284 The Dog Book 



in England, and the varieties found in Spain, France, Germany and Italy, 

 All of these dogs were originally of some old stock which had been dis- 

 tributed throughout eastern Europe, and were developed for use as gun 

 dogs in keeping with the process of development of the gun. 



How otherwise are we to account for the extremely sudden distribu- 

 tion of this new breed without any particular comment ? In "The Gentle- 

 man's Recreation," by Nicholas Cox, 1678, there is no mention of the 

 pointer, yet in 171 1 Gay, in his poem, "Rural Sports," wrote in a way 

 that indicated a well-known and thoroughly established fact: 



" See how the well-taught pointer leads the way : 

 The scent grows warm ; he stops ; he springs the prey ; 

 The fluttering coveys from the stubble rise, 

 And on swift wing divide the sounding skies ; 

 The scattering lead pursues the certain sight. 

 And death in thunder overtakes their flight." 



We referred to this quotation in the chapter on the early spaniel family, 

 and gave the date as 1 720, which was that of the publication of his poems 

 in book form, but have since found that "Rural Sports" was his first poem, 

 dedicated to Pope and published in 171 1. 



We had reached the conclusion set forth, that the pointer was devel- 

 oped in England from the same hound or finding dog that produced the 

 various breeds of pointing dogs on the Continent, when, in looking through 

 "Sporting Anecdotes," 1807, we came across a very apropos statement. 

 In Major Topham's description of "Ancient and Modern Coursing," 

 he writes, in connection with the sport in the time of King John and his 

 successors: "The spaniel and sometimes the pointer accompanied the 

 sportsman in what was at that period denominated coursing." Later, in 

 referring to the period of Queen Elizabeth and the rules which the Duke 

 of Norfolk had then drawn up, he writes: "These rules, though established 

 by a duke and regulated by a queen, rendered the coursing of that period 

 but of a very sterile description. Pointers were used for the purpose of 

 finding the game, and when any of these made a point, the greyhounds 

 were uncoupled as a necessary prelude to the sport which was to ensue." 



The value of Major Topham's statement depends upon who that 

 gentleman was and his qualifications as an authority on such a subject. 

 He was born presumably about 1 740. We have a sketch of his life written 

 about 1807, when he was still living, but it does not give a single date with 



