318 Modern Dogs. 



order that they may seem more elegant in the sight 

 of men." Surely after this operation which, for 

 anything we know to the contrary, may have been 

 performed before the Christian era who can say 

 there is anything new under the sun ; and the bull- 

 dog men who manipulate the noses and muzzles of 

 their " beauties " are only following on the lines of 

 their brother fanciers who preceded them in more 

 barbarous times. 



I think I have written enough to prove that the 

 Maltese dog was a valued canine commodity and 

 companion long before England was a great nation. 

 Since she has become so, this dog, with others, has 

 doubtless improved somewhat, though at the present 

 time I should scarcely know where to place my hand 

 on a perfect specimen. We must have them im- 

 maculately white, a fawn mark being a great 

 blemish, and a black one, I fancy, has not been 

 observed for a long time. Thirty years ago there 

 were more of the variety to be found than is the 

 case to-day ; but if they were difficult to breed 

 three hundred years since, unless special trouble 

 had been taken to improve them in that respect 

 certainly not by confining them in boxes and 

 feeding them on dried liver which does not appear 

 to have been the case, the wonder is the breed 

 survives at all. 



