THE BELVOIR FAMILY. 285 



I had almost forgotten to say anything of the daughters of old Trap, though the omission 

 would not have been a serious one. Mr. Turner's Vene, the dam of Artful, was probably the 

 best of them. Another good one was Riot, who occurs in more than one good pedigree Nimrod's, 

 I think, among the number. But for some reason Trap did not contribute nearly as large 

 a supply of successful matrons as his rival, Jock. It is hardly needful to say that some years 

 ago an immense number of Terriers laid claim to Jock and Trap as ancestors, whose claims 

 to the title were of an exceedingly shadowy character. 



I now come to the third and last of what I have treated as the three great families, that 

 descended from Belvoir Joe. Four or five years ago the merits of this blood were known 

 to comparatively few persons, and no one would have imagined that it was likely to assume 

 equal importance with either Trap or Jock. There can be no better evidence of its merits 

 than the extraordinary rapidity with which it has made headway, and asserted itself against 

 formidable rivals. I have already touched upon the history of the Belvoir Terriers ; and 

 the best and fullest account of them is to be found in the articles by " Peeping Tom," to 

 which I before referred. The representative of the Belvoir strain through whom the blood 

 is specially connected with the present race of show dogs is Belvoir Joe, though at the same 

 time there are are one or two less-known members of the family who occasionally appear 

 in modern pedigrees. Belvoir Joe himself was got by Trimmer, a dog from the Grove, and 

 his dam was also out of a bitch of Grove blood. Belvoir Joe himself was I believe never 

 shown, and I have met but few people who knew him. I believe, however, that he was a coarse 

 and rather large dog. From Belvoir Venom, whose title indicates her origin, he begot three 

 sons, Jock, Grip, and Viper, all of whom left some fair stock, especially Belvoir Jock. Belvoir 

 Joe's real success however, was achieved by his union with two bitches of Mr. Branston's, 

 Vic and Nettle. I have never been able to learn any particulars about Vic, beyond the 

 fact that she was all white, and extraordinarily game, and that she was believed to be of 

 the Belvoir blood. Nettle was her daughter, by a small dog, supposed to be a son of Old 

 Trap. From Vic Belvoir Joe begat Belgrave Joe, and from Nettle Mr. Turner's Old Nettle, 

 and it is to these two that the Belvoir blood owes all its present celebrity. The latter is 

 the dam of Mr. Burbidge's Nettle, of whom I before spoke, and of her brother, Tyrant, and 

 thus is the ancestress of Pickle II. In addition to this, Nettle, when put to Brokenhurst Joe, 

 a son of Belgrave Joe, and consequently closely related to herself, bred that good bitch, Needle, 

 the Alexandra Palace winner in 1877. Belgrave Joe himself is so little known to the public, 

 except by name, that it may not be amiss to say a few words about him. He is a dog of 

 some 1 8 or 19 pounds weight, rather high on the leg, with a grand Terrier coat, and a head only 

 equalled, in my opinion, by his daughter Olive. Unlike many of the Belvoir dogs, he has 

 excellent feet, and there is none of that weakness behind which is often found in the 

 family. My acquaintance with him only dates from his old age ; but even now, in I believe 

 his tenth or eleventh year, he could hold his own, I imagine, with most show dogs of the day. 

 As most of his stock are still in their prime, it is needless to dwell upon them. The best 

 evidence of his merits was perhaps to be found at the Kennel Club Show in the summer of 

 1879, where four out of the six winners in open classes were begotten by his two sons, 

 Brokenhurst Joe and Beppo; while in one of the other classes his son Tom was disqualified 

 for being over-weight, after being placed first by the judges. The capacity of the blood for 

 bearing in-breeding is sufficiently shown by Tom, whose maternal granddam was the offspring 

 of Belvoir Jock and Mr. Turner's Nettle, and also by the success which Pickle II. has had 

 in connection with bitches of the Belvoir Joe blood, in the cases of Deacon Nettle, Daisy, 



