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organs, as well as their orbs of vision, on the object of their solicitude; and, therefore, Frank always engaged a few grateful sniffs before he took his order of march, which was a few yards in advance, with elevated tail, and evidently in all the pride of self-satisfactory duty; but, on the appearance of any person or any animal from which danger was to be apprehended, the dog came close to the child, and forbid near approach he was particularly suspicious of the proximity of a beggar, or any mean or ruffianly person. The circumstance of the dog taking the child to school and escorting her from it formed a frequent topic of conversation in the neighbourhood; and at length a lazy shoemaker, being half intoxicated, took it into his head to interrupt, or rather to interfere with Frank in the discharge of his spontaneous, but fondlycherished duty; accordingly, one evening he met the little girl and the dog returning. On perceiving his approach, Frank came close to his charge; the fellow continued to advance; Frank showed his teeth, placed himself in front of his young mistress, and seized the intruder with the utmost resolution and fierceness. The dog flew at the foolish fellow's throat, and either from the effects of liquor, the efforts of the dog, or fear-perhaps a mixture of all three-the latter fell, and the dog was instantly upon him: he tore his clothes, and severely lacerated his breast and his thighs before some of the family reached the spot, and released the man from a very unpleasant situation.

Frank was a remarkably powerful and a very handsome pointer; his head was very large, and the anterior of it, or that part which may be assimilated

to the intellectual frontal in man, was more elevated than usual, compared with his own class (the pointer) of the canine tribe, which is distinguishable from many other varieties in these expressive and prominent features.

Anecdotes of dogs might be given sufficient to fill a large volume, and indeed a tolerable-sized duodecimo was, a few years ago, ushered into the world, made up entirely in this way; however, the preceding instances of that lower order of reasoning powers for which the dog is remarkable, fell under my own observation, and have never before appeared in print. Dogs with broad expansive heads, and elevated frontals or foreheads, will be uniformly found to be the most sagacious of the tribe, and indeed the gradations of sagacity, or powers of reason, will be found in the canine species, as it will through every order of animated nature, precisely in proportion to cerebral development. The head of the high-bred, smooth-coated greyhound is narrower and more compressed than that of any other kind of dog, his sagacity or mental manifestations are equally inferior, and in consequence he is susceptible of education only to a very limited extent.

I never had a pointer (and I have possessed many) who, whenever I appeared in a shooting-jacket, did not immediately testify his knowledge for what such a preparation was intended: moreover, if at any time I happened to click the cock of my gun in the house without having shown myself to the pointer, the latter would be instantly on the alert. Such of them as were loose would very earnestly

watch the door,

while such as were chained up would loudly evince,

and in a manner which could not be misunderstood, their consciousness of what was going on: the dogs, hearing the click of the gun, made as correct a deduction as possible; can such capability of drawing inference be correctly denominated instinct? Certainly not. It is an incontestable evidence of the god-like gift of reason, very inferior in degree or quality to that which falls to the lot of human beings, as well as of a lower order than that by which the elephant and the ouran-outang are distinguished: yet, as these gradations are beautifully systematic, as well as phrenologically correct, it thus becomes evident, that superior reasoning powers result from the superior organization or form of the cranium-a rule irrefragably applicable to every order of animated

nature.

The pointer, from what may be called his high mental capacity, receives instructions with facility, and will ultimately acquire a degree of education which is utterly unattainable by the inferior varieties of a tribe which is branched out, from circumstances already noticed, almost to infinity. The education of the pointer for the use of the sportsman proceeds upon system or established principles, and he attains perfection from human instruction; yet, I have often been surprised at the acute susceptibility of well-bred (that is, large heads with prominent frontals) pointers during the period of probation. Some require very little instruction indeed. To the dog, Frank, already mentioned, no lessons were imparted for his attendance upon my little daughter, nor yet to his mother for fetching the ducklings out of the water-they were self-taught, or this knowledge was intuitive.

Hounds manifest a great degree of intelligence, and are consequently susceptible of superior education. It is highly interesting to see a huntsman and his two assistants (whippers-in) marshal a pack of foxhounds, and lead them to the field in order as regular as the march of a regiment of soldiers: it is very amusing to witness the operations at feeding-time, to observe the animals called, one by one, from the yard into the feeding-house; and, after having swallowed that portion of food which the huntsman deems necessary, each according to its constitution, to see them successively ordered from the troughs in the same manner, obeying the word of command with implicit submission.

Having remarked that superior pointers would be uniformly found to have large heads, the observation is equally applicable to hounds, either as regards beagles, harriers, or foxhounds. The first time I met the Staffordshire hounds, then under the management of Mr. Haye, (Mr. Wicksted hunted the same country afterwards,) I noticed a hound called Gaoler, and pointed him out as the best or most sagacious hound in the pack; which Mr. Haye admitted to be true, "but (added he) the hound is thought to be very ugly on account of his very large head!"

Some years ago, happening to be in that part of Cheshire where the kennels of Sir Harry Mainwaring are situated, I asked permission to see the hounds. The huntsman immediately accompanied me into the kennel, where, after making a remark or two upon the conformation of the head, quite new to the huntsman (W. Head), and at which he seemed much surprised, for more comprehensive observation

he turned the whole pack out upon the forest (Delamere Forest, where the kennels were then situated), sixty-three couple. I pointed out seven or eight as the best or most sagacious amongst them, to the truth of which the huntsman assented, with, however, surprise depicted on his countenance; and he inquired when I had seen the hounds out, as, he observed, "I never recollect seeing you in the field.” I saw the Cheshire hounds then for the first time, but I have seen them many times since, and have witnessed their exertions with uncommon pleasure and satisfaction.

I have seen most of the foxhounds in the kingdom, both in the kennel and the field, and invariably found that observations similar to the preceding might be applied to every pack.

case, it cannot be otherwise.

Such must be the

It is not requisite, for the attainment of the object in view, to notice, or at least to descant upon, what may be called, in lieu of a more appropriate expression, collateral varieties, such as the wolf, the fox, and the jackal, compared with the dog: if they are considered a distinct class (which I am quite willing to allow), the close resemblance in form and manner, of habit and disposition, of the whole, render further elucidation unnecessary.

Animals of the cat kind come next under consideration; and, from the huge lion of Southern Africa, to the smallest variety of the tribe, the cat, as they all present the same physical form or organization, their feelings, propensities, and sagacity, will be found precisely similar. Nothing can be more ridiculous than those characteristic distinctions which

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