244 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



but did not long remain so, and was exceedingly rare in the middle of the present 

 century, even a moderately good one not being procurable for less than 30L, and 

 that at a time when 51. was the average price of a lady's pet, even of the fashionable 

 kinds. During the decade 1840-50, however, several admirers of pugs attempted to 

 breed them from good foreign strains. Foremost among these was the then Lady 

 Willoughby de Eresby, who after a great deal of trouble obtained a dog from 

 Vienna which had belonged to a Hungarian countess, but was of a bad colour, being 

 a mixture of the stone fawn now peculiar to the " Willoughby strain," and black ; 

 but the combination of these colours was to a certain extent in the brindled form. 

 From accounts which are to be relied on, this dog was about twelve inches high, and 

 of good shape, both in body and head, but with a face much longer than would now 

 be approved of by pug fanciers. In 1846 he was mated with a fawn bitch imported 

 from Holland, of the desired colour, viz., stone fawn in body, with black mask and 

 trace, but with no indication of brindle. She had a shorter face and heavier jowl 

 than the dog, and was altogether in accordance with the type now recognised as the 

 correct " Willoughby pug." From this pair are descended all the strain named 

 after Lady Willoughby de Eresby, which are marked in colour by their peculiar 

 cold stone fawn, and the excess of black often showing itself, not in brindled stripes, 

 but in entirely or nearly entirely black heads, and large " saddle marks " or wide 

 " traces." 



But coincidently with this formation of a new strain was the existence of 

 another, showing a richer and more yellow fawn, and no tendency to excess of black. 

 This strain was possessed by the late Mr. Morrison, of Walham Green ; the late 

 Mr. H. Gilbert, of Kensington ; Mr. W. Macdonald, now of Winchmore Hill, but 

 at that time residing in London ; and some other fanciers of less note. According 

 to Mr. Morrison's statement to me (which, however, he did not wish made public 

 during his life), this strain was lineally descended from a stock possessed by Queen 

 Charlotte, one of which is painted with great care in the well-known portrait of 

 George III. at Hampton Court ; but I could never get him to reveal the exact 

 source from which it was obtained. That he himself fully believed in the truth 

 of this story I am quite confident ; and I am also of opinion that he never hazarded 

 a statement of which he had the slightest doubt being in this respect far above 

 the average of " doggy " men. Although he never broadly stated as much, I always 

 inferred that the breed was obtained by "back-stair influence," and on that account 

 a certain amount of reticence was necessary ; but, whatever may be the cause of the 

 secrecy maintained, I fully believe the explanation given by Mr. Morrison of the 

 origin of this breed of pugs, which is as commonly known by his name as that of 

 Lady Willoughby de Eresby by hers. His appeal to the Hampton Court portrait, 

 in proof of the purity of his breed from its general resemblance to the dog in that 

 painting, goes for nothing in my mind, because you may breed up to any type by 

 careful selection ; but I do not hesitate to indorse his statement as to the Guelph 

 origin of his strain, because I have full confidence in his truthfulness, from having 

 tested it in various other ways. I need scarcely remark that both strains are 

 derived from the Dutch "the Morrison" coming down to us through the three 



