It is certain that during the past two decades no breed of dog has attained greater popularity than the Irish Terrier, and a visit to any of our leading shows will be convincing proof of this, for in point of number he only plays second fiddle to his white relation the Fox-terrier, which has been a general favourite in England for generations past. The reason is not far to seek. Is it not a firm of soap-makers who say of their soap, "Once used, always used"? Surely it would be difficult to find more appropriate words for the Irish Terrier. His genial disposition, all round merit for sport, racy outline, eyes that are teeming with kindness and intelligence peeping from underneath his shaggy old eyebrows, and a pin-wire, rusty horseshoe-coloured jacket that covers one of the biggest hearts that ever beat in a canine body, must command admiration from all who love a truly good, high-couraged Terrier.

It is a circumstance much to be regretted that the true origin of this grand Terrier has never come to light, and at this distant date in all probability it never will. We can therefore only accept the gleanings of those who have used their best efforts to solve the problem.

Mr. G. R. Krehl, the English Vice-President of the Irish Terrier Club, who has done so much this side of St. George's Channel to popularise Irish Terriers, in writing for Mr. Vero Shaw's book thus speaks of the breed: -

"The Irish Terrier is a true and distinct breed indigenous to Ireland, and no man can trace its origin, which is lost in antiquity. Mr. Ridgway, of Waterford, whose name is familiar in Irish Terrier circles from having drawn up the first code of points, states that they have been known to Ireland as long as that country has been an island, added to which there is the fact that there exist old manuscripts in Irish mentioning the breed at a very remote period. In old pictures representing scenes of Irish life an Irish Terrier or two are often to be descried.

Ballymena and County Wicklow may almost claim to be the birthplace of the breed. Most of the best specimens hail from Ballymena and the neighbourhood, where Mr. Thomas Erwin, of Irish Setter fame, boasts an extensive experience of this breed, and has always kept a few of the right old working sort for sporting purposes ; and in County Wicklow, Mr. Merry says, it is well known that the pure breed of Irish Terriers has been carefully kept distinct and highly prized for more than a century. Mr. E. F. Despard, whose name is well known in Irish Terrier circles as a very successful breeder and exhibitor, claims an acquaintance of over forty years with the breed. Mr. George Jamison, too, has known and kept them many years, and up till a little while ago had won more prizes than all the rest of the breeders put together. These proofs of the age of the breed are mentioned to show those who have lately come to admire them that it is not a made-up, composite, or mushroom breed. They are part of Ireland's national economy, and are worthily embodied in the sportsman's toast: 'Irish women, Irish horses, and Irish dogs' (which means, Irish Terriers, Irish Setters, and Irish Spaniels).

One's first acquaintance with the Irish Terrier is apt to be disappointing (except to a really doggy terrier man). It may be because there is no meretricious flash about them; but there is that about them which you learn to like; they grow upon you. They supply the want so often expressed for a smart-looking dog with something in him. There is that about their rough-and-ready appearance that can only be described as genuine Terrier (or more emphatically Tarrier) character. They are facile princeps the sportsman's Terrier, and having never yet been made Fashion's darlings, they retain in all its purity their instinctive love of hard work. Their characters do not suit them for ladies' pets, but render them the best dogs out for the man that loves his gun and quiet sport."

At a later date Mr. Hugh Dalziel, writing of the breed, discredits its existence something over thirty years ago, and referring to Mr. Ridgway's letter anent the age and purity of the breed at a very remote date, says: "Surely man never yet 'grounded his faith' on a more slender basis." The patriarch Job, in an old manuscript written in a language older than Irish, refers to the "dogs of his flock"; so when his descendants take to Sheepdog showing, they may "ground their faith" in the antiquity and purity of their Collies by Mr. Ridgway's example, and with as much logical and historical support.

Mr. Dalziel further adds that it is not usual to speak of a date only a score or so of years back as "antiquity," but that is really the date when the origin of the Irish Terrier is lost and found, and by way of winding up says: "When we consider how much we owe to the Irish in dogs, the Wolfhound, the Greyhound, the Spaniel, the Setter, we may readily, and without strain of faith, believe that such a sporting race kept a 'breed of Terriers also,' but to ask us to believe that the show dogs of the present day are purely descended from the Terriers of the 'Long-boat' men is rather too much."

This is quoted to show the difference in opinion that exists as to the real origin of the Irish Terrier.

Probably the show specimens of the present day are not absolutely pure descendants of the Irish Terrier as known in Ireland forty years ago; but there is certainly a big percentage of that blood in their composition, and were proof of this required, it could be forthcoming over and over again. Mr. Dalziel was doubtless actuated by the purest motives in all that he said; but had he dived deeper into the subject, he certainly would have found that the breed did exist in Ireland years and numbers of years prior to its advent on the show-bench in either that country or our own, and might then have deemed it prudent to be less caustic in his remarks, and not quite so hard on a breed that so many have come to admire, and which without flattery may be considered one of the best of present-day Terriers.