ORIGIN OF THE FOX-TERRIER CLUB 259 



at the way he had been treated, for to him as can be 

 seen from his evidence drunkenness was merely an 

 agreeable condition, and the idea of it involving black- 

 guardism was too preposterous to entertain for a 

 moment. 



The proceedings on the petition lasted for two days, and 

 finally the petition was dismissed with costs, Mr Justice 

 Lopes saying it " had been an unusually pure election," 

 and Mr Justice Denman added that it was " a frivolous 

 petition recklessly conducted." 



Had they known or had the petitioners known all that 

 I knew the decision might have been must have been 

 different, but all was well that ended well. 



For the edification of total abstainers I may say here 

 that Tom Palliser lived to be ninety years of age and was 

 always in robust health. 



It was, I think, a year or two before the time of this 

 remarkable election petition that the Fox-terrier Club 

 was formed, and this was done at a dinner given by Mr 

 Harding Cox at his house in Russell Square, where eight 

 or ten of the leading owners of fox-terriers were the guests. 

 A committee was formed to draw up and settle the points 

 of a fox-terrier, and I was deputed to prepare the pre- 

 liminary draft. This I did, and sent copies round to the 

 other members of the committee for them to make 

 observations and emendations. When I had got these 

 back I had to make a new draft assimilating, so far as I 

 thought desirable, all the suggestions, and after this also 

 had gone the round of the committee I was able to 

 settle a draft, which was eventually agreed on at a 

 meeting. 



The points of the fox-terrier, as accepted at the present 

 day by the Fox-terrier Club, have been very little altered 

 since that time. Tom Scott, Bassett, Doyle, Redmond 

 and various others were on that committee : and the 

 Club itself soon introduced several novelties, such as 

 Produce Stakes. Here again I drafted the original 

 conditions ; and went to more ambitious lengths by 



