I am going to relate the history of a pleasant and prosperous life; for
though a few misfortunes may have befallen me, my pleasures have far
exceeded them, and especially I have been treated with such constant
cordiality and kindness as would not fail to ensure the happiness of man
or beast. But though I have no reason to complain of my destiny, it is a
remarkable fact, that my principal happiness has been produced by
conforming myself to unfavourable circumstances, and reconciling myself
to an unnatural fate.
Nature herself did well by me. I am a fine setter, of a size that a
Newfoundland dog could not despise, and a beauty that a Blenheim spaniel
might envy. With a white and brown curly coat, drooping ears, bushy
tail, a delicate pink nose, and good-natured brown eyes, active,
strong, honest, gentle, and obedient, I have always felt a conscious
pride and pleasure in being a thoroughly well-bred dog.
My condition in life was peculiarly comfortable. I was brought up in an
old manor-house inhabited by a gentleman and his daughter, with several
respectable and good-natured servants. My education was conducted with
care, and from my earliest youth I had the advantage of an introduction
into good society. I was not, indeed, allowed to come much into the
drawing-room, as my master said I was too large for a drawing-room dog;
but I had the range of the lower part of the house, and constant
admittance to his study, where I was welcome to share his fireside while
he read the newspapers or received visitors. I took great interest in
his friends; and by means of listening to their conversation, watching
them from under my eyelids while they thought I was asleep, and smelling
them carefully, I could form a sufficiently just estimate of their
characters to regulate my own conduct towards them. Though a polite dog
both by birth and breeding, I was too honest and independent to show the
same respect and cordiality towards those whom I liked and those whom I
despised; and though very grateful for the smallest favours from
persons I esteemed, no flattery, caresses, or benefactions could induce
me to strike up an intimacy with one who did not please me. If I had
been able to speak, I should have expressed my opinions without
ceremony; and it often surprised me that my master, who could say what
he pleased, did not quarrel with people, and tell them all their faults
openly. I thought, if I had been he, I would have had many a fight with
intruders, to whom he was not only civil himself, but compelled me to be
so too. I have often observed that it appears proper for human beings to
observe a kind of respect even towards persons they dislike; a line of
conduct which _brutes_ cannot understand.
However, I was not without my own methods of showing my sentiments. If I
felt indifferent or contemptuous towards a person entering the room, I
merely opened one eye and yawned at him. If he attempted any
compliments, calling me "Good Captain," "Fine Dog," and trying to pat
me, I shook off his hand, and rising from my rug, turned once round, and
curling my tail under me, sank down again to my repose without taking
any further notice of him. But occasionally my master admitted visitors
whom I considered as such highly improper acquaintances for him, that I
could scarcely restrain my indignation. I knew I must not bite them,
though, in my own opinion, it would have been by far the best thing to
do; I did not dare so much as to bark at them, for my master objected
even to that expression of feeling: but I could not resist receiving
them with low growls; during their visit I never took my eyes off them
for a moment, and I made a point of following them to the door, and
seeing them safe off the premises. Others, on the contrary, I regarded
with the highest confidence and esteem. Their visits gave almost as much
pleasure to me as to my master, and I took pains to show my friendship
by every means in my power; leaving the fireside to meet them, wagging
my tail, shaking a paw with them the moment I was asked, and sitting
with my nose resting on their lap.
But I took no unwelcome liberties; for I was gifted with a particular
power of discriminating between those who really liked me, and those who
only tolerated me out of politeness. Upon the latter I never willingly
intruded, though I have been sometimes obliged to submit to a
hypocritical pat bestowed on me for the sake of my young mistress; but a
real friend of dogs I recognised at a glance, whether lady or gentleman,
so that I could safely place my paw in the whitest hand, or rest my
head against the gayest dress, without fear of a repulse.
The person I loved best in the world was my master; or rather, I should
say, he was the person for whom I had the highest respect. My love was
bestowed in at least an equal degree upon my young mistress, his
daughter Lily, in whose every action I took a deep interest.
She was a graceful, gentle little creature, whom I could have knocked
down and trampled upon in a minute; but though my strength was so
superior to hers, there was no one whom I was so ready to obey. A word
or look from Lily managed me completely; and her gentle warning of "Oh,
Captain," has often recalled me to good manners when I was on the point
of breaking out into fury against some obnoxious person. Willing subject
as I was, I yet looked upon myself in some manner as her guardian and
protector, and it would have fared ill with man or beast who had
attempted to molest her.
As I mentioned before, I was not allowed to come much into the
drawing-room; but Lily found many opportunities of noticing me. I always
sat at the foot of the stairs to watch for her as she came down to the
breakfast-room, when she used to pat my head and say, "How do you do,
good Captain? Nice dog," as she passed. Then I wagged my tail, and was
very happy. I think I should have moped half the day if I had missed
Lily's morning greeting. After breakfast she came into the garden, and
brought me pieces of toast, and gave me lessons in what she considered
clever ways of eating. I should have preferred snapping at her gifts and
bolting them down my own throat in my own way; but, to please Lily, I
learned to sit patiently watching the most tempting buttered crust on
the ground under my nose, when she said, "Trust, Captain!" never
dreaming of touching it till she gave the word of command, "Now it is
paid for;" when I ate it in a genteel and deliberate manner. Having
achieved such a conquest over myself, I thought my education was
complete; but Lily had further refinements in store. She made me hold
the piece of toast on my very nose while she counted _ten_, and at the
word _ten_ I was to toss it up in the air, and catch it in my mouth as
it came down. I was a good while learning this trick, for I did not at
all see the use of it. I could smell the bread distinctly as it lay on
my nose, and why I should not eat it at once I never could understand. I
have often peeped in at the dining-room window to see if my master and
mistress ate their food in the same manner; but though I have sometimes
seen them perform my first feat of sitting quietly before their plates,
I never once saw them put their meat on their noses and catch it.
