728 THE DOCK 



with whom he is connected by special service. He will watch 

 over the safety of his master, and brave death in defending 

 him. In his proper province of watching, he often exhibits 

 surprising instincts. At the seat of the Earl of Lichfield, 

 three miles from Blenheim, is a portrait in the dining-hall of 

 a former owner of the manor, Sir Henry Lee, with the figure 

 of a noble mastiff, who had saved the owner's life, executed 

 by Johnston, a painter of the time. A servant, it appears, 

 had formed the design of assassinating his master and rob- 

 bing the house. On the night of the intended murder, the 

 dog, who had never before been much noticed by his master, 

 followed him for the first time up stairs, and resisted every 

 effort to drive him away. In the dead of night, the servant 

 entered the apartment to execute his bloody design, when he 

 was in an instant seized by the dog, and, being secured, con- 

 fessed his purpose. The dog, it may be supposed, had sur- 

 mised the design of the villain from the preparations he had 

 made, either by himself, or in conjunction with others. A 

 somewhat similar incident occurred about the middle of last 

 century, in the case of a nobleman of the Scottish Border, 

 who, when travelling in Italy, was compelled to lodge at an 

 obscure inn, where, it was afterwards discovered, many mur- 

 ders had been committed. The dog, obstinately resisted his 

 master's intention to go to the bed prepared for him, and the 

 nobleman happily confided in the sagacity of the animal. 

 The bed set apart for the travellers to be sacrificed was, it 

 seems, so contrived, that it could be lowered into a cellar un- 

 derneath. At midnight, the nobleman, from the chair on 

 which he had placed himself, witnessed the silent descent of 

 the empty bed, and, keeping to his arms, and guarded by his 

 noble dog, escaped destruction. 



Conforming to the Molossian type, but yet differing greatly 

 in temperament from the Asiatic Mastiff, is a race of dogs 

 which has existed in the British Islands beyond any record. 

 This is the Bull-dog, which, though it must be referred to 

 the present type, yet presents a set of characters which dis- 



