The Clumber Spaniel 219 
give here, though not quite in order, another quotation from Mercer. ‘Colonel 
Hamilton in his ‘Recollections,’ which are of shooting incidents in the early 
days of the century, writes: ‘A spaniel known as the Clumber breed, His 
Grace always shooting over them in the woods, is much sought after by 
sportsmen’; then he enumerates their many excellencies.” Now we will give 
the Hamilton facts. It is true he did write of incidents dating before 1800. 
He was not, however, speaking of the Clumber as an old breed dog, but 
as one of the breeds of the then present time. He wrote in 1860. Mr. 
Mercer could hardly have seen the original or he would surely have quoted at 
greater length, for this is what Colonel Hamilton wrote: “This spaniel is red 
and white, is larger than the usual spaniel, strong made, an intelligent coun- 
tenance, dark eyes and the ears not very long. These dogs have excellent 
noses and display great spirit in beating strong covers, and after having 
been shot over two or three seasons, become very valuable for pheasant 
and cock shooting. They are naturally ill tempered and rarely form any 
attachment but to their master or gamekeeper. I had one of this breed 
which I gave to a relative. I brought him up from a puppy; he was very 
much attached to me and was a twelvemonth old when I parted with him. 
He recollected me for a year afterward, and was still very caressing. But 
the second year he had forgotten me and growled when I went to pat him. 
My friend told me he was the best dog among his spaniels. He had the 
shooting over a thousand acres of woodland, the greater part of which was 
particularly strong, from blackthorn, high sedges and long grass.” 
Colonel Hamilton was such a discursive writer that one does not 
know whether he has got all the facts regarding anything till he has read 
the entire book and pieced statements together, as we have done in the case 
of the Irish setter he mentions. So also in this case we get additions to 
patch out with. In a chapter on pheasant shooting and suggestions to a 
young sportsman he recommends his going to “a chain of cover in Oxford- 
shire known as the Quarters, and covering about one thousand acres.” He 
describes them in almost the same language as used above. “They consist 
of three large woods . . . witha phalanx of blackthorn, bramble, 
thick underwood and in some parts long sedgy grass.” 
The connecting link is found in reading a further recommendation to 
the young sportsman: “He should have two.or three brace .of strong 
spaniels, like the Clumber’breed, and a good retriever.”. There is then 
this footnote: “I gave one of these dogs three or four years.ago to a.young 