However, it was Lily's pleasure, and that was enough for me.
She also taught me to shut the door at her command. This was rather a
noisy performance, as I could only succeed by running against the door
with my whole weight; but it gave Lily so much satisfaction, that she
used to open the door a dozen times a day, on purpose for me to bang it.
Another favourite amusement of hers was making me look at myself in the
glass. I grew used to this before long; but the first time that she set
a mirror before me on the ground, I confess that I was a good deal
astonished and puzzled. At the first glance, I took the dog in the glass
for an enemy and rival, intruding upon my dominions, so I naturally
prepared for a furious attack upon him. He appeared equally ready, and I
perceived that he was quite my match. But when, after a great deal of
barking and violence, nobody was hurt, I fancied that the looking-glass
was the barrier which prevented our coming to close quarters, and that
my adversary had entrenched himself behind it in the most cowardly
manner. Determined that he should not profit by his baseness, I
cleverly walked round behind the glass, intending to seize him and give
him a thorough shaking; but there I found nothing! I dashed to the front
once more; there he stood as fierce as ever. Again behind his
battlements--nobody! till after repeated trials, I began to have a
glimmering of the state of the case; and feeling rather ashamed of
having been so taken in, I declined further contest, and lay down
quietly before the mirror to contemplate my own image, and reflect upon
my own reflection.
Lily took great pains with me; but after all, hers were but minor
accomplishments, and I was not allowed to devote my whole attention to
mere tricks or amusements. I was not born to be a lap-dog, and it was
necessary that I should be educated for the more important business of
life. Under my master's careful training, my natural talents were
developed, and my defects subdued, till I was pronounced by the best
judges to be the cleverest setter in the country. My master himself was
a capital sportsman, and I was as proud of him as he was of me. When I
had become sufficiently perfect to be his companion, we used to range
together untired "over hill, over dale, through bush, through brier," he
doing his part and I mine, and bringing home between us such quantities
of game as no one else could boast. This was my real business, but it
was no less my pleasure. I entered into it thoroughly. To point at a
bird immovably till my master's never-failing shot gave the signal for
my running to fetch the foolish thing and lay it at his feet, was to my
mind the greatest enjoyment and the first object in life. And if anybody
should be inclined to despise me on that account, I would beg them to
recollect that it was the work given me to do, and I did it well. Can
everybody say as much? The causes or the consequences of it, I was not
capable of understanding. As to how the birds liked it, that never
entered my head. I thought birds were meant to be shot, and I never
supposed there was any other use in them.
The only thing that distressed me in our shooting excursions was, that
my master would sometimes allow very indifferent sportsmen to accompany
us. I whined, grumbled, and remonstrated with him to the best of my
power when I heard him give an invitation to some awkward booby who
scarcely knew how to hold his gun, but it was all in vain; my master's
only fault was his not consulting my judgment sufficiently in the choice
of his acquaintances, and many a bad day's sport we had in consequence.
Once my patience was tired beyond what any clever dog could be expected
to bear. A young gentleman had arrived at our house whom my master and
mistress treated much better than I thought he deserved. At the first
glance I penetrated into his state of mind, and should have liked to
hear my master growl, and my mistress bark at him; instead of which they
said they were glad to see him, and hoped he had had a pleasant journey.
He immediately began a long string of complaints, blaming everything he
mentioned. He was cold; there never was such weather for the time of
year; he was tired; the roads were bad, the country dull, he had been
obliged to come the last twenty miles cramped up inside a coach. Such a
shame that the railroad did not go the whole way! He was very glad to
get to his journey's end, but it seemed to be more for the sake of his
own comfort than for the pleasure of seeing his friends. His troubles
had not hurt his appetite, as I plainly perceived, for I peeped into the
room several times during dinner to watch him, and listen to his
conversation. It was all in the same style, some fault to be found with
everything. Even Lily could not put him in good humour, though she
seemed to be trying to talk about everything likely to please him. After
the failure of various attempts to find a fortunate topic, she asked if
he had had much shooting this season.
"Plenty of it," he answered; "only so bad. My brother's dogs are
wretched. There is no doing any thing with such brutes."
Lily coloured a little, and said that she thought Rodolph's dogs
beautiful, and that it was very unlike him to have any thing wretched
belonging to him.
"Oh," replied the other, "he is the greenest fellow in the world. He is
always satisfied. I assure you his dogs are good for nothing. I did not
bring down a single bird any time I went out with them."
"Well," said my master, "I hope we shall be able to make amends for that
misfortune. To-morrow you shall go out with the best dog in the
country."
I whined, for I knew he meant me; and I did not like the idea of a
sportsman who began by finding fault with his dogs. I suspected that the
_dogs_ were not to blame. But nobody listened to me.
Next day, while Lily and I were playing in the garden, my master
appeared at the usual time in his shooting-jacket.
"Where is Craven?" he inquired of Lily; "I told him to be ready."
"He is dressing again," answered she, laughing; "his boots had done
something wrong, or his waistcoat was naughty; I forget which."
"Pshaw!" exclaimed my master; "he will waste half the day with his
nonsense. I cannot wait for him. Tell him I am gone on, and he must
follow with John. Go back, Captain," continued he, for I was bounding
after him in hopes of escaping my threatened companion; "go back. You
must do your best this morning, for I suspect you will know more about
the matter than your commander."
Most reluctantly I obeyed, and stayed behind, looking wistfully after
him as he strode away. I consoled myself with Lily's praises, which I
almost preferred to the biscuits she bestowed upon me in equal
profusion. After various compliments, she took a graver tone. "Now,
Captain," she said, "listen to me."