34 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



that they succumbed under the weight and perished. On 

 that account they were discarded by the monks. 



In connection with the origin of the St. Bernard, M. Schu- 

 macher wrote in a letter to Mr. J. C. Macdona, who was the 

 first to introduce the breed into Great Britain in any numbers : 

 " According to the tradition of the Holy Fathers of the Great 

 Saint Bernard, their race descends from the crossing of a 

 bitch (a Bulldog species) of Denmark and a Mastiff (Shepherd's 

 Dog) of the Pyrenees. The descendants of the crossing, 

 who have inherited from the Danish dog its extraordinary 

 size and bodily strength, and from the Pyrenean Mastiff the 

 intelligence, the exquisite sense of smell, and, at the same 

 time, the faithfulness and sagacity which characterise them, 

 have acquired in the space of five centuries so glorious a 

 notoriety throughout Europe that they well merit the name 

 of a distinct race for themselves." 



From the same authority we learn that it is something 

 like six hundred years since the St. Bernard came into exist- 

 ence. It was not, however, till competitive exhibitions for 

 dogs had been for some years established that the St. Bernard 

 gained a footing in Great Britain. A few specimens had been 

 imported from the Hospice before Mr. Gumming Macdona 

 (then the Rev. Gumming Macdona) introduced us to the 

 celebrated Tell, who, with others of the breed brought from 

 Switzerland, formed the foundation of his magnificent kennel 

 at West Kirby, in Cheshire. Albert Smith, whom some 

 few that are now alive will remember as an amusing lecturer, 

 brought a pair from the Hospice when returning from 

 a visit to the Continent and made them take a part 

 in his attractive entertainment ; but the associations of 

 the St. Bernard with the noble deeds recorded in history 

 were not then so widely known, and these two dogs 

 passed away without having created any particular 

 enthusiasm. 



Later on, at a dog show at Cremorne held in 1863, two St. 

 Bernards were exhibited, each of whom rejoiced in the name 



