English Toy Spaniels. 281 



them, obtained the name of Comforters ; moreover, 

 a vulgar superstition prevailed that if these little 

 dogs were carried about the person of anyone 

 suffering from disease, the disorder became trans- 

 ferred from the individual to the dog, which usually 

 died in consequence ! 



Some writers have said that the King Charles 

 spaniel was originally brown and white in colour, but 

 I have not been able to find anything to establish 

 the truthfulness of such a statement ; still I have no 

 doubt that the original toy spaniel was much more 

 like a little cocker spaniel than it is at present, and 

 in addition to being used as a " comforter," was occa- 

 sionally trained to hunt the coverts, beating out the 

 pheasants and woodcocks, stirring up the hares and 

 the rabbits just as the rustic biped with the long 

 stick does at the present day. 



Writers on canine matters at the early part of this 

 century have little to tell about the King Charles 

 and the Blenheim spaniels, excepting as to their 

 value and sagacity. Sir William Jardine, as late as 

 1843, m ms " Naturalist's Library," says of the King 

 Charles that it is " a beautiful breed, in general 

 black and white, and presumed to be the parent of 

 the cocker;" but in 1820 John Scott wrote in the 

 "Sportsman's Repository" that "the very delicate 

 and small carpet spaniels have excellent noses and 



