276 Modern Dogs. 



have been at a far distant date. His old cognomen 

 of spaniel still attaches to him in certain country 

 districts remote from the railway, and in which 

 old customs and old names die hard. Two years 

 ago, whilst on a visit to Ireland, I repeatedly heard 

 the modern setter dubbed a spaniel, and early in 

 the present century the same dog was quite as 

 often called a spaniel as not. " Kunopaedia, a 

 practical essay on breaking and training the English 

 spaniel and pointer," by the late William Dobson, of 

 Eden Hall, Cumberland, was published in 1814, and 

 in this, one of the earliest works of its kind specially 

 devoted to breaking sporting dogs, the word spaniel 

 must be read to mean setter. The instructions given 

 throughout the work are those likely to be useful in 

 training a dog to stand, point, and do his work 

 according to the modern idea of excellence in his 

 line. 



A history of the setter should, of course, commence 

 at the very earliest portion of his career, but old 

 writers are particularly silent on the point, even more 

 so than when they have attempted to trace the rise 

 and advent of other dogs, those used in the field for 

 hunting, those trained to guard the flocks and 

 the household, or others used as companions, as 

 lap-dogs, for fancy and amusement alone. 



In Great Britain the domestic dog has for hundreds 



