456 



GROUP OF CROPPED GRIFFONS. 



THE PROPERTY OF MADAME ALBERT MANS. OF BRUSSELS. 



CHAPTER LII. 



THE BRUSSELS GRIFFON. 



BY MRS. H. HANDLEY SPICER. 



" Nobles, whom arms or arls adorn. 

 Wait for my infants yet unborn. 

 None but a peer of wit and grace 

 Can hope a puppy of my race : 

 And, oh. would Fate the bliss decree 

 To mine (a bliss too great for me) 

 That two inv tallest sons might grace 



A\VA^■ hack in lin- 'scxciilics nuni1)crs 

 (it miners in \'(irksliiri- and tlic 

 Micilaniis are said tii havf possessctl 

 little w iry-ciiatril antl w iry-dispositioncil 

 red d(i,cs, which accompanied their owners 

 to work, heine" stowed awa\' in pockets (jI 

 ii\-ercoats until die tlinner hour, when the\- 

 were hroUL;ht out to share their masters' 

 meals, per( hance chasintx a casual rat in 

 between times. ()ld men of to-da\ who 

 remember these little " red tarriers " tell us 

 that they were the oriijinals of the present- 

 day Brussels Grifft)ns, and to the sporting 

 propensities of the aforesaid miners is attri- 

 buted the gameness which is such a charac- 



lulus side, as erst Evander's. 



To keep off flatterers, spies, and panders ; 



To let no noble slave come near. 



And scare Lord Fannies from his 



ear : 

 Then might a royal youth, and true, 

 Enjoy at least a friend — or two." 



teristic of their latter-da\- representatives. 

 ( )ne seldom sees an\- tlogs portra_\-ed in the 

 pictures of the ninet<'enth century which 

 hear much resemblance t<i the breed as we 

 know it, unless we i-\cept such specimens 

 as the little dog in Landseer's well-known 

 picture of " I)ignit\' and Impudence." But 

 this little dog niigiit he claimi-d with equal 

 jiLstice as a had \'orkshire or a mongrel 

 Sk've Terrier. 



No one who is well acquainted with the 

 Brussels Griffon would claim that the breed 

 dates back, like the Greyhound, to hoary 

 antiquity, or, indeed, that it has any pre- 

 tensions to have " come over with the Con- 



