That he is thoroughly amenable to discipline I found some few years ago, in 1884, during a visit to the Oxford Music Hall, in London. Here Mr. Fred. Felix, a well-known trainer, had a group of performing dogs, which included three Great Danes, and all good specimens, especially the best trick dog in the lot, who no doubt gloried in his name of Grandmaster. These dogs went through a variety of performances in an extraordinarily kindly and willing manner, jumping through hoops, walking on their hind legs, sitting on chairs, jumping over each other's backs, with all the docility and more of the freedom than the poodle would have displayed.

Grandmaster made some astonishing leaps, and two of the hounds had a "make-believe" fight, growling, seizing each other, and rolling on the stage as they might have done in a less friendly strife. The latter was a performance I have not since seen attempted, and must be a most difficult thing for a trainer to teach. I do not know when I was better pleased with a group of performing dogs than I was with these Great Danes. I have seen other showmen performing with them in a cage of lions, and similar dogs formed a portion of "a happy family" of wild beasts that a few years since proved a great attraction at the Crystal Palace.

Again it is not unusual for