at powerful upward movement of the head and neck which few
cushions can withstand. Finally poor Tan had to be given away, and was
lost sight of.

These rough outlines of the characters of some of our dogs are meant to
show that the reasons for loving dogs are not patent, and that we cannot
complain if the words, used by a little girl in _Punch_ towards a couple
of earwigs, should be applied to us and our dogs, "Nasty creatures! I
cannot think how they can care for each other."

Stevenson's essay {223} on _The Character of Dogs_ is not entirely
satisfactory. It is surely a one-sided view of the dog that "he is
vainer than man, singularly greedy of notice, singularly intolerant of
ridicule, suspicious like the deaf, jealous to the degree of frenzy, and
radically devoid of truth." It is hardly possible that he should be
vainer than man; and in the dog, vanity is a far simpler and more lovable
thing than the complex and offensive passion in his master. His greed
for notice and his jealousy are part of his great love for his master. I
do not remember that Stevenson ever speaks of the passionate love (not
for mankind, but for one special person) which burns in the heart of a
dog. It is a singular omission--and I cannot but think it intentional.
If so he was wise, for it certainly does not lend itself to the manner
which Stevenson adopts towards dogs. No doubt I may be led into
sentimentality and general wearifulness in attempting to describe what
seems to me the most striking characteristic of dogs--their great and
enduring power of loving. It may be that "the day of an intelligent
small dog is passed in the manufacture and laborious communication of
falsehood." But he does not lie when he says quite plainly how greatly
he loves his master. Nor do I agree that a small spoiled dog would prate
interminably, and still about himself. I think he would say, "I love
you" rather often, but that bears repetition. I know a Schipperke whose
main interest in life is his dinner, but when his mistress was ill he had
only two desires, to lie on her bed and to bite the doctor for
approaching her. He had to be dragged out for a walk instead of eagerly
begging for one. Was this an elaborate falsehood? Was it pretence? Was
it conventionality?

A dog can hardly be expected to plead guilty when detected in crime. He
jumps off the forbidden bed when he hears someone coming, and, being
unaware that the warm place on the counterp