Indeed, I fear poor fellow, that his teeth,
which already show signs of premature decay, have suffered from the
diversion. But though Rover has a soul for fun, yet he is a game dog
too. There is not a better cocker in England. In fact he delights in
sport of every kind, and if he cannot have it with me, he will have it
on his own account. He frequently decoys the greyhounds out and finds
hares for them. Indeed he has done me some injury in this way, for if he
can find a pointer loose, he will, if possible, seduce him from his
duty, and take him off upon some lawless excursion; and it is not till
after an hour's whistling and hallooing that I see the truants sneaking
round to the back door, panting and smoking, with their tails knitted up
between their legs, and their long dripping tongues depending from their
watery mouths--_he_ the most bare-faced caitiff of the whole. In
general, however, he will have nothing to say to the canine species, for
notwithstanding the classification of Buffon, he considers he has a
prescriptive right to associate with man. He is, in fact, rather cross
with other dogs; but with children he is quite at home, doubtless
reckoning himself about on a level with them in the scale of rational
beings. Every boy in the village knows his name, and I often catch him
in the street with a posse of little, dirty urchins playing around him.
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