bow, once or twice. The order is repeated be secured by the police, and removed to the two or three times. At last the dog lays hold prison-yard. Among them was a Newfound

of the servant's coat in a significant manner, just as if he had said to him, 'Don't you hear that I am to ring the bell for you?-come to my lady. His mistress always has her shoes warmed before she puts them on; but during the late hot weather, her maid was putting them on without their having been previously placed before the fire. When the dog saw this, he immediately interfered, expressing the greatest indignation at the maid's negligence. He took the shoes from her, carried them to the fire, and after they had been warmed as usual, he brought them back to his mistress with much apparent satisfaction, evidently intending to say if he could-'It is all right now."

And again :

land dog belonging to a ship-owner of the port, who, with several others, was tied up in the yard. The Newfoundland soon gnawed the rope which confined him, and then, hearing the cries of his companions to be released, he set to work to gnaw the ropes which confined them, and had succeeded in three or four instances, when he was interrupted by the entrance of the jailor.

*

*

*

"A gentleman, from whom 1 received the anecdote, was walking one day along a road in Lancashire, when he was accosted, if the term may be used, by a terrier-dog. The animal's gesticulations were at first so strange and unusual, that he felt inclined to get out of its way. The dog, however, at last, by various significant signs and expressive looks, made his meaning known, and the gentleman, to the dog's great delight, turned and followed him for a few hundred yards. He was led to the banks of a canal which he had not before seen, and there he discovered a small dog struggling in the water for his life, and nearly exhausted by his efforts to save himself from drowning. The sides of the canal were bricked, with a low parapet wall rather higher than the bank. The gentleman, by stooping down,

"At Albany, in Worcestershire, at the seat of Admiral Maling, a dog went every day to meet the mail, and brought the bag in his mouth to the house. The distance was about a half a quarter of a mile. The dog usually received a meal of meat as his reward. The servants having on one day only neglected to give him his accustomed meal, the dog on the arrival of the next mail buried the bag, nor with some difficulty got hold of the dog and

was it found without considerable search."

[By the way, the word " usually" spoils this story; for if the reward were not constant, the revenge for the omission of one day only could not be accounted for.] The Newfoundland has always been noted for remarkable intelligence; and Mr. Jesse tells :

"Extraordinary as the following anecdote may appear to some persons, it is strictly true, and strongly shows the sense, and I am almost

drew him out, his companion all the time watching the proceedings. It cannot be doubted but that in this instance the terrier made use of the only means in his power to save the other dog, and this in a way which showed a power of reasoning equally strong with that of human being under a similar circumstance."

a

To match this we may as well here relate the following yet more wonderful fact. A dog was one day accidentally run over by a "shay-cart" in Portland-street, and had his leg broken; which being witnessed by

inclined to add reason, of the Newfoundland a humane surgeon living near, he took the

dog. A friend of mine, while shooting wild fowl with his brother, was attended by a sagacious dog of this breed. In getting near some reeds by the side of a river, they threw down their hats, and crept to the edge of the water, when they fired at some birds. They soon afterwards sent the dog to bring their hats, one of which was smaller than the other. After several attempts to bring them both together in his mouth, the dog at last placed the smaller hat in the larger one, pressed it down with his foot, and thus was able to bring them both at the same time.

creature up, and dressed the limb carefully with splints, &c., and restored him to his grieved master, with whom he was a mighty favorite. As he got better he was from time to time carried to the doctor's to have his wound dressed. By and by he got well enough to limp there by himself, and finally, when quite restored, the habit had grown so confirmed with him, that he used every now and then to make a grateful and friendly call by way of acknowledging the service which had been done him. Such was the

"A gentleman had a pointer and Newfoundland dog which were great friends. The for-state of affairs, when one evening his wellmer broke his leg, and was confined to a ken-known scratch and tapping at the surgery nel. During that time, the Newfoundland door was heard more impatiently than was never failed bringing bones and other food to wont, and when it was opened to him he the pointer, and would sit for hours together walked in with side of his suffering friend. companion dog who had got a severe hurt on his leg, and was accordingly brought and recommended as a patient, for similar bandages and lotions to

by the side

"During a period of very hot weather, the Mayor of Plymouth gave orders that all dogs found wandering in the public streets should

a

those he had found effectual in his own dilapidated case.

