In the matter of finding and obtaining balls, he went beyond any dog I have ever seen; it was quite a mania with him. I do not exaggerate in saying he amassed a large collection, hard rubber being the favourites, and it was his delight to get some one to throw them for a good hard run.

During his later years some of us were keen volunteers, and it was Tip's delight to attend all parades, ostensibly with his master, but really to follow the Colonel and Major, taking much interest in the manual and platoon and movements of the corps, so that he was known as Tip the Rifleman's Dog, and wore a collar, green, with the regimental motto, "In danger ready." He died universally regretted, at a good old age, and was buried in a box filled with flowers and one of his favourite balls under his nose, which would have revived him if anything could!

I must apologise for this digression, but hope the majority of my readers are men or women "of like passions with myself," and take an interest in all matters relating to dogs and their doings!

THE LATE MR. WILLIAM LORT.

From a lithograph.

I do not find records of any shows in 1860, until the First Exhibition of Sporting and other Dogs, held on December 3rd and 4th, in the Midland Counties Repository, Cheapside, Birmingham, with Mr. C. Wicksteed as Judge of the Hound classes; Messrs. Moore, W. Lort, and H. B. Leigh, of Pointers; Major Irving and Mr. W. Brooks, of Setters; and Mr. J. H. Walsh ("Stonehenge"), of Toys, which I presume, included all the rest, although we should not in these days class Mastiffs, Newfoundlands, Dalmatians, Bull-dogs, Sheep-dogs, Black-and-tan Terriers, White and other English Terriers, Scotch Terriers, and Foreign Non-Sporting Dogs, all of which were provided with classes, amongst Toys, which were more properly represented by Pugs, Italian Greyhounds, Blenheim and King Charles Spaniels, and Toy Terriers under 5 lb.

The entry was quite respectable for those early times (267), and I observe that although in many cases there was only one prize awarded, in no case were more than two, and often it was recorded, "No second prize awarded." Evidently the judges went on the good principle of pleasing themselves, and recognising true merit only!

I need not say that this was the beginning of the long series of popular and successful dog shows, held in the same town, I think without a break, ever since, as I see its 1901 Exhibition is described on the catalogue as the forty-third, and I do not remember more than one being held in any year.

I doubt very much whether any one town in the whole world can show such a record of its constancy and attachment to one particular hobby (and that, not then, very popular, or much favoured) for such an unbroken period!

I believe at this show my friend the late Mr. William Lort judged for the first time, but afterwards became very widely known throughout the length and breadth of the land, especially as a judge of Sporting Dogs, although I have often known him take the whole show, where the entry was small, and for many years - indeed, broken only by his occasional long periods of absence, when away on sporting tours, to various parts of the world, as his amiable and genial disposition, fund of anecdote, and charming, unassuming manners endeared him to all brought into contact with him, and made his company much desired - he probably did more judging than any other one man, "professional judge" or not; although my old friend the Rev. G. F. Hodson, of North Petherton (who has had many years of indisposition and confinement to his house, but I have had positive assurance that he is in good health at the present time), ran him a good "second," being, in the opinion of many, a really better judge in the Non-Sporting Division than Mr. Lort, and quite his equal in many of the Sporting breeds, such as Deer-hounds, Blood-hounds, Greyhounds, and some of the Spaniels and Terriers used in sport.

I am bound to say the reverend gentleman was rather (what an old nurse of mine used to call) "masterful," and had his likes and dislikes amongst the dogs, and was not an easy man to turn, if he had made up his mind.

But I think he thoroughly enjoyed his life, particularly that part of it connected with dogs and dog shows, added to which he was a good judge of a horse and of some breeds of poultry, and had been, as I think every judge should be, a successful breeder and exhibitor for many years before he took up judging.

REV. GRENVILLE F. HODSON.

All of my contemporaries who remember Mr. Hodson, and I hope many of my readers will be amongst that number, will agree with me what "good company" he was, and how he "kept the game alive" when he was at any show, what amusing stories he had to tell of his many experiences in the course of his travels to and from the numerous shows where he attended as one of the judges!

I do not desire to "draw the long bow," and it is some years now since I had the pleasure of a talk with the Rev. G. F. Hodson, but I think it was when we came down from Sheffield (which most of my readers will know is a town of considerable importance in Yorkshire, associated always in my mind with the "Brooks " of Sheffield so often mentioned in Dickens's "David Copperfield"), where we had both been judging, and travelled as far as Bristol together, he told me that for some years he had travelled in his judging capacity about ten thousand miles per annum!

I thought then, and think still, that it was a large average for any non-professional judge to make in any branch of the Fancy, and do not know of its being exceeded by any one at the present day - certainly not by any of those who confine their operations to the United Kingdom. Perhaps some of those, like Mr. George Raper, who think nothing of "running over to New York" to judge at a show there, returning to take a few British shows, and then "running back" to fulfil more American or Colonial engagements in other countries, would make up a considerable "mileage" in the course of twelve months; but in the "days" when the reverend gentleman referred to was mostly "to the fore," such things were not in vogue.