Blome's "Gentleman's Recreation" 



said to be the best workers, because they could both chase 

 their game above ground and drive it from the earths, as 

 occasion required. Useful dogs, no doubt, to possess, and 

 it seems almost a pity we have not the variety with 

 us now. Other authors have followed much in the same 

 strain ; indeed, the general description of the terrier 

 about this time appears to have been copied by one 

 writer after another without acknowledgment, and without 

 taking any trouble to ascertain the truth of the original 

 statement. Master Cox, especially, seems to have been a 

 great offender in this respect — not only where he deals 

 with dogs, but where he treats of the fishes likewise. 

 Thus, whether it be worth while to allude to him and 

 contemporary writers is quite a matter of opinion. Hugh 

 Dalziel, in his book " British Dogs," says that Cox 

 plagiarised his descriptions from early French writers, 

 and if he did, and Mr. Dalziel gives reasonable proofs of 

 the truth of his assertion, it is likely enough that some 

 of the terriers described by Nicholas Cox were either a 

 variety of dachshund or of basset hound, various strains of 

 which, of almost all sizes, shapes, colours, and textures of 

 coat, have for centuries been common enough on the 

 continent. 



The writer who suggested that terriers could be obtained 

 by breeding between a "mongrel mastiff and a beagle" 

 was Blome, who, following the example of Cox, some 

 years after the latter's publication — viz., in 1686 — rendered 

 himself famous by the appearance of his " The Gentleman's 

 Recreation." Whether a man who would suggest the pro- 

 duction of suitable terriers by such a cross as the above 

 was the proper person to deal with sport and dogs from a 

 practical point of view, is surely to be doubted. He bore 