Mr. Jesse goes on with other instances of sagacity :

"A vessel was driven by a storm on the beach of Lydd, in Kent. The surf was rolling furiously. Eight men were calling for help, but not a boat could be got off to their assist

ance.

as recorded in our faithful chronicle at the time; and both of them performed feats of sagacity which could not be explained by any process short of human reasoning powers. Learned dogs have been in numbers, but these French scholars (something like Spanish pointers in form) were the most marvellous ever witnessed. Not that Lon

At length a gentleman came on the don dogs are destitute of a sort of cockney beach accompanied by his Newfoundland dog. ability. Weknew one who was accustomed He directed the attention of the noble animal to go almost every day with a penny in his

to the vessel, and put a short stick into his mouth. The intelligent and courageous dog at once understood his meaning, and sprung into the sea, fighting his way through the foaming waves. He could not, however, get close enough to the vessel to deliver that with which he was charged, but the crew joyfully made fast a rope to another piece of wood, and threw it towards him. The sagacious dog saw the whole business in an instant-he dropped his own piece, and immediately seized that which had been cast to him; and then, with a degree of strength and determination almost incredible, he dragged it through the surge and delivered it to his master. By this means

a line of communication was formed, and every

man on board saved.

mouth to the baker's and buy a roll for his own consumption. One day the baker's man, in a joke, gave him a roll, hot as fire, just out of the oven, which he instantly dropt, seized his money off the counter, and from that day changed his baker. He never would go back again to that shop, but spent his penny like a good steady customer with a better behaved tradesman.

Of a colley we have the following from Mr. Jesse:

"An intelligent correspondent, to whom I am indebted for some sensible remarks on the trial. When the man intended to steal any

faculties of dogs, has remarked that largeheaded dogs are generally possessed with superior faculties to others. This fact favors the phrenological opinion that size of brain is evidence of superior power. He has a dog possessing a remarkably large head, and few dogs can match him in intelligence. He is a cross with the Newfoundland breed, and besides his cleverness in the field as a retriever, he shows his sagacity at home in the performance of

several useful feats. One consists in carrying

messages. If a neighbor is to be communi

cated with, the dog is always ready to be the

"The owner of a sheep-dog having been hanged some years ago for sheep-stealing, the following fact, among others respecting the dog, was authenticated by evidence on his sheep, he did not do it himself, but detached his dog to perform the business. With this view, under pretence of looking at the sheep with an intention to purchase them, he went through the flock with the dog at his heel, to

whom he secretly gave a signal, so as to let him know the individuals he wanted, to the number of ten or twenty out of a flock of some hundreds. He then went away, and, at the distance of several miles, sent back the dog by himself in the night-time, who picked out the individual sheep that had been pointed out to him, separated them from the flock, and drove

them before him by himself, till he overtook his master, to whom he relinquished them.”

These creatures do such acts on the Scot

bearer of a letter. He will take orders to the workmen who reside at a short distance from the house, and will scratch impatiently at their door when so employed, although at other times, desirous of sharing the warmth of their kitchen fire, he would wait patiently, and then entering with a seriousness befitting the imagined importance of his mission, would carefully deliver the note, never returning without having discharged his trust. His usefulness in recovering articles accidentally lost has often been proved. As he is not always allowed to be present at dinner, he will bring a hat, book, or any thing he can find, and hold it in his mouth as a sort of apology for his intru-out various and complex operations. We

sion. He seems pleased at being allowed to lead his master's horse to the stable."

tish mountains in regard to the guidance and direction of flocks, that they are utterly incredible without being seen, and nearly incredible when they are. The waving of a shepherd's arm at a distance far beyond the sound of voice is sufficient to regulate all their movements: and you may see them a mile or two miles off, on top of hills, obeying every gesture of their master, pointing

saw a colley once in Perthshire taking a flock of sheep to Falkirk Tryst, or Fair: and as the road was dusty, he chose to indulge his charge occasionally with a bit of green walk and nibble. To accomplish this, where he observed a gap in a hedge,

We regret that Mr. Jesse does not appear to have seen the wonderful dogs which were exhibited some year or two ago in the Quadrant, one of which beat us at dominos, he bounded into the field and ran on to the VOL. VIII. No. IV.

