THE COMMON DOG. lOJ 



for his dinner^ when a mess of broken victuals was 

 purposely served out to him *. 



In the year 1760, the following incident^ illustra- 

 tive of tiie sagacity of the Dog, occuiTed near Ham- 

 mersmith : — While a man of the name of Richard- 

 son, a waterman of that place, was sleeping in his 

 boat, the vessel broke from her nioorings, and was 

 carried by the tide, under a West-country barge. 

 Fortunately for the man, his Dog happened to be 

 with him ; and the sagacious animal av^akened him 

 by pawing his face, and pulling the collar of his 

 coat, at the in stunt the boat was hiling with water : 

 he seized the opportunity, and thus saved himself 

 from otherwise inevitable death -p 



In the year 1791? a person went to a house in 

 Deptford, to take lodgings, under pretence that he 

 had just arrived from the West Indies ; and, after 

 having agreed on the terms, said he should send 

 his trunk that night, and come himself the next 

 day. About nine o'clock in the evening, the trunk 

 was brought by two porters, and was carried into 

 his bed-room. Just as the family were going to 

 bed, their little house-dog, deserting his usual sta- 

 tion in the shop, placed himself close to the cham- 

 ber-door where the chest was deposited, and kept 

 up an incessant barking. The moment the cham- 

 ber-door was opened, the dog flew to the chest, 

 against which it scratched and barked with redou- 

 bled fury. They attempted to get the dog out of 



* Dibdin's Observations \i\ a Tour through England, 

 t Ann. Reg. iii. 90. 



