In Samuel Howitt's " The British Sportsman " is a collection of seventy coloured plates, published in 1812. No. 40 represents a Terrier with a rat in his mouth; the dog is a black-and-tan, with natural prick ears and a rather short, neat, apparently undocked tail, thicker at the setting-on than is seen on our show specimens, and tapering to a fine point. The three Terriers drawn by Reinagle, and engraved by Scott for "The Sportsman's Cabinet," are all stouter made than that drawn by Howitt. Of the three, one is disappearing into a fox or a badger earth ; another is represented as dark in colour, with white neck and feet; and the third is white, with what the modern Terrier advertiser would call an " evenly marked black-and-tan head, with spot at setting-on of stern." The bitch represented was, however, yellow-pied. The two seen appear to have natural prick ears ; and if the tail is docked at all, but few joints could have been removed. The coat would appear to be one in length between that of our modern Smooth and Wire-haired Fox-terriers.

The last years of the eighteenth and the first of the nineteenth century would appear to be the time when the Fox-terrier, with considerable resemblance to his successor of the present day, first began to be kept as an ornament and for pleasure, as well as for sporting purposes. It was, consequently, a necessity of the case that, being advanced to a closer intimacy with man, more regard would be paid to his external appearance. "The Sportsman's Cabinet" tells us that, " by the prevalence of fashion, they were bred of all colours"; and, further, that it was "the white-pied bitch " we have just noticed as one of the three in the plate that was the dam of the " wonderful progeny," her litter of seven puppies having sold at the Running Horse livery stables, Piccadilly, for one-and-twenty guineas - a very high price at that time; and of them Taplin wrote : " These are as true a breed of the small sort as any in England." It would be exceedingly interesting could the puppies referred to be traced, and to know if they were bred from, and the strain preserved in tolerable purity. One looks in vain for records throwing light on the subject, but the fact of calling attention to the matter may yet bring information to those interested. There appears to be no accessible records from which to trace the history of the Hound-marked variety that ultimately gained the ascendancy it now holds ; but the above fact proves that it was at least coming into fashion close on a century ago.

As already noted, Mr. T. H. Scott is of opinion that the Fox-terrier is not a modern dog ; and the evidence from writers, down to the first decade of last century, confirms that. Mr. Scott ventures to assert that there were as good dogs fifty years ago as there are now; and if by good is meant capacity for the work required of them, there can be no doubt about it. It has been seen that, even earlier, the form and the colour were approached in the fashionable strain; and Mr. Scott, writing in 1876, tells us he was assured of the pure breeding of some of our most valued existing strains for forty years, thus taking us back almost within a decade of Lawrence.

Before leaving this portion of a very interesting subject, some further evidence might be adduced that there existed rather more than thirty years ago Fox-terriers which for work generally were superior to their modern relatives as seen upon the show-bench. Moreover, as the statements about to be quoted emanated from a prominent member of the Kennel Club, an erstwhile successful breeder and exhibitor of the variety, and one, too, frequently called upon to adjudicate upon the breed, his pronouncement certainly carries weight. The writer refers to Mr. Harding Cox, whose very able letter to the Field in April, 1897, under the heading of "A Danger to Dogs," is worthy of the consideration of the practical breeder of to-day. Fox-terriers were not the only breed scheduled on the occasion, but it was the variety which more than any other came in for his condemnation. He said : "In the early seventies there was a reaction against the cloddy or cob-built Terrier - the ' brick with the four comers knocked off,' as it was facetiously called. This was, as is usual with reactions of all kinds, carried to extremes. The fiat went forth that Fox-terriers were to have narrow chests and oblique shoulders. Good ! But what was and is the consequence? We now have dogs so narrow in front, so oblique in shoulder, that as a natural result they have flat sides, weak back ribs, long couplings, wedge-like and feeble quarters, with enough daylight under them to absorb a Norwegian summer This is not the first time I have fallen foul of those misguided enthusiasts whose ambition it is to breed Terriers to live with Hounds. I have no hesitation in positively stating that no Fox-terrier that ever was bred could live with any decent pack of Foxhounds when really carrying a head. When Hounds are dragging along on a cold scent, or flashing down wind, friend Jack may be all there, but he will soon be left behind when heads go up and sterns down. On the other hand, the stout-built little Terrier of the days of yore is always quick enough to follow on, and when Pug is marked to ground, will generally appear on the scene, whilst Hounds and followers are taking a breather, and before pollice inverto is the master's sign. Again, I claim that for purposes of going to ground, and staying there as long as required, I would back a well-balanced, sturdy Terrier with good chest and ribs against any of the leggy, narrow, and 'spiry' dogs of the show-bench of to-day."

Now, as Mr. Harding Cox is writing of the Fox-terrier existing at a period nearly contemporary with that when Mr. Scott penned his lines, it renders the former's contribution all the more interesting. The latter has already stated that probably the dog, fifty years prior to 1876, was the equal of the Terrier of that time. The ground, therefore, of the last century, so far as the dog under discussion is concerned, is exceedingly well covered.