ANECDOTES ABOUT DOGS 387 



anxious to take just one more, the gold medal of 

 the Bull Dog Club. She had already taken both the 

 bronze and silver medals, and I then intended her to 

 rest on her laurels, as I have always endeavoured to let 

 any of my great prize winners end their days in peace 

 and comfort, free from the fatigue and excitement of 

 shows and never like to see animals which have done 

 good service for their owners, hacked about in Variety 

 and Selling classes, all over the country. The weather 

 when I travelled to Aldridge's, St. Martin's Lane, 

 where the Bull Dog Club's show was to be held, was 

 very warm and sultry, and on arrival at Paddington, I 

 had her box put on the roof of a cab and run over to the 

 show, but on its being opened there, as it happened, by 

 my old friend, Mr. J. W. Berrie, then, as now, the 

 president of the Bull Dog Club, I think everyone pres- 

 ent was horrified to find my beautiful bitch actually 

 stone dead, and from the appearance of the body, 

 should think the heat must have brought on an apoplec- 

 tic seizure and death must have been very sudden. Of 

 course, as is usual in such cases, I had someone at the 

 time anxious to purchase her at, what was then 

 thought, a very long price, 250. 



Dogs have played important parts in the supersti- 

 tions of ages now happily passed away. When the dog 

 howled at the gate, it used to be alleged that one 

 of the family was to die. Old women suspected 

 of being witches because they were infirm and 

 stricken with poverty were supposed to always have 

 either a cat or dog, said to be their "Familiar" 

 and through whom they could be enabled to com- 



