mark, excepting such as would be made by the dog's teeth, and where the latter had bruised the flesh. On another occasion Jack found himself in an earth between two badgers, one fighting him in front, the other in the rear, but he did not flinch, and, as the diggers reached their game in less than a quarter of an hour, when they were safely bagged, the terrier was not much the worse for his unequal combat.

Powderham Jack came to Mr. Schreiber out of Devonshire, he being purchased from the late Mr. Damarell, but Mr. P. Gilbert, near Birmingham, was supposed to be the breeder. In his early days Jack won several prizes on the show bench, and when grown too wide in front for the show, Mr. Schreiber obtained perhaps the gamest terrier he ever owned. During little more than the twelve months from the time he went to Watford to when he received the terrible injuries which resulted in blindness, Jack did more than his share in the capture of twenty badgers. On his sire's side he was descended from Champion Broom and Jack Terry's Wasp, but his dam's pedigree could never be ascertained. He was never known to give tongue underground unless he had either a fox or badger in front of him.

Mr. T. Wootton wrote me on the last day of the year 1895 a characteristic letter which proves

his love for the fox terrier, the wire-haired variety in particular, which he did so much to popularise. "The best fox terrier I have ever seen," writes he, "was a wire-haired one given to me as coming from Lord Southampton's kennels. This dog weighed about 16lb., was a black with tan or rather tawny feet and muzzle, a trifle high on the leg, which gave him pace enough to run with hounds. He ran with them about a month before his services were required, and then, as a preliminary performance, he killed the hunted fox and another which had the bad luck to be in the earth at the same time. Excuses were, however, made for him on this occasion, and he was subsequently given a second chance in a brake' in Leicestershire. Here he nearly found his match in a big dog fox, who fought him for an hour and a half before they could be dug out, the fox dead, Trimmer, the terrier, in a frightful condition, with his nose bitten through and through. As is common in his race, he soon got over his 'dressing'; but, of course, after such a display of his killing propensities, he was never allowed to run with hounds again, and his feats were henceforth confined to the destruction of less noble game. He would kill a cat caught in a trap, a thing few terriers will do. This terrier transmitted his gameness to his progeny, and,

in consequence of sundry blackguards and fox stealers getting hold of him, the members of the hunt requested that Trimmer might be sent away a distance." Had this dog lived to-day, he would no doubt have been classed as a Welsh terrier.

Some of the earlier wire-haired fox terriers were either particularly bad tempered or perhaps it was the writer's unfortunate lot to have such in his possession. Many years ago I had one sent me out of Shropshire, which originally came from the huntsman of the Albrighton hounds. Anyhow, rare good-looking dog though he seemed, his excellence was sadly marred by his detestable disposition. He was never safe, and always as willing to growl at his owner as to take a piece out of the leg of a tramp or anyone else. Entered for Darlington Show at a few pounds, if he was not sold I had promised him as a present to a friend; as it happened he won the first prize and the special cup, and was at once claimed by a well-known admirer of the breed. Avenger (the dog's name) was a little high on the legs, 18lb. weight, straight in front and terrier-like in head, with a hard jacket but not much of it. I need scarcely say he did not need trimming, or "faking," to make him look his best.

Owing to some cause or other, the wire-haired fox terrier was longer in popularising himself than the

smooth-coated one. For years he was without a class at any of the shows, and when he became so important as to be honoured by being so provided, he was relegated to the non-sporting division! Birmingham gave him his first class in 1872, nine years subsequent to the time when the smooth variety had been prominently brought forward. Some of the Stud Books have the wire-haired fox terrier entered amongst non-sporting dogs, sandwiched between the Pomeranians and Bedlington terriers, and so he continued till 1875, whilst a little earlier the same reference volume mixes the wire-haired fox terriers with the Irish terriers. Another reason for a delay in popularisation undoubtedly arose from the incompetence of some of the judges who were asked to give their opinions of the breed, and whose knowledge thereof was quite on a par on a par with what it might be with regard to white elephants and crocodiles. My nerves never received so severe a shock at any show as they did at Curzon Hall in 1872, when the first prize for wire-haired terriers was withheld through "want of merit," though in the class was that reliable and undoubtedly first-rate specimen Venture, then shown by Mr. Gordon Sanderson, of Cottingham, near Hull. Mr. J. Nisbet, a reputed judge of Dandie Dinmont terriers, gave this foolish decision, which, however, did not lower the

dog one iota in the eyes of those who knew his excellence. Mr. W. Carrick, of Carlisle, subsequently became his owner, and made him useful in the foundation of a kennel of terriers which for excellence has not yet been surpassed.

This Venture was as good a terrier of his variety as I ever saw, without the slightest particle of bulldog appearance, built on proper lines, with a coat above the average in hardness and denseness, and a head in length and quality of the best.

Between the years 1872 and 1880 comparatively few wire-haired terriers were shown at Curzon Hall; in the former year there were but two entries, but later some dozen or so appeared about the average. Most of the best dogs during this period came from the neighbourhood of Malton in Yorkshire. Venture, already alluded to, was by Kendall's Old Tip, a wellknown terrier with the Sinnington Hounds; Venture had a successful career on the show bench, and to my mind was certainly the best of his variety at that day. In 1874, however, the Stud Book contained but four other entries of wire-haired terriers, and with one exception they were owned by Mr. Wootton. Wasp, winner of first prize at Manchester in 1873, has no sire or dam given, and Mr. Gordon Sanderson appears to be the only man at that day who kept the pedigrees of his terriers. The wonder was that he