368 THE BOOK OF THE Doc. 



bred many dogs for Mr. Lavcrack himself, was unaware of any such a taint, or this letter 

 would not have been written. Its present publication may be a consolation to breeders 

 of this kind of dog, as the appearance of a liver-coloured whelp will convince an owner who 

 has read these lines that it is not necessarily a bar-sinister in the pureness of its pedigree 

 as a Laverack. There could in fact be a great deal said upon this subject of the liver 

 colour, which Mr. Laverack here remarks upon as being likely to appear now and then in 

 pure-bred dogs of his strain. A tendency to throw back is of course inevitable in every 

 breed of animal, and it is greatly to be regretted that in his work Mr. Laverack threw no 

 light upon the origin of his breed. In fact, in his description of the Setter, he only alludes, 

 in referring to his own strain, to black, or blue, and lemon-ticked ones. This reticence on the 

 part of Mr. Laverack would seem to imply that, though he did not attempt to deny the fact 

 that there was liver blood somewhere in his strain, he was not particularly anxious that this 

 should be generally known, and consequently kept even his fidus ackates, Mr. Rothwell, in 

 -the dark about it until some puppies of the colour appeared in his breeding operations, when 

 he hastened to assure the latter gentleman that such an event was by no means impossible. 



It would appear, further, not only from the above letter, but from many others which 

 passed between Messrs. Laverack and Rothwell, and which subsequently came into our hands, 

 that the latter gentleman, who appears to have had the free use of any of Mr. Laverack's 

 stud dogs, was in the habit of giving Mr. Laverack puppies as the latter required them ; 

 and also that the great breeder himself was kind enough to sell Miss Rothwell's whelps for 

 her. We do not consider ourselves that there is any harm in such a thing being done; but 

 the practice is unfortunate, inasmuch as it opens the door to ill-natured remarks on the 

 pedigrees of dogs, and is a practical illustration of the dangers to which breeders are liable. 

 What we particularly allude to is the chance that is run of the authenticity of pedigrees 

 being disputed afterwards, if it could be proved that certain dogs were actually bred by Mr. 

 Rothwell, and not by Mr. Laverack. We do not impute any deception to either of these 

 gentlemen, but it is possible that persons who purchased pure-bred Laveracks from himself 

 might describe them as bred by him, when in reality Mr. Rothwell deserved the honour. 



Another and generally unknown fact in connection with the English Setter-breeding 

 operations of Mr. Edward Laverack is beyond a doubt ; and that is, that in the year 1874 

 he was practically " out of" his own blood. Whether the fatalities to which he so pathetically 

 refers in the following correspondence were in any way accelerated by the excess of in- 

 breeding to which he had resorted we cannot say, but it would seem that for some years 

 his stock had been dying off in a manner which was surprising to the great breeder himself, 

 and caused him to draw upon the kennel of his friend Mr. Rothwell for dogs to supply his 

 customers. The following extracts from some of Mr. Laverack's letters may be read with 

 interest : 



" Broughall Cottage, 



" Whitchurch, 



" Salop. 

 " DEAR ROTHWELL, 



"I received your daughter's letter relative to the puppies. When old enough to 



take from mamma, place in a hamper, and send as directed above, and advise me prior in order I may 

 send to station for them. Keep them till six weeks old. I shall be able to sell your daughter as many 



as you can spare ; and when sold, will send either you or Miss Rothwell the money 



" Yours truly, 



"E. LAVERACK. 

 "June 17 th, 1874." 



