DOGS AND DOG LOVERS 223 



a way of placing a dirty paw on the table cloth at 

 meals, and he knocked down street children by 

 trjang to lick their faces and (so rumour said) by 

 wagging his tail. He frightened cab horses into 

 hysterics, and their drivers fell off and claimed 

 damages. He ate with enjoyment the embroidered 

 perambulator-cushion of a neighbour, who was 

 discovered looking on while Tan tore strips off the 

 cushion with that powerful upward movement of 

 the head and neck which few cushions can with- 

 stand. Finally poor Tan had to be given away, 

 and was lost sight of. 



These rough outlines of the characters of some 

 of our dogs are meant to show that the reasons for 

 loving dogs are not patent, and that we cannot 

 complain if the words, used by a little girl in Punch 

 towards a couple of earwigs, should be applied to 

 us and our dogs, " Nasty creatures ! I cannot think 

 how they can care for each other." 



Stevenson's essay ^ on The Character of Dogs is 

 not entirely satisfactory'". It is surely a one-sided 

 view of the dog that "he is vainer than man, 

 singularly greedy of notice, singularly intolerant 

 of ridicule, suspicious like the deaf, jealous to the 

 degree of frenz}^, and radically devoid of truth." 

 It is hardly possible that he should be vainer than 

 man ; and in the dog, vanity is a far simpler and 

 more lovable thing than the complex and offensive 

 passion in his master. His greed for notice and 

 his jealousy are part of his great love for his master. 

 I do not remember that Stevenson ever speaks of 



^ Memories and Portraits. 



