VABIETIES OF THE DOG. 91 



effectually to teach a spaniel to sit partridges and pheasants. The first 

 person, however, who systematically broke-in setting dogs, is supposed to 

 have been Dudley Duke of Northumberland, in 1335. 



A singular dog-cause was tried in Westminster, in July, 1822. At a 

 previous trial it was determined that the mere possession of a dog, gene- 

 rally used for destroying game, was sufficient proof of its being actually so 

 used. Mr. Justice Best, however, determined that a man might be a 

 breeder of such dogs without using them as game-dogs ; and Mr. Justice 

 3 bailey thought that if a game-dog was kept in a yard, chained up by day, 

 find let loose at night, and, being so trained as to guard the premises, he 

 was to be considered as a yard-dog, and not as a game-dog. 



The setter is used for the same purpose as the pointer, and there is great 

 difference of opinion with regard to their relative value as sporting-dogs. 

 Setters are not so numerous ; and they are dearer, and with great difficulty 

 obtained pure. It was long the fashion to cross and mix them with the 

 pointer, by which no benefit was obtained, but the beauty of the dog 

 materially impaired ; many Irish sportsmen, however, were exceedingly 

 careful to preserve the breed pure. Nothing of the pointer can be traced 

 in them, and they are useful and beautiful dogs, altogether different in 

 appearance from either the English or Scotch setter. The Irish sports- 

 men are, perhaps, a little too much prejudiced with regard to particular 

 colours. Their dogs are either very red, or red and white, or lemon- 

 coloured, or white, patched with deep chestnut ; and it was necessary for 

 them to have a black nose, and a black roof to the mouth. This peculiar 

 dye is supposed to be as necessary to a good and genuine Irish setter as is 

 the palate of a Blenheim spaniel to the purity of his breed. A true Irish 

 setter will obtain a higher price than either an English or Scotch one. 

 Fifty guineas constituted no unusual price for a brace of them, and even 

 two hundred guineas have been given. It is, nevertheless, doubtful 

 whether they do in reality so much exceed the other breeds, and whether, 

 although stout and hard-working dogs, and with excellent scent, they 

 are not somewhat too headstrong and unruly. 



The setter is more active than the pointer. He has greater spirit and 

 strength. He will better stand continued hard work. He will generally 

 take the water when necessary, and, retaining the character of the breed, 

 is more companionable and attached. He loves his master for himself, 

 and not, like the pointer, merely for the pleasure he shares with him. His 

 somewhat inferior scent, however, makes him a little too apt to run into 

 his game, and he occasionally has a will of his own. He requires good 

 breaking, and plenty of work ; but that breaking must be of a peculiar 

 character : it must not partake of the severity which too often accom- 

 panies, and unnecessarily so, the tuition of the pointer. He has more 

 animal spirit than the pointer, but he has not so much patient courage ; and 

 the chastisement, sometimes unnecessary and cruel, but leaving the pointer 

 perfect in his work, and eager for it too, would make the setter disgusted 

 with it, and leave him a mere blinker. It is difficult, however, always to 

 decide the claim of superiority between these dogs. He that has a good 

 one of either breed may be content, but the lineage of that dog must be 

 pure. The setter, with much of the pointer in him, loses something in 

 activity and endurance ; and the pointer, crossed with the setter, may have a 

 degree of wildness and obstinacy, not a little annoying to his owner. The 

 setter may be preferable when the ground is hard and rough ; for he 



