ANECDOTES ABOUT DOGS 349 



any amount of places and people to see, I own I did not 

 trouble about the matter, and had nearly forgotten it 

 until at the show I met a gentleman also hailing from 

 the same part of England and a well-known light in the 

 Beagle world, who said : " I did an unusual thing this 

 time, came up a day too soon, and I shall get a pretty 

 ' roasting ' over it." I replied : " I also did the same for 

 the first time, in a long experience of Dog shows, but 

 do not expect any ' roasting.' " He said, " Oh, but my 

 wife will know it, if no one else does, and she will never 

 forget it." I answered, " Neither my wife, nor any one 

 else, will know it, from me, as I don't believe (any more 

 than the late Mr. Sam Weller) in telling matters 

 against myself." But as I see the gentleman referred to 

 has followed the example of the late Mr. Silas Wcgg 

 (in Our Mutual Friend) and " dropped into poetry," 

 in the pages of a well known fancier's paper, it may 

 amuse some of our mutual friends if I quote the lines 

 here: 



TOO PREVIOUS PUNCTUALITY. 



Two L's went up, a Lordly Lane. 



To visit Cruft, his Show 

 And scorning both the wind, and rain, 



Were early, " on the go." 



They both hail from the Sunny West, 



And, both, their locks, are grey, 

 But spite of this, may I be blessed, 



They, both, mistook the day! 



The one, a Judge, of well-known fame, 



But not, a Judge, of days, 

 The other, but, a Judge of Game, 



In all its gamey ways. 



