108 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE DOG. 



Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, and stated by that gentleman t 

 have been brought direct from the Great St. Bernard, by Sii 

 Henry Dalrymple, of North Berwick displays in his ap 

 pearance all the characteristics we might expect to arise fron, 

 a cross between the short-coated, mighty mastiff of the Alps 

 and the slighter and more hairy wolf-dog of the Pyrenees , 

 and such I believe to have been the cross whence that fine 

 animal sprang. 



I have, as I have already stated, been at considerable pains 

 to discover the true character and history of this noble breed 

 of dogs ; and the result of my inquiries tends to show that 

 the dog originally trained to this service, was a large and 

 powerful mastiff, short-coated, deep-jowled, of a yellow color^ 

 with a long, fine tail. L'Ami, who was brought, in 1829, 

 from the convent on the Great St. Bernard, was of this de- 

 scription. He was exhibited, in both London and Liverpool, 

 1o many thousand people, at the charge of one shilling ad- 

 mission. I was favored by Mr. Clarke of Holborn, who lith- 

 ographed L' A mi's portrait, and who is himself an ardent fan- 

 cier of dogs, and of this breed in particular, with a full ac- 

 count of the true dogs of St. Bernard, obtained by him from 

 the very best authorities. A good many years ago a pestilence 

 made its appearance amongst the dogs of the convent, and 

 all were destroyed save one single specimen. Under these 

 circumstances, the monks had no alternative but to cross the 

 breed, which they did with the Spanish or Pyrenean wolf-dog 

 the most likely cross to which they could have resorted; 

 hence arose the race of dogs ordinarily known as St. Ber- 

 nard's. Some of the true race have been now restored ; but 

 they are very scarce, and are not to be possessed under enor- 

 mous prices ; in fact, not to be had from the convent at all : 

 Mr. Clarke being acquainted with a nobleman who offered one 

 hundred guineas for a brace of puppies, without success. 

 Hence the mistakes arising from spurious dogs, supposea to 

 be original, merely because they came from the mountain. 

 Mr. Youatt gives a very excellent figure of the present most 

 common race of St. Bernard dogs ; but, notwithstanding the 

 figure he gives, persists in naming it a spaniel. Perhaps the 

 finest of this breed in existence is the dog recently kept at 

 Chatsworth. I know not whether it be still living. It was 

 a dog of amazing stature, of a yellow color, with a blacK 

 muzzle. There is also one at Elvaston Castle, in Derbyshire, 

 fcr wnich Lord Harrington gave fifty guineas. In Dublin, 

 jiese oogs used to oe common. They were introduced by a 



