THE SHEPHERD'S DOG. 
797 
signal, so as to let him know the individuals he wanted, to the 
number of perhaps from ten to twenty, out of a flock of 
some hundreds; he then went away, and from a distance ol 
several miles sent back the dog bj himself in the night¬ 
time, who picked out the individual sheep that had been 
pointed out to him, separated them from the rest, and drove 
them before him the distance of ten or twelve miles, till 
he came up with his master, to whom he delivered his 
charge. 
“My dog Sirrah/ 9 says the late celebrated author, Mr. James 
Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, “ was, beyond all comparison, 
the best dog I ever saw : he was of a surly and unsociable 
temper—disdaining all flattery, he refused to be caressed: 
but his attention to my commands and interests, will never 
again, perhaps, be equalled by any of the canine race. 
When I first saw him, a drover was leading him in a rope; 
he was both lean and hungry, and far from being a beautiful 
animal for he was almost all black, and had a grim face, 
striped with dark brown. The man had bought him of a boy 
somewhere on the border for three shillings, and had fed 
him very ill on his journey. I thought I discovered a 
sullen intelligence in his countenance, notwithstanding his 
dejected and forlorn appearance : I gave the drover a guinea 
for him, and I believe there never was a guinea so well laid 
out, at least I am satisfied that I never laid out one to so 
good a purpose. He was scarcely a year old, and knew so 
little of herding, that he had never turned a sheep in his 
life ; but as soon as he discovered that it was his duty to do 
so, and that it obliged me, I can never forget with what 
anxiety and eagerness he learned his different evolutions. 
He would try every way deliberately until he found out 
what I wanted him to do, and when I once made him under¬ 
stand a direction, he never forgot or mistook it again 
