THE MINIATURE POODLE 



" My wildest wishes he juljils 

 Without a protest on his part; 

 My faintest show of friendship thrills 

 His faithful hearth 



Ellen Thornycroft Fowler. 



IN those days of Platonism and " sensibility," which formed 

 such a curious phase of the feminism of the Sixteenth 

 century, no woman was happy without a pet dog, probably a 

 poodle. Their love of animals was particular rather than general. 

 As M. de Maulde says in " The Women of the Renaissance," 

 " Ladies only valued the boudoir pet, the little, affectionate, 

 obedient animal, their very own, which meekly took their kisses 

 and upon which they lavished without misgiving a portion of their 

 tenderness : a bird, for instance, or a pug. I say a pug, for there 

 was seldom more than one. What was the good of a troop of 

 shaggy animals, however graceful, like those which liU the canvases 

 of Veronese ? A lady much preferred her one little lap dog, which 

 she carried on her arm against her heart, took to bed with her, and 

 had painted in her own portrait." Probably the author is inexact 



