54 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



The interest increased as the performance advanced. A little music was heard from the gallery, 

 but it was soon interrupted by a loud knocking, which announced the arrival of some important 

 visitor. Several livery servants now entered, and then a sod:m chair was borne in by properiy-dreMed 

 dogs ; they removed the poles, raised the head, and opened the door of the sedan, when forth came a 

 lady, of the same race, splendidly attired in spimglfd satin and jewels, having her head decorated with a 

 plume of ostrich feathers. Meanwhile, the chair was removed, the master of the ceremonies received 

 with the highest respect the elegante, and the bow and curtsey were admirably interchanged. 



The band now struck up an air of the kind to which ball-room assemblies are accustomed to 

 promenade ; the company, therefore, quitted their seats and began to walk ceremoniously in pairs round 

 the room. Three of the ladies placed their arms under those of their attendant gentlemen. At the 

 close of the promenade, the master of the ceremonies and the sedan-chair lady rose ; he led her to the 

 centre of the room a minuet struck up, they commenced their movements with due attention to 

 time, and then performed the crossings and turnings, the advances, retreatings, and obeisances, with 

 such propriety, that they were watched in perfect silence, while the conclusion was gained amidst 

 thunders of applause. Throughout these performances there was an entire surrender of canine 

 propensities ; the dogs appeared absorbed in executing their various parts, and seemed not unconscious 

 of the admiration they excited, of which there was an expression in frequent plaudits. 



To the sounds of the human voice, the dog, fitted, as we have seen, to become the companion of 

 man, is peculiarly sensitive. Even if a puppy be taken up and spoken to plaintively, as if to comfort 

 it under the suffering of pain, it will readily answer in a plaintive whine j and before it has learned the 

 name to which it will have to respond, it knows well the voice of playfulness, encouragement, and 

 reproof. 



M. Blaize says, "The dog is the o>nly animal that howls on hearing the sound of a bell or a musical 

 instrument." 



Sirrah, one of the dogs of the Ettrick Shepherd,* had what his master called an "outrageous ear 

 for music." He never heard it but he drew towards it and joined in it with all his might. Sacred 

 music seemed to affect him most ; but in any slow tune, when the t'jnes dwelt upon the key note, they 

 put him quite beside himself, his eyes had a gleam of madness, and sometimes he left off singing and 

 fell to barking. To adopt Hogg's words : " It was customary with the worthy old farmer with whom 

 I resided to peiform family worship evening and morning, and, before he began, it was always 

 necessary to drive Sirrah to the fields and close the door. If this was at any time forgot or neglected, 

 the moment that the psalm was raised, he joined with all his zeal, and at such a rate, that he drowned 

 the voices of the family before three lines could be sung. Nothing further could be done till Sirrah 

 was expelled. But then ! when he got to the peat-stack knowe before the door, especially if he got a 

 blow in going out, he did give his powers of voice full scope, without mitigation, and even at that 

 distance he was often a hard match for us all. Some imagined that it was from a painful sensation he did 

 this. No such thing : music was his delight ; it always drew him towards it like a charm. I slept in 

 the byre-loft, Sirrah in the hay nook in the corner below. When sore fatigued, I sometimes retired to 

 my bed before the hour of family worship. In such cases, whenever the psalm was raised in the 

 kitchen, Sirrah left his lair, and, laying "his ear close to the bottom of the door to hear more 

 distinctly, he growled a low note in accompaniment, till the sound expired, and then rose, shook his 

 ears, and returned to his hay-nook." 



Well-attested evidences might be given of dogs being pained by false notes in music, but the 

 following must suffice : Mr. S., a gentleman of Darmstadt, in Germany, on retiring from business, 

 devoted himself to the cultivation and enjoyment of music ; and every member of his household was 

 gradually imbued with a similar taste. There, however, was the poodle, into whose brain he felt it 

 would be impossible to drive the theory of sounds, yet he firmly resolved to make it bear some part or 

 other in the domestic concert. He carried out his project in a singular way. Whenever a false note escaped 

 from instrument or voice and there were blunders intentional as well as accidental Mr. S. brought 

 down his cane on the back of the poodle, till it vented its feelings in dismal howls. 



But, strange to say, it speedily caught the design of these chastisements, and, instead of becoming 

 noisy with pain, or even sulky from its endurance, showed every disposition to howl on the instant any 



* See page 13. 