68

farther extremity on his route; if he found an opening there, he returned and drove the sheep into the pasture to pick up a little on their way if not, he occupied the gap, and resolutely denied them entrance, driving them, with barking, along the turnpike

road.

Mr. J. affirms that the greyhound, if kindly treated, is as sensible as other dogs; not so the pug. But the pointer is one of the most sagacious and his action in sporting is highly eulogized. On Monday we saw a

the neighborhood of white-bait banquets on
the banks of the Thames! Two more an-
ecdotes from our author, and two more of
our own, and we have done with the dogs:

"A mastiff belonging to a tanner had taken a great dislike to a man, whose business frequently brought him to the house. Being much annoyed at his antipathy, and fearful of the consequences, he requested the owner of the dog to endeavor to remove the dislike of the animal to him. This he promised to do, and brought it about in the following manner, water-spaniel which was so fond of duck- by acting on the noble disposition of the dog. shooting, that when very hungry his owner Watching his opportunity, he one day, as if threw him down a piece of meat, and at the by accident, pushed the dog into a well in the yard, in which he allowed it to struggle a consame moment took up his gun to go upon siderable time. When the dog seemed to be the deck of the yacht; and the animal left getting tired, the tanner desired his companhis food untouched to leap upon deck to see ion to pull it out, which he did. The animal the piece discharged. This fellow liked on being extricated, after shaking himself, also a sport of his own, which consisted in fawned upon his deliverer, as if sensible that

catching crabs in the water and giving them a crunch betwixt his jaws, which spoilt their swimming for ever after he had dropt their mangled shells. This species is closely allied in acuteness to the Newfoundlanders: of whom Mr. J. farther relates :

he had saved his life, and never molested him
again; on the contrary, he received him with
kindness whenever they met, and often accom-
panied him a mile or two on his way home."

In the following anecdote, we have the dog in the character of a groom :

"A Newfoundland dog of the true breed was brought from that country, and given to a gen"The extraordinary sense of a dog was tleman who resided near Thames Street, in shown in the following instance. A gentleLondon. As he had no means of keeping the man, residing near Pontipool, had his horse animal, except in close confinement, he sent brought to his house by a servant. While the him to a friend in Scotland by a Berwick man went to the door, the horse ran away, and smack. When he arrived in Scotland, he made his escape to a neighboring mountain. took the first opportunity of escaping, and A dog belonging to the house saw this, and of though he certainly had never before travelled his own accord followed the horse, got hold one yard of the road, yet he found his way of the bridle, and brought him back to the door."

back to his former residence on Fish Street Hill, but in so exhausted a state that he could only express his joy at seeing his master, and then died. So wonderful is the sense of these dogs, that I have heard of three instances in which they have voluntarily guarded the bedchamber doors of their mistresses, during the whole night, in the absence of their masters, although on no other occasion did they approach them."

In the next, the dog is a physician :

"During a very severe frost and fall of snow in Scotland, the fowls did not make their appearance at the hour when they usually retired to roost, and no one knew what had become of them; the house-dog at last entered the kitchen, having in his mouth a hen, apparently dead. Forcing his way to the fire, the sagacious animal laid his charge down upon the warm hearth, and immediately set off. He soon came again with another, which he deposited in the same place, and so continued till the whole of the poor birds were rescued. Wandering about the stack-yard, the fowls

We will not swear to the truth of the following, but we heard it on the spot, at Limehouse, near unto Blackwall. A dog attached to the yard of a leading shipbuilder there was stolen by a sailor, and concealed on board a vessel bound for India and had become quite benumbed by the extreme China. In the Chinese seas the vessel was cold, and had crowded together, when the dog, attacked by pirates, and, after a sharp bat-observing them, effected their deliverance: for tle, driven ashore and destroyed. Almost the entire crew perished; but what was the astonishment in the building yard when, months after, the dog made his appearance, having, by some means or other, found his "It is a curious fact that dogs can count way back from China and dark pirates to time. I had, when a boy, a favorite terrier,

they all revived by the warmth of the fire."

