356 THE BOOK OF THE DOG. 



position in public estimation, or possibly Mr. Lambert's kennel was stronger in Setters than 

 in Pointers. 



The date of introduction of the setting dog or Spaniel into this country is not clear. 

 There is no special reference to him in the old forest laws of Canute, which guarded against 

 ihe keeping of Greyhounds except under stringent conditions of maiming the animals or keeping 

 them at a distance of ten miles from a royal forest, and even Mastiffs kept by farmers 

 and others for the protection of their dwellings had to lose three claws, which was called 

 " expeditating." Spaniels are, however, specially mentioned in a statute anterior to the time 

 of Caius, and the dogs then regarded by the law were Mastiffs, Hounds, Spaniels, and Tumblers. 

 And in a statute of James I. it is provided that no person shall be deemed qualified to 

 keep setting dogs who is not possessed of an inheritance of the value of 10 per annum, a 

 lease for life of ^30 per annum, or who is worth 200 per annum, unless he be the son 

 of a baron or knight or heir-apparent to an esquire. 



The changed character of the sport of fowling when netting gradually gave way before 

 the increasing use of guns, until it became finally entirely superseded, did no doubt act 

 powerfully in modifying the Setter, and the plastic nature of the dog has been ever since taken 

 advantage of to alter and improve him to suit the constant changes in the conditions of sport. 

 As a factor in the conversion of the ancient Spaniel into the modern Setter, Elaine throws 

 out the suggestion that a cross with one of the celeres or swift-footed dogs was resorted to, 

 and that the Pointer is probably a cioss between the Spaniel and one or other of the 

 pugtiaces. To produce the Setter by such a cross, we had in this country the Greyhound and the 

 swift light hound, at one time peculiar to Yorkshire, Cumberland, Northumberland, and 

 probably other northern counties. There were other varieties of the celeres, no doubt, but 

 the two mentioned would in our view be the most likely to approve themselves to practical 

 sportsmen. In the absence of proof of such a cross having been resorted to with a special 

 purpose, we content ourselves with pointing out the great reasonableness of Elaine's theory. 

 Granted that the cross was adopted, it is not to be supposed that it was adhered to, but the 

 produce would be bred to the parent strain, the characteristics of which it was purposed should 

 preponderate, and that would be, in this instance, the Spaniel. 



It may be argued that the cross with the light hound equally with that by the Greyhound 

 would quite alter the style of hunting, destroy the natural tendency to index or set the 

 game, and the latter cross, to a great extent, destroy the olfactory powers. We do not think 

 such a result would follow, for even if in the first cross such were apparently developed, they 

 would be unequally so in the several members of the litter ; and good judgment in selecting 

 the bitches kept for brood purposes, and wise mating with Spaniel dogs excelling in the 

 qualities partially lost by the cross, would soon restore these in all their former fulness of 

 development, whilst the desired modification of form and other characteristics was sufficiently 

 preserved. 



If the theory of the cross with either of those mentioned, or some other of the celeres 

 available (but none of which, we are of opinion, would be so suitable to the object in view) 

 be rejected, then we are thrown back on the theory of selection of individuals of the same 

 variety ; for all must admit that, changed as the modern Setter is from all portraits of him in 

 pen, pencil, or by brush, -as he existed even so late as the last century, he still in all essentials 

 shows a strong alliance with the Spaniel family. It is not impossible in the production of the 

 modern Setter that he arose from the roughest of Spaniels described by our earliest writers 

 by means of selection alone. None of our domestic animals are so easily changed, and, as it 



