The Irish Setter. 357 



saw at Cockermouth, in Cumberland, which he would 

 much liked to have used to his setters. He found 

 on inquiry that this dog always produced one or 

 more black puppies, and, although he was fast 

 and had a good nose, he was so headstrong that he 

 could not be broken. I fancy some of our modern 

 skilled trainers would soon have brought him to his 

 senses. 



Richardson, who said little of the Irish setter, 

 says he is perhaps the purest of all setters, and that 

 his colour is u a yellowish red." Writing fifty years 

 since, he remarks, such dogs "are the genuine un- 

 mixed descendants of the original land spaniel, and, 

 so highly valued are they, that a hundred pounds is 

 by no means an unusual price for a single dog." 

 This was a very unusual price for such a dog, fifty 

 years or so ago when Richardson wrote, but another 

 authority on the breed, who flourished rather before 

 this period, says that so valued were some strains of 

 the Irish setter that on one occasion an estate was 

 given for a brace of dogs. We are afraid that there 

 are at the present time in the unfortunate Emerald 

 Isle, certain estates that would be dear at the price 

 of one of our best dogs. 



It may be right to allude to Youatt's opinion as 

 to the colour of Irish setters when he wrote about 

 1845. He says they are " either very red, or red and 



