EARLIER ENGLISH POINTERS. 395 



kingdom, and sold for immense sums after his death. But so great has been the constantly- 

 increasing attachment to the sports of the field, particularly of the gun, that they have 

 been since bred of every description, from a pure white, and flea-bitten blue or grey, to 

 a complete liver colour or perfect black. After every experiment that can have been 

 possibly made by the best judges and most energetic amateurs in respect to size, it seems 

 at length a decided opinion with the majority, that when bred for every species of game 

 and every diversity of country, both extremes are better avoided, and the line of mediocrity 

 more advantageously adhered to ; overgrown, fat, and heavy dogs very soon get weary in the 

 hot and early part of the season ; the smaller sort are likewise attended with inconvenience 

 in hunting high turnips, heath, ling, and broom fields 



" The art of breaking Pointers was formerly considered a most difficult and mysterious 

 concern, many of those denominated dog-breakers having nearly derived their sole subsistence 

 from such employment ; that charm, however, has been long since broken, and the simplicity 

 of the process is now so generally known amongst sporting practitioners, that a tolerably 

 well-bred Pointer puppy may have the groundwork of all his future perfections theoretically 

 implanted in the parlour or kitchen of the dwelling-house before he once makes his 

 appearance in the field. The instinctive impulse of this breed is frequently seen to display 

 itself in subjects no more than three or four months old; where, in still and uninterrupted 

 situations, puppies may be observed most earnestly standing at chickens, pigeons, and even 

 sparrows upon the ground, by sight, before the olfactory powers can be supposed to have 

 attained maturity to prompt a point by scent. 



" When a whelp of this description has reached his sixth or seventh month, the process 

 may be proceeded upon in the following way ; and either a single dog, a brace, or more, 

 may be managed with equal ease, in any convenient spot, room, or yard, at the same 

 time, with no other assistance whatever than the alternate expression of ' To ho ! ' 

 ' Have a care ! ' and ' Take heed ! ' (having the small field-whip in hand to impress 

 attention and enforce obedience) although the most attractive meat is tossed before them 

 in every direction. The commencement of the ceremony consists in throwing a piece of 

 bread at some small distance before the dog, who, upon making his effort to obtain it, 

 must be instantly checked by a quick exclamation of ' Have a care ! ' and the assistant 

 terms alternately repeated, to keep him in a patient point of perseverance, till, having 

 given ample proof of his obedience to the injunction, and stood time sufficient to demonstrate 

 his comprehension of the restraint he must occasionally encounter, a vibrativc, low-toned 

 whistle, accompanied with a mild ejaculation of ' Hie on ! ' will prove the signal for proceed- 

 ing, which the whole will quickly learn to obey ; and it will be found by practice, that one 

 or more may, at the very moment of seizing either the bread or the meat, be as instantly 

 stopped and made to renew their point, by a repetition of either of the verbal cautions 

 previously observed. Some there are who consider it a qualification in a Pointer to bring the 

 game to foot when killed, and those who wish it, will find it easy of attainment, by 

 teaching them to fetch and carry before they are at all accustomed to the field ; it is a 

 mode of being employed they are much delighted with, and never forget, but is attended by 

 the chance of one inconvenience annexed to the experiment ; if they become hard-mouthed, 

 and take to breaking both flesh and feather, it is a fault, or rather crime, which generally 

 becomes incorrigible, and is hardly ever obliterated without incessant trouble and much 

 distressing severity. This circumstance, so naturally likely to occur, it is the more necessary 

 to bring to memory, because punishment is at all times unpleasant to the humane and 



