712 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



having been hanged some years before for sheep- 

 stealing, this fact, among others respecting his dog, 

 was fully authenticated by evidence on the trial. 

 When the man intended to steal a sheep, he did not 

 do it himself, but directed his dog to perform the 

 business. With this view, under pretence of looking 

 at the sheep with an intention to purchase them, he 

 went over the grounds with the dog at his feet, to 

 whom he secretly gave a signal, so as to let him 

 know the individuals he wanted, to the number of 

 perhaps from ten to twenty, out of a flock of some 

 hundreds ; he then went away, and from a distance 

 of several miles sent back the dog by himself in the 

 night-time, who picked out the individual sheep that 

 had been pointed out to him, separated them from 

 the rest, and drove them before him the distance of 

 ten or twelve miles, till he came up with his master, 

 to whom he delivered his charge. 



'* My dog Sirrah," says the late celebrated author, 

 Mr James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, "was, beyond 

 all comparison, the best dog I ever saw : he was of a 

 surly and unsociable temper — disdaining all flattery, 

 he refused to be caressed ; but his attention to my 

 commands and interests will never again, perhaps, 

 be equalled by any of the canine race. When I first 

 saw him, a drover was leading him in a rope ; he was 

 both lean and hungry, and far from being a beautiful 

 animal, for he was almost all black, and had a grim 

 face, striped with dark brown. The man had bought 

 him of a boy somewhere on the border for three 

 shillings, and had fed him very ill on his journey. I 

 thought I discovered a sullen intelligence in his 

 countenance, notwithstanding his dejected and forlorn 

 appearance : I gave the drover a guinea for him, and 

 I believe there never was a guinea so well laid out, 



