282 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



the beautiful cleanness characteristic of the Foiler and Belvoir blood, and are apt to get coarse 

 with age. 



I now come to a line of blood even more valuable, in my opinion, than the Jock strain, 

 that, namely, of Old Trap. Trap himself was but seldom shown, and was consequently not 

 very well known to the public. His sire was a black-and-tan dog, undoubtedly ; I believe one 

 of the old black-and-tan stock to which I before referred. Trap has been described to me 

 by an M.F.H., in whose possession he at one time lived and worked. He was a compact, well- 

 made dog, just the right size, with a lean head, and with plenty of bone. His one marked 

 defect was a fine coat, which a good deal interfered with his work. There is certainly a 

 tendency to this defect in one of the families descended from him that of Tyrant notably 

 in the Chance branch of it. At the same time, I am not sure whether this may not have 

 come in on the dam's side. Trap's most noted son, undoubtedly, was Tyrant, out of an own 

 sister to Vassal. His lot was unluckily cast in the days when a well-marked head and a generally 

 " graceful " appearance went for more than sterling working points, and though he was fairly 

 successful on the show-bench, his merits were certainly not fully recognised. In build he 

 was a regular "big little "un," low on the leg, with great substance, and length in the right 

 place. As a stud dog he was pre-eminently successful, but for some reason his sons and 

 daughters were hardly equally so in reproducing the family good qualities. There seems to 

 have been a certain tendency in the blood to grow big and coarse, and deficient in compact- 

 ness and Terrier character. The best, probably, of Tyrant's sons was Bitters, a dog of 

 something the same stamp as his sire, immensely powerful yet very compact. Unluckily his 

 dam brought in an undoubted infusion of Bull-terrier, and, as a consequence, Bitters, although 

 he has had great opportunities both with Mr. Gibson and Mr. Burbidge, has failed to keep 

 up the character of the family. The best, perhaps, of his stock was Boxer, a big coarse dog, 

 but the sire of several good ones. Pre-eminent amongst these was Bloomer, a neat little 

 bitch herself, who has earned immortality as the dam of Bloom. Another well-known son 

 of Tyrant was Old Chance. His dam appears to have been by a Grove dog out of a Belvoir 

 bitch. There can be little doubt, however, that Old Chance inherited some Bull or English 

 Terrier blood, as shown in the length of his head and the fineness of his coat. These and 

 kindred faults were transmitted to many of his descendants, more especially of the male 

 sex, though at the same time he figures among the ancestors of more than one good dog. 

 A far more successful son of Old Tyrant at the stud was Sam, who, as we have seen, got 

 a second infusion of Jock blood through his dam. Sam's history was a somewhat curious 

 one. He was a low, coarse dog, with plenty of substance and working character, but with 

 nothing in his looks which promised a great career. Accordingly, when he was stolen, early in 

 life, his owner took but little pains to recover him. In the meantime, however, Tickler and that 

 grand bitch Myrtle had come out as show winners, and had proved the value of the blood. 

 Accordingly, there was a hue and cry after their sire, and he was with some difficulty 

 unearthed. In his after career he begot a number of good Terriers, though none quite equal 

 to Myrtle. His best son was Venture, whose dam was got by Hopcroft's Trap, a com- 

 paratively unknown dog, but an own brother to Tyrant. As might be expected from his 

 double cross of Trap, Venture was a thick-set, stiff dog, not as long in head as most of the 

 Tyrants, and rather wide in chest. His career was cut short by an apoplectic fit, before he 

 had begotten a son worthy to fill his own place, so his fame rests chiefly on his daughters. 

 Of these the best were Vanity from Cottingham Nettle, and Patch and Vexer from Fussy, 

 who was herself full of Trap blood. Vanity and Vexer have both inherited their sire's 



