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and remarkably straight fore legs; in the latter respect, and at the shoulders, he beat any bull terrier I ever saw. He had a well shaped and well carried stern, which was, however, rather coarse. When Mr. Chorley first bought Victor he was a bad-tempered, evil-disposed dog, but in this respect he improved much-whether this arose from the taste for " good ale," which he soon developed I can scarcely say, but Victor liked ale, and not only would he drink a quart of the beverage, but become intoxicated, and next day evidently ailing with that aching head said to follow a night's debauch, "a glass of bitter" speedily set the old dog right again.

Following him as a celebrity came "patched Victor," a white dog with a fawn or brown patch on one ear, a big dog of undoubted excellence, but when the "patch" did not put him out of the prize list some sensation was caused. Whatever truth there might have been in the story then bandied about relating to this dog, the writer cannot state; but it was said when he won his earlier prize or prizes he was the property of one of the judges who placed him third in priority, and who afterwards sold him for a large sumn. As the parties to the transaction have been dead many years, there can be no harm in alluding to what was common

report at that time, especially as it gives some little idea of what could occur at dog shows before the Kennel Club had become "so great a power in the land."

Another notable bull terrier of the same date was Rebel (2770), and this dog had likewise belonged to Mr. Smith, jun., and sold by him to the late Mr W. H. Akerigg, who turned him over to Mr. Leonard Pilkington, now one of our most popular greyhound coursers. Although Rebel had on occasions beaten Young Puss, to whom he was said to be brother, he was only a second-rate dog alongside her, and inferior to both the Victors already named.

I have mentioned such dogs at considerable length because I believe they were as good as, if not superior to, anything we have at the present time, and when they were in their prime the classes of bull terriers were better filled than is the case now. I have said the first class at Birmingham had twenty-eight entries; at one of the Scottish shows (Edinburgh, 1871) there were about thirty-five competitors in the bull terrier classes, and scarcely a bad one in the lot. Now ten or a dozen in a class is considered a first-rate entry, and at Birmingham in 1895, with eight classes and twenty-six competitors, the group was considered to be quite up to the average. At the most recent Kennel Club

show, in October, 1902, there were but nineteen bull terriers in eight classes. However, at Edinburgh the same month there was the best show of bull terriers seen since cropping was done away with -two classes, with fifteen entries, all the exhibits being very good specimens. At Birmingham in December the same year there were but eight bull terriers shown in three classes, where once twenty might have been found in a single division. Thus the popularity of certain varieties of the dog rise and fall.

So far I have only alluded to the large-sized bull terriers, and what there is to say about the smaller ones is yet to come. After this dog had become fairly well established in the schedules of the shows, the classes came to be sub-divided again, and for many years the classification at Birmingham was for dogs and bitches exceeding 15lb. and below that weight. The competition therein was usually keen, and at this time the names of Mr. S. E. Shirley (the present president of the Kennel Club), of Mr. J. H. Ryder, Mr. C. L. Boyce, Mr. J. F. Godfree, Mr. S. Handley, Pendleton, a noted judge, as well as those already mentioned, appeared in the prize lists, and I should say the bull terrier was never so fashionable or had so many admirers as he had, say, between 1868 to 1874. Still he did

not bring much money, and from £12 to £25 would have purchased any of the leading dogs of that day, with the exception of the patched Victor."

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Later on, whether bull terriers actually became more valuable, or money more plentiful, one cannot say which, but higher prices were occasionally paid for comparatively inferior dogs. One called Tarquin, a ferocious beast, did a considerable amount of winning, and he was of the high priced division. Then some sort of a longing was apparent for the reintroduction of the patched or marked dogs. Thus classes for bull terriers other than white were provided at one or two of our leading shows, but the specimens shown were not sufficiently handsome to cause the public to fall in love with them. So their continuance was ephemeral, especially as it was very difficult to breed them to type. than white bull terrier I have Como II., belonging to Mr. E. that time resided near Epsom. dog of pretty shape, but heavier and shorter in the head than the modern white dog. I believe that Mr. Adcock's endeavours to perpetuate the strain did not prove successful.

The very best other seen was one called H. Adcock, who at This was a brindled

Following the death of James Hinks, of Birmingham, his two sons continued to show their partiality

for their father's favourite dogs, and from their kennels many of the modern prize winners have come. For a considerable period Mr. R. J. Hartley, of Altrincham, had a very excellent kennel. His Magnet and Violet, so long as they lasted, monopolised most of the prizes on the show bench, and both were undoubtedly very handsome specimens of their race, as was Mr. A. George's Mistress of the Robes, a daughter of Mr. J. Hinks's Old Dutch, who had proved himself almost phenomenal as a sire. The Stud Book says Dutch Dutch was by old Victor— Champion Countess. Mr. R. J. Hartley, who bred Dutch, tells me that his dam was by Young Gambler from old Daisy, but which Victor sired Dutch is a matter of uncertainty. It was certainly not the old Victor alluded to on a previous page as being found dead in his box in 1872. Dutch, in the 1884 Stud Book, was said to be about six years old at that time, so his pedigree is doubtful.

With extended classification at shows, and further alterations therein in the matter of size, the latter probably brought about by the scarcity of the smallsized bull terrier, good specimens went into more hands. Some years ago the weights were arranged as dogs and bitches exceeding 30lb., dogs and bitches between 20lb. and 30lb., and dogs and bitches under 20lb.; but since the decadence of the

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