The dog of the succeeding anecdote was a church-goer, and sound Protestant :

1

which always went with me to church. My that it was neither more nor less "than mother, thinking that he attracted too much joost a treeumphal airch raised in honor of of my attention, ordered the servant to fasten the meeting of the poets." Miss Words

him up every Sunday morning. He did so once or twice, but never afterwards. Trim concealed himself every Sunday morning, and either met me as I entered the church, or I found him under my seat in the pew."

worth smiled, and Wilson laughed and declared the idea not amiss. But when it was told to Wordsworth he took De Quincey aside, and said loud enough to be heard by more than the person he was ad

And here is a good Catholic of a dog, and dressing, "Poets! poets! what does the unconvertible:

fellow mean? Where are they?" Hogg was a little offended at the time, but he en

"Mr. Southey, in his 'Omniana,' informs us, that he knew of a dog which was brought up by Catholic, and afterwards sold to a Pro- him tell the story in his testant; but still he refused to eat anything on a Friday."

a

joyed it afterwards; and we have heard own "slee" and inimitable manner, and laugh immoderately as he told it. Poor James Hogg! REGINA has reason to remember James; nor

The following dogs were sentimental was the poet of "Kilmeny" forgotten dogs :-

sence.

when dead, by the great poet of the Excursion. There is nothing more touching in poetry since the time of Collins than Wordsworth's extempore verses on the

"Dogs have been known to die from excess of joy at seeing their masters after a long ahAn English officer had a large dog, which he left with his family in England, shepherd's death. He knew his claims to while he accompanied an expedition to Ame- be called a poet, and time will confirm his rica, during the war of the Colonies. Through-judgment and make the Rydal Aurora a out his absence, the animal appeared very story merely to amuse.

much dejected. When the officer returned

home, the dog, who happened to be lying at the door of an apartment into which his mas ter was about to enter, immediately recognized him, leaped upon his neck, licked his face, and in a few minutes fell dead at his feet. A favorite spaniel of a lady recently died on seeing his beloved mistress, after a long absence."

From Fraser's Magazine.

Poets, where are they? Is poetry extinct among us, or is it only dormant? Is the crop exhausted, and must the field lie fallow for a time? Or is it that, in this commercial nation of ours, where every thing is weighed in Rothschild's scales of pecuniary excellence, that we have no good poetry because we have no demand for it? We falter while we think it is so. Poets we still have, and poetry at times of a rich and novel, but not a cultivated flavor. Hardly a week elapses that does not give birth to as many different volumes of verses as there

PAST AND PRESENT CONDITION OF are days in a week. But then there is lit

BRITISH POETRY.

PART II. AND CONCLUSION.

tle that is good; much that was imagination, and much that might have passed for poetry when verse was in its infancy among

us.

Much of that clock-work tintinabulum of rhyme-that cuckoo kind of verse which palls upon the unind and really disgusts you with verse of a higher character. But now we look, and justly too, for something more. Whilst we imitate others, we can no more excel than he that sails by others' maps can make a new discovery. All the old dishes of the ancients have been new heated and new set forth usque ad But we forbear. People look for something more than schoolboy commonplaces and thoughts at second-hand, and novelties and nothing more, without a single grain of salt to savor the tun of unmeaningness which they carry with them.

HOGG has told an amusing anecdote of Wordsworth at Mount Rydal. It chanced one night while the bard of Kilmeny was at the Lakes with Wordsworth, Wilson, and De Quincey, that a resplendent arch, something like the aurora borealis, was observed across the zenith, from the one horizon to the other. The splendid meteor became the subject of conversation, and the table was left for an eminence outside where its effect could be seen to greater advantage. Miss Wordsworth, the poet's sister, who accompanied them, expressed a fear lest the brilliant stranger might prove ominous, when Hogg, thinking he was say ing a good thing, hazarded the remark It is no easy matter to become a poet,

/

"Consules fiunt quotannis, et novi proconsules,
Solus autrex aut poeta non quotannis nascitur;"
or, as the old water-poet phrased it,-

"When Heaven intends to do some mighty
thing
He makes a poet, or at least a king."

South was of opinion that the composition of an epigram was the next great difficulty to an epic poem.

adise Lost. And yet one would hardly think, on first reflection, that any course of preparation was necessary for the poet of Comus and Lycidas, and the Hymn on the Nativity of Christ. But Milton fully understood the height of his great argument, and how unequalled with every lengthened preparation he must be to record it rightly. But people (not poets) start epics nowadays without any kind of consideration. No subject is too great for them. Satan, Chaos, The Messiah, The Omnipresence of the Deity, the Fall of Nineveh, The World before the Flood. One shudders at the very idea of subjects so sublime taken up

called) than the mere impudence of dar

ing :

"When will men learn but to distinguish spirits,
And set true difference 'twixt the jaded wits
That run a broken pace for common hire,
And the high raptures of a happy muse,
Borne on the wings of her immortal thought,
That kicks at earth with a disdainful heel,
And beats at heaven's gates with her bright
hoofs?"-BEN JONSON

"And South beheld that master-piece of man." Coxcombs who consider the composition of a song an easy matter should set themselves down, as Burns says, and try. Ask Tommy as holyday recreations by would-be poets, Moore how many days and nights he has without the vision and the faculty divine, given to a single stanza in an Irish melo- or any other merit (if merit it may be dy? Ask Sam Rogers how long he has spent over the composition of a couplet in An Epistle to a Friend; or Wordsworth how long he has labored with a sonnet; or Bowles-yes, ask the Vicar of Bremhill, if he does not owe the bright finish of his verse as much to pains as happiness? Dryden toiled for a fortnight over his Alexander's Feast, and yet he wrote with easenot the ease of the mob of gentlemen ridiculed by Pope, but with great fluency of idea and great mastery of expression. Good things are not knocked off at a heatfor a long jump there must be a very long run, and a long preparatory training too. There is no saying "I will be a poet." Only consider not the long apprenticeship alone, but the long servitude which the muse requires from those who would invoke her rightly.

"In a poet no kind of knowledge is to be overlooked; to a poet nothing can be useless. Whatever is beautiful and whatever is dreadful must be familiar to his imagination; he must be conversant with all that is awfully vast or elegantly little. The plants of the garden, the animals of the wood, the minerals of the earth, the meteors of the sky, must all concur to store his mind with inexhaustible variety, for every idea is useful for the enforcement or decoration of religious truth, and he who knows most will have most power of diversifying his scenes and of gratifying his reader with remote allusions and unexpected

instruction."*

Every one remembers (poets themselves perhaps excepted) the long course of study and preparation which Milton laid down for himself before he stripped for the Par

Benjamin West, the painter, trafficked with subjects of the same sublime description. And in what way? "Without expression, fancy, or design;" without geniusand without art. People forget, or choose to forget, that subject alone is not sufficient for a poem. Look at Burns's "Mouse," or Wordsworth's "Peter Bell," or Wilkie's "Blind Fiddler," or Gainsborough's "Cottager" with a dish of cream. It is the treatment which ennobles. But there is no driving this into some people's ears. Big with the swollen ambition of securing a footing on the sun-bright summits of Parnassus, they plume themselves on borrowed wings and bladders of their own, and after a world of ink, a world of big ideas, and a copied invocation, they struggle to ascend, and pant and toil to the end of an epic in as many books as the Iliad or the Eneid. Would that your Robert Montgomerys, your Edwin Atherstones, and sundry such who understand the art of sinking in the low profound-would that they would reflect for five minutes on what an epic poem really is! And what it is, and ought to be, glorious John Dryden tells us in a very few words. "A heroic poem," he says, "truly such, is undoubtedly the greatest work which the soul of man is capable to perform." And so it is.