Comparisons. 115 



considerably better than at least four of the selected ones, 

 with a host of others I could name nearly or quite as 

 o-ood, never obtained a vote at all ! Vesuvienne, Dame 

 Fortune, Dreadnought, or Duchess of Durham, or other 

 cracks of the present day had not made a public appearance 

 at the time the plebiscite was taken, so are not affected 

 thereby. 



A perusal of these figures and names sets one a-thinking. 

 Surely the forty-one voters must have been sadly partial to 

 one strain, or at any rate peculiarly forgetful of the past, 

 and twenty years is not far to hark back, and, lolling in a 

 cosy chair, reproduce to our minds the mighty champions 

 which made the name of the fox terrier famous in every 

 household. Did those who gave a line to Belgrave Joe 

 ever remember hearing of a dog called Chance, Joe's very 

 image without the bar sinister the mutilated ear entailed ? 

 Did the seventeen responsible citizens who ventured their 

 opinions for Lucifer ever hear of Tyrant, a better dog in 

 •every way than the Rev. C. T. Fisher's whilom favourite ? 

 And so could one go on. Richmond Jack, a cast-off from 

 the Leicester kennels, obtained seventeen votes ! Tartar 

 and Nimrod were worth a score of him, and fairly and 

 squarely judged could beat him any day in the week. 

 Surely, then, we should require a jury of experts to select 

 the ten best smooth-coated fox terriers that have been 

 before the public during the last quarter of a century. 



Good as Belgrave Joe no doubt was, he could not be one 

 of these, for he was never exhibited on the bench. Com- 

 paratively few persons ever saw him in the flesh, and his 

 reputation cannot be lowered by being omitted from the 

 list. The jury of experts is not at hand, so as far as in 

 my power lies I will arrogate their supposititious duty to 



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