292 Modern Dogs. 



by arte that presently, even on a sudden, he either stands still or 

 falles down flatte upon his bellie, without daring once to open his 

 mouth, or make any noise or motion at all, till that his master 

 come unto him and thus proceedes in all things according to his 

 directions and commandments. 



This extract is somewhat interesting, if a little 

 complicated, and without any further reference to 

 the " has beens " of the setter, we must break into 

 what he is in more modern days, when he is divided 

 into three divisions the English, Irish, and Gordon 

 or black and tan varieties, and the former will have 

 the preference. 



Until well into the present century the setter was 

 not so commonly used as an adjunct to the gun as 

 the pointer, and even the writer of the article in the 

 " Sportsman's Cabinet " said that at that time (1803) 

 it was oftener used for the purpose of finding par- 

 tridges to be taken with nets than otherwise. It 

 had been trained to drop on point, and thus more 

 readily was the net dragged over him and he and the 

 birds encircled in its meshes. But he was highly 

 valued as a sporting dog long before this, and 

 there is extant a copy of a bond, dated October yth, 

 1685, which carefully specifies the particulars of a 

 contract for training a dog. This is as follows : 



Ribberford, Oct. 7, 1685. 



I, John Harris, of Welldon, in the parish of Hartlebury, in the 

 county of Worcester, yeoman, for and in consideration of two 



