320 
CHAPTER XXX. 
THE WHITE ENGLISH TERRIER. 
“ Fyrom many a day-dream has thy short quick bark 
Recalled my wandering soul. I have beguiled 
Often the melancholy hours at school, 
Soured by some little tyrant, with the thought 
Of distant home, and I remembered then 
Thy faithful fondness: for not mean the joy, 
Returning at the pleasant holidays, 
I felt from thy dumb welcome.” 
the dignified title which he bears, to be 
considered a representative national 
terrier, forming a fourth in the distinctively 
British quartette whose other members are 
the Scottish, the Irish, and the Welsh 
Terriers. Possibly in the early days when 
Pearson and Roocroft bred him to perfection 
it was hoped and intended that he should 
become a breed typical of England. He is 
still the only terrier who owns the national 
name, but he has long ago yielded pride of 
place to the Fox-terrier, and it is the case 
that the best specimens of his race are bred 
north of the border, while, instead of being 
the most popular dog in the land, he is 
actually one of the most neglected and the 
most seldom seen. At the last Kennel Club 
show (1906) there was not a single specimen 
of the breed on view, nor was one to be 
found at the more recent shows at Edinburgh, 
Birmingham, Manchester, or Islington, nor 
at the National Terrier Show at Westminster. 
It is a pity that so smart and beautiful a 
dog should be suffered to fall into such 
absolute neglect. One wonders what the 
reason of it can be. Possibly it is that the 
belief still prevails that he is of delicate 
constitution, and is not gifted with a great 
amount of intelligence or sagacity; more 
probably the reason is to be sought in the 
circumstance that there is now no club 
sufficiently enterprising to devote itself 
energetically to the welfare of the breed. 
There is no doubt, however, that a more 
/ | \HIS dog, one would think, ought, by 
—SOUTHEY. 
potent factor than any of these in hastening 
the decline is to be found in the edict 
against cropping. Neither the White Terrier 
nor the Manchester Terrier has since been 
anything like so popular as they both were 
before April, 1898, when the Kennel Club 
passed the law that dogs’ ears must not 
be cropped. 
Writers on canine history, and Mr, 
Rawdon Lee among the number, tell us 
that the English White Terrier is a com- 
paratively new breed, and that there is no 
evidence to show where he originally sprang 
from, who produced him, or for what reason 
he was introduced. His existence as a 
distinct breed is dated back no longer than 
forty years. This is about the accepted age 
of most of our named English terriers. 
Half a century ago, before the institution 
of properly organised dog shows drew 
particular attention to the differentiation 
of breeds, the generic term “ terrier” 
without distinction was applied to all earth 
dogs, and the consideration of colour and size 
was the only common rule observed in 
breeding. But it would not be difficult to 
prove that a white terrier resembling the 
one now under notice existed in England 
as a separate variety many generations 
anterior to the period usually assigned to 
its recognition. 
In the National Portrait Gallery there is 
a portrait of Mary of Modena, Queen 
Consort of James II., painted in 1670 by 
William Wissing, who has introduced at 
