RESUSCITATION OF SUSSEX SPANIELS. 433 



services were in many cases resorted to by breeders who were not familiar with their faults. 

 They, therefore, crippled the action of these gentlemen, who knew the breed, and may be 

 considered as responsible for many faults which are present in Sussex Spaniels of the present 

 day. 



As might have been supposed, in 1870 there were several types of Sussex Spaniel in 

 existence not that all were pure-bred, by any means ; so perhaps it would be more proper 

 if we said that there were several specimens of the breed in whose veins a large amount of 

 the old Rosehill blood ran, but who bore the taint of foreign crosses in a small degree. It 

 was, therefore, the task of these latter-day regenerators of the Sussex to select from these 

 such animals as they could with some degree of safety mate with pure-bred specimens, and 

 trust for good results. The efforts of these enthusiasts has certainly been crowned with the 

 success it deserved, as we are now in the possession of a breed of Sussex Spaniels which is 

 rapidly approaching that uniformity of type which its admirers have had in view for ten 

 years past. At first, of course, many prizes had to go for lack of better being present to 

 dogs which would not win when pure-bred Sussex were on the bench, and this accounts 

 at once for a slight diversity of types in 1873 and for a few seasons after. The pure-bred 

 ones being so hard to find, and in so few hands, could not be seen at every show, and the 

 judges had to do the best they could with the materials they had before them. This was 

 in itself unfortunate for those who had the interests of the breed at heart ; but still they 

 persevered, and though they, in many instances, differed in opinion, the various owners kept 

 on showing at all the leading exhibitions until some decided opinions began to be entertained 

 amongst exhibitors on the merits of the Sussex. As a sporting dog, all were agreed before 

 the attempted revival of the breed took place, but upon his structural developments ideas 

 differed, and do so still, in certain small details. 



The names of two gent'emen Mr. T. B. Bowers and Mr. A. W. Langdale will always 

 be identified with the movement in favour of the Sussex Spaniel ; and though the ideas of 

 these two gentlemen are not identical, they deserve equal credit for what they have done in 

 the interests of this valuable breed of sporting dog, and we are convinced that their exertions 

 in its favour have earned them the ungrudged thanks of those interested in the Sussex 

 Spaniel. As we have been fortunate enough to secure the opinions of both these gentlemen, 

 we propose producing them before adding any ideas of our own, and will therefore, without 

 further delay, give the description forwarded to us by Mr. T. B. Bowers, of Hunt's Cross, 

 Woolton, near Liverpool, which is as follows : 



" The Sussex Spaniel is beyond doubt one of the oldest branches of the Spaniel family ; 

 yet, strange to say, notwithstanding its beauty, and capacity for rough work, it has never 

 been common, though greatly esteemed and at one time jealously guarded by its fortunate 

 possessors, and certainly this was no m re than its deserts, for no dog is more intelligent or 

 affectionate than the pure Spaniel, and no Spaniel is more acceptable to a sportsman in a 

 rough country than the Sussex. Doubtless, in modern coverts, where game abounds, where 

 rides are cut, and which can be hunted in any direction to suit the guns, the silent Clumber 

 will show more sport ; but in dense woods and dingles, where one must really hunt up the 

 game, and where the dogs penetrate a mass of jungle which a man cannot face, then the 

 silent Clumber would not be so serviceable as the Sussex, which is also more active, and 

 capable of greater endurance. 



" In order to have the perfection of sport in a wild country, the best teams of Sussex 

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