n
a lie, there is not a hair upon his body but confesses guilt. To a dog
of gentlemanly feeling, theft and falsehood are disgraceful vices. The
canine, like the human, gentleman demands in his misdemeanours
Montaigne's "_je ne sais quoi de genereux_." He is never more than half
ashamed of having barked or bitten; and for those faults into which he
has been led by the desire to shine before a lady of his race, he
retains, even under physical correction, a share of pride. But to be
caught lying, if he understands it, instantly uncurls his fleece.

Just as among dull observers he preserves a name for truth, the dog has
been credited with modesty. It is amazing how the use of language blunts
the faculties of man--that because vainglory finds no vent in words,
creatures supplied with eyes have been unable to detect a fault so gross
and obvious. If a small spoiled dog were suddenly to be endowed with
speech, he would prate interminably, and still about himself; when we
had friends, we should be forced to lock him in a garret; and what with
his whining jealousies and his foible for falsehood, in a year's time he
would have gone far to weary out our love. I was about to compare him to
Sir Willoughby Patterne, but the Patternes have a manlier sense of their
own merits; and the parallel, besides, is ready. Hans Christian
Andersen, as we behold him in his startling memoirs, thrilling from top
to toe with an excruciating vanity, and scouting even along the street
for shadows of offence--here was the talking dog.

It is just this rage for consideration that has betrayed the dog into
his satellite position as the friend of man. The cat, an animal of
franker appetites, preserves his independence. But the dog, with one eye
ever on the audience, has been wheedled into slavery, and praised and
patted into the renunciation of his nature. Once he ceased hunting and
became man's plate-licker, the Rubicon was crossed. Thenceforth he was a
gentleman of leisure; and except the few whom we keep working, the whole
race grew more and more self-conscious, mannered, and affected. The
number of things that a small dog does naturally is strangely small.
Enjoying better spirits and not crushed under material cares, he is far
more theatrical than average man. His whole life, if he be a dog of any
pretension to gallantry, is spent in a vain show, and in the hot pursuit
of admiration. Take out your puppy for a walk, and you will find the
little ball of