VARIETIES OF THE DOG. 67 



and there long remained, an ornament to the Gardens, They appeared to 

 possess a considerable degree of strength, but to be too gentle to contend 

 with so powerful and ferocious an animal as the wolf. They were mostly 

 covered with white or gray, or occasionally black hair, short on the head, 

 ears, and feet, but long and silky on the body and tail. The forehead is 

 elevated, and the muzzle lengthened and clothed with short hair. The 

 attachment of this dog to his master and the flock is very great, and he has 

 not lost a particle of his sagacity, but, where wolves are. common, is still 

 used as a sheep-dog. 



THE CUR 



is the sheep-dog crossed with the terrier. He has long and somewhat 

 deservedly obtained a very bad name, as a bully and a coward ; and cer- 

 tainly his habit of barking at everything that passes, and flying at the 

 heels of the horse, renders him often a very dangerous nuisance : he is, 

 however, in a manner necessary to the cottager ; he is a faithful defender 

 of his humble dwelling ; no bribe can seduce him from his duty ; and he 

 is likewise a useful and an effectual guard over the clothes and scanty pro- 

 visions of the labourer, who may be working in some distant part of the 

 field. All day long he will lie upon his master's clothes seemingly asleep, 

 but giving immediate warning of the approach of a supposed marauder. 

 He has a propensity, when at home, to fly at every horse and every 

 strange dog; and of young game of every kind there is not a more ruthless 

 destroyer than the village cur. 



Mr. Hogg draws the following curious parallel between the sheep-dog 

 and the cur: " An exceedingly good sheep-dog attends to nothing but 

 the particular branch of business to which he is bred. His whole capa- 

 city is exerted and exhausted in it ; and he is of little avail in miscella- 

 neous matters ; whereas a very indifferent cur bred about the house, and 

 accustomed to assist in everything, will often put the more noble breed to 

 disgrace in these little services. If some one calls out that the cows are 

 in the corn or the hens in the garden, the house colley needs no other 

 hint, but runs and turns them out. The shepherd's dog knows not what 

 is astir, and, if he is called out in a hurry for such work, all that he will 

 do is to run to the hill, or rear himself on his haunches to see that no 

 sheep are running away. A well-bred sheep-dog, if coming hungry from 

 the hills, and getting into a milk-house, would likely think of nothing 

 else than filling his belly with the cream. Not so his initiated brother : 

 he is bred at home to far higher principles of honour. I have known 

 such lie night and day among from ten to twenty pails full of milk, and 

 never once break the cream of one of them with the tip of his tongue, 

 nor would he suffer cat, rat, or any other creature to touch it. While 

 therefore, the cur is a nuisance, he is very useful in his way, and we would 

 further plead for him, that he possesses a great deal of the sagacity and 

 all the fidelity of the choicest breed of dogs." 



The dog who, according to the well-known and authentic story, watched 

 the remains of his master for two years in the churchyard of St. Olave's, 

 in South wark, was a cur. 



The following story is strictly authentic : " Not long ago a young man, 

 an acquaintance of the coachman, was walking, as he had often done, in 

 Lord Fife's stables at Banff. Taking an opportunity, when the servants 

 were not regarding him, he put a bridle into his pocket. A Highland 



F 2 



