THE KING CHAELES AND BLENHEIM SPANIELS. 239 



which was usually of a black tan and white colour, and might be regarded as the 

 Gordon setter reduced in scale, being like that dog not only in colour, which was, as 

 in that breed, black and tan with or without white, but also in shape of body and 

 head; and in this form both breeds have been placed on canvas by Sir Edwin 

 Landseer. But soon after this date the London " fancy " seem to have become 

 discontented with the beautiful natural shapes of their pets, and set to work to 

 import the short faces and upturned noses of the Chinese spaniel, while at the same 

 time they selected puppies with still greater length of feather on ears, feet, and legs 

 than before. It is said that the bulldog, pug, and Chinese spaniel crosses have 

 been used for this purpose ; but this is not admitted by the breeders, who declare 

 that the alterations have been effected by selection alone. The modus operandi is, 

 however, of little consequence; all that we have to do with is the result, which is 

 embodied in the following description of the points of the modern pet spaniel. The 

 strongest argument in support of the adoption of some cross such as those mentioned 

 above, is, that nearly all of the modern breed have lost the low carriage of the tail, 

 which is a peculiar feature in all true spaniels, and which was formerly insisted on 

 as a point of great importance in the toy spaniel, but is now abandoned by modern 

 judges, simply because it is rarely met with among those specimens that come up to 

 their standard in other respects. In order to show the difference between the two 

 types, I have obtained a sketch of Mr. Julius's Blenheim " Spot," which is, I believe, 

 descended from the Woodstock strain, and exhibits the old-fashioned shape of head 

 and face in perfection. Contrasting him with Mrs. J. W. Berrie's prize winner, 

 "The Earl," my readers can judge for themselves whether the latter could have 

 descended from ancestors like the former, without any cross with extraneous blood. 

 Knowing full well what extraordinary things can be done in this way by judicious 

 selection, I am still sceptical on this point, and must regard the " stop," upturned 

 nose, short face, and round skull as fresh importations, not developments. Still I 

 must beg Mrs. Berrie, Mr. Forder, and other successful modern breeders to under- 

 stand that I do not deny the merits of their pets, since I believe that in all fancy 

 dogs Fashion has an undisputed right to be heard; and, as this omnipotent 

 authority chooses to decide that an artificially short, upturned nose is more beautiful 

 than that form of the organ which nature originally gave to the English spaniel, I 

 am quite ready to accept the fiat. The following is the 



SCALE OF POINTS GENERALLY ACCEPTED. 



Value. 



Head 10 



Stop 10 



Nose 10 



Lower jaw 5 



35 



Value. 



Ears 10 



Eyes 5 



Compactness of shape 10 

 Symmetry 5 



30 

 Grand Total 100. 



Value. 



Colour 10 



Coat 10 



Feather 10 



Size 5 



35 



1. The head (value 10) should be well domed, and in good specimens is 

 absolutely semi- globular, sometimes even extending beyond the half-circle, and 



