CHAPTER XXIII. 



THE SUSSEX SPANIEL. 



A WELL-KNOWN authority on the dog, writing in 

 1802, says that some of the largest and strongest 

 spaniels " are common in many parts of Sussex, and 

 are called Sussex spaniels." Unfortunately, he does 

 not tell us what colour they were or what colour they 

 ought to be, still there is no doubt, from what I have 

 been told, from what I have read, and from general 

 gossip, that this spaniel was brown in colour, or, as 

 that shade is usually called in application to the 

 variety, <( golden liver." 



It somehow appears strange that, until within 

 twenty-five years or so ago, this handsome and 

 useful spaniel should have been allowed to languish 

 in a quiet country place in its native county ; bred 

 by certain families, who valued it only for its 

 working excellences, and, by a course of much in- 

 breeding, rendered its extinction only a matter of time 

 unless others came forward to strengthen the breed. 



When " Stonehenge " wrote, in 1859, in " The 

 Dog in Health and Disease," attention appears to 



