OF all domestic animals which man has subjected to his control, the Dog alone has become his faithful companion and friend,-whose services are ever at the command of his master, and whose fidelity no change of circumstance can estrange; nay, even when spurned and maltreated, it is his generous nature ever to forgive; while his courage and constancy prompts him to brave every hazard of his own life, in defending the person or property of the individual to whom he is most attached.

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"Training of Dogs," says Buffon, seems to have been the first art invented by man; and the fruit of that art was the conquest and peaceable possession of the earth. By the assistance of the Dog, man was enabled to hunt such other animals as were necessary to preserve his own existence, and to destroy those which were noxious and the greatest enemies of his race." By day, the Dog is the attendant guardian of his flocks, the agent of his pleasures in the chase, and the willing slave of his necessity, in drawing burdens; while, at night, he is the incorruptible watchman, to whose care his master confides his safety, since to him no bribe of the nightly robber would prove an inducement to, betray his, trust.

All creatures. of the Dog kind have claws, but which they cannot sheathe or draw in, as animals of the Cat kind. VOL. VI. B SEPTEMBER, 1838,

The largest of the dog species is the Irish Greyhound, or Wolf-Dog, which has now become rare, even in Ireland. We have read a statement (quoted by Goldsmith) of a writer, who says that he was shown one, as a curiosity, which "was four feet high, or as tall as a calf of a year old." These noble creatures were formerly employed in clearing the country of wolves, by which it was once infested.

The Mastiff is chiefly a native of England; while the Bull Dog is considered to be wholly so, and would lose his spirit anywhere else; even in France, Buffon says, it is difficult to preserve the breed entire. This Dog is chiefly remarkable for his courage, and for his antipathy to the Bull, which he will attack and pinion to the ground by the nose.

The Mastiff is a large noble animal, docile and intelligent; he is used chiefly as a watch-dog, and well knows, as he, faithfully performs, the duties of the office assigned to him.

We must not omit to particularize the Newfoundland Dog, so well known in this country for his pleasing countenance, sagacity, and attachment to his master. He is a fine-looking large creature, and is web-footed, which enables him to swim very expertly.

The life of a Dog is about from ten to, fifteen He becomes familiar with, years. and assumes the manners of those with

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whom he lives, towards strangers. In the families of the great, or where he is not accustomed to associate with the humbler classes of society, he will fly at a beggar who may approach the door, and whom he appears to know by his dress, voice, and gestures.

ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES.

STRANGE as it may seem, Dogs appear to be able to acquire a correct knowledge of time. There was a journeyman carpenter, of the name of Smith, whose residence was in Bishopsgate-street, and whose mother was a widow dwelling in Hackney. He allowed her half-a-guinea per week, for which she regularly sent a trusty messenger, a faithful Newfoundland Dog, to whom her son used to give the half-guinea, which, for a length of ́time, the Dog had safely conveyed; and such was the intelligence of this animal that, on a Saturday afternoon, the time of his mistress bidding him to "Go and fetch it!"-if she chanced to be a little later than usual in giving her order, he would become restless, look up in her face, jump about her, and whine until she sent him on his weekly errand. It may here be mentioned that Smith, in a moment of incautiousness, named the carrier of this little sum; and, on the following Saturday night, an evil-disposed character who had heard of it, waylaid the Dog, and striving to soothe him, attempted to get the money from his mouth; but, instead of doing so, he was forced to retire with his finger severely lacerated, and the

honest confidant safely arrived at home with the half-guinea.

There is a Newfoundland Dog may be seen every day in Smith Street, Chelsea, which lies quietly on the pavement until one or two o'clock, the usual time of making his rounds; when he leisurely walks from house to house, patiently waiting at areas for such donations as may be given to him, until he appears to think himself forgotten, when, by barking loudly, he reminds his friends below of his attendance upon their bounty.

A Dog, of the same breed, was accustomed to attend the writer of this paragraph to school every morning at nine o'clock, and at twelve would as regularly come to the school-gate to escort him home. On the part of the Dog, this attendance was voluntary, having neither been taught nor encouraged to do so; in an afternoon, however, he never troubled himself upon the subject.*

There is a Dog, now living in Queen Street, Chelsea, whose master is a baker, and who has to rise at eleven o'clock every night to attend to the setting in of his bread. The Dog has become so accustomed to this act, and to the hour, that about twenty minutes before the time for his master to rise, the Dog begins to scratch and bark, for the purpose of awaking him, and so continues to de till his master rises to attend to his work This is the case every night, as regular

* A similar case, with some very interesting accompa niments, is related by Mary Howitt in her delightful volume, "Tales in Prose."