddy,' said the old cook, with 

 perfect nonchalance, to her attendant : ' Don't ye see 

 the dog is mad? ' and continued some culinary operation, 

 in which, at a distant corner of the kitchen, she was 

 engaged. The boy's preservation was unaccountable. 

 The poor lad made many unavailing efforts to part the 

 dogs when fighting in the kennel, and prevent the setters 

 from being bitten. In this perilous attempt his clothes 

 were literally torn to ribbons ; but, fortunately for 

 himself, there was not a scratch visible on his skin." 



