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CHAPTER XXXI. 
THE BLACK-AND-TAN TERRIER. 
BY F. C. HIGNETT. 
“Calm though not mean, courageous without rage, 
Serious not dull, and without thinking sage ; 
Pleased at the lot that Nature hath assigned, 
Snarl as I list, and freely bark my mind ; 
As churchman wrangle not with jarring spite, 
Nor statesmanlike caressing whom I bite ; 
View all the canine kind with equal eyes, 
HE Black-and-tan, or Manchester, 
si Terrier as we know him to-day is a 
comparatively new variety, and he 
is not to be confounded with the original 
terrier with tan and black colouring which 
was referred to by Dr. Caius in the six- 
teenth century, and which was at that time 
used for going to ground and driving out 
badgers and foxes: 
‘* Another sort there is that hunteth the 
fox and the badger only, whom we call 
Terrars,” wrote the Doctor’s translator. 
‘They (after the manner and custom of 
ferrets in searching for coneys) creep into 
the ground, and by that means make afraid, 
nip and bite the fox and the badger in such 
sort that either they tear them in pieces 
with their teeth being in the earth, or else 
hail and pull them perforce out of their 
lurking angles, dark dungeons, and close 
caves, or, at least, through conceived fear, 
drive them out of their hollow harbours, 
inasmuch as they are compelled to prepare 
speedy flight, and being desirous of the 
next (albeit not the safest) refuge are other- 
wise taken and entrapped with snares and 
nets laid on holes to the same purpose. But 
these be the least in that kind called Sagax.” 
Formerly there was but little regard 
paid to colour and markings, and there 
was a considerably greater proportion of 
tan in the coat than there is at the present 
day, while the fancy markings, such as 
pencilled toes, thumb-marks, and kissing 
spots were not cultivated. The general 
I dread no mastiff,, and no cur despise. 
True from the first, and faithful to the end, 
I balk no mistress, and forsake no friend. 
My days and nights one equal tenour keep, 
Fast but to eat, and only wake to sleep. 
Thus stealing along life I live incog., 
A very plain and downright honest dog.” 
WiLL1amM HamiI ton (of Bangour). 
outline of the dog, too, was less graceful 
and altogether coarser. A fair idea of 
what the ancient Black-and-tan Terrier was 
like may be gathered from the accompany- 
ing woodcut, where the dogs appear not 
only of a very different colour, but also far 
heavier in build, as well as thicker in the 
head, than would now be tolerated. 
During the first half of the nineteenth 
century the chief accomplishment of this 
terrier was rat-killing. There are some ex- 
traordinary accounts of his adroitness, as 
well as courage, in destroying these vermin. 
The feats of a dog called Billy are recorded. 
He was matched to destroy one hundred 
large rats in eight minutes and a half. 
The rats were brought into the ring in bags, 
and as soon as the number was complete 
Billy was put over the railing into their 
midst. In six minutes and_ thirty-five 
seconds they were all destroyed. In another 
match he killed the same number in six 
minutes and thirteen seconds. At length, 
when he was getting old and had but two 
teeth and one eye left, a wager was laid of 
thirty sovereigns by the owner of a Berk- 
shire bitch that she would kill fifty rats in 
less time than Billy. The old dog killed his 
fifty in five minutes and six seconds. The 
pit was then cleared and the bitch let in. 
When she had killed thirty rats she was 
completely exhausted, fell into a fit, and lay 
barking and yelping, utterly incapable of 
completing her task. 
It was a popular terrier in Lancashire, 
