The Maltese. 319 



The late Mr. Robert Mandeville, of London, 

 about 1860 and later, had a very excellent strain 

 of the variety, and so had Mr. W. Macdonald, 

 also of London ; then came the Hon. Mrs. Bligh 

 Monk, of Reading ; Lady Gifford, of Redhill ; and 

 Mr. J. Jacobs, of Oxford, all of whom at one time 

 or another owned the most perfect specimens that 

 have been produced during the present generation. 

 Mr. Mandeville's Fido and Lady Gifford's Hugh 

 were particularly choice in their way, " white as 

 driven snow, coat like floss silk, less than 5lb. 

 weight each, and with not a dark hair on their 

 bodies." At the early shows the classes given to 

 this variety were far better filled than is the case 

 now when competition usually appears to be 

 restricted to two or three animals. At the Hoi- 

 born Show in London in 1862 there were twenty 

 Maltese entered, there were forty-one in the same 

 year at Islington, and two years later eighteen of 

 the little dogs were present at Ashburnham Hall. 

 Most of these entries were made by the London 

 fancy, but W. Mandeville was usually at the top, as 

 he continued to be for many years, even so recently 

 as 1870 at the Crystal Palace, when the competition 

 had dwindled to seven competitors, and it appears 

 to have continued to slacken and become less ever 

 since. 



