DOGS AND DOG LOVERS 229 



I am not clear aS to what was Dickens' personal 

 attitude towards dogs, but he certainly understood 

 the passion of the dog lover. 



The man who ousted David Copperfield from 

 the box-seat in the London Coach^ jemarked, 

 '"Orses and dorgs is some men's fancy. They're 

 wittles and drink to me — ^lodging, wife and children, 

 reading, writing, and 'rithmetic — snuff, tobacker, 

 and sleep." Probably we should have felt, as Mr. 

 Pickwick did on a similar occasion,^ that it would 

 have been well if horses and dogs had been 'washing' 

 also. I doubt, in fact, whether we should have 

 enjoyed his company, or even whether we should 

 have felt him a dog lover of our own sort — but 

 we should not be too nice, and must allow some 

 merit to his form of the passion. 



Another of Dickens's characters, Mr. Sleary,' 

 of "the Horse Riding," has a much more attractive 

 way of caring for animals. His theory of how a 

 dog he has lost found him again always pleases 

 me. The dog is believed to set on foot inquiries 

 among his friends. " You don't happen to know 

 a person of the name of Sleary, do you ? Person 

 of the name of Sleary in the Horse-Riding way — 

 stout man — ^game eye? " The inquiries were suc- 

 cessful ; and I like, too, the frankly sentimental 

 account of the appearance of the clown's dog 

 after his master's death, and the dog's search for 

 the clown's Uttle girl: — 



' David Copperfield, Chap. xijt. 



' "Its board and lodging to me, is smoke." Pickwick, Chap. xx. 

 ' In Hard Times, Chap. viii. I have ventured to omit the 

 elaborate lisp with which 16. " Thleary " speaks in the original. 



