CONCERNING DOGS. 153 



the Rev. Mr. Fowle, at Chilton. My father 

 shortly afterwards came down to Chilton, and 

 saw these young dogs out at work. He told Mr. 

 Fuller, when he got home, that he was amazed at 

 my dogs, and quite ashamed of himself for 

 having, some time previously, kicked me out 

 of the field with a smack of the ear, telling me 

 I had not got the brains of a sprat for dog- 

 breaking, and he should never be able to make 

 anything of me. Not only he, but many other 

 people, found out their mistake in this special 

 branch of a keeper's duty, for they discovered, 

 as I shall explain, that to thrash a young dog 

 is to spoil him, and that scores of valuable dogs 

 have been destroyed as useless, simply because 

 of faults that were instilled into them by gross 

 ignorance and mismanagement. 



In the year 1843, I came to Stanstead, Essex, 

 as gamekeeper to William Fuller-Maitland 

 Esquire, and there I have remained ever since. 

 After I had been there two years, Mr. Fuller 

 was down shooting at Ereswell, near Mildon 

 Hall, Suffolk, and, on his way back to Chesham, 

 he called at Stanstead to shoot with Mr. 



