282 Modern Dogs. 



will hunt truly and pleasantly, but are neither fit for a 

 long day or for a thorny covert. The " Sportsman's 

 Cabinet" (1803) has little more to give about the 

 King Charles spaniel, but mentions one that in 1792 

 belonged to a gentleman, in De Vere-street, Clare 

 Market. This gentleman went with his family to 

 Drury Lane theatre, about 5.30 in the afternoon, 

 leaving the little dog locked up in the dining-room. 

 At eight o'clock the door was opened, the dog 

 escaped, found its way to the theatre, and although 

 the house was crowded at the time, ferreted out its 

 master, who was sitting in the centre of the pit. I 

 am afraid none of our modern toy spaniels could 

 perform such a feat as this. 



The Dukes of Norfolk at one time had an 

 exceptional strain of spaniels., which were valued 

 highly, so much so that when a friend of one 

 of the dukes asked as a favour for a puppy, his 

 Grace haughtily replied, " Which of my estates 

 would you like, sir?" Indeed, of this Howard, who 

 bore no good name, it was said he valued these 

 " trumpery little dogs more than he did his tenants, 

 and, rather than present any of them with a puppy, 

 either destroyed those for which he had not room, 

 or fed his hawks with them." 



Richardson, in a little handbook about dogs which 

 he wrote in 1845, savs that "in London the King 



