Some Poeti Dogs. 3 1 1 



simplicity that are accepted as characteristic of the poetical 

 country-side. 



The dog at ease is significant of auspicious times and 

 events ; the miserable one ominous of disaster present or 

 to come. The lazy dog is a feature of the summer's day, 

 and the active one of winter and spring. It is on the hills 

 with the shepherd, on the road with the carter, in the 

 comer of the field with the ploughman. No door or gate 

 opens without its appropriate dog. Guests, good and bad, 

 are to be distinguished by the kind of dogs that meet 

 them. 



And there are few incidents of the animal's life that have 

 not been noted. The meeting of strange dogs, their making 

 acquaintance, their courtships, the birth of puppies, their 

 blindness, and sometimes untimely death by drowning ; the 

 playing of the puppies with the children of the house, their 

 being reared as members of the family circle, their entering 

 upon the duties of life, their different careers, and the 

 various incidents of each. And what delightful vignettes 

 they often suggest ! Grahame's haymaking dog for instance, 

 or Joanna Bailiie's summer-afternoon dog — 



*' Silence prevails — 

 Nor low, nor bark, nor chirping bird is heard, 

 The shady nooks the sheep and kine conrene ; 

 Within the narrow shadow of the cot 

 » The sleepy dog lies stretched upon his side. 

 Nor heeds the footsteps of the passer-by. 

 Or at the sound but raises half an eyelid. 

 Then gives a feeble growl and sleeps again. 

 While puss composed and grave on threshold stone 

 Sits winking in the light." 



And Jean IngeloVs delightful sketch of the fisherman's 

 puppies — 



" Tlie village dogs and ours, elate and brave, 

 Lay looking over, barking at the fish ; 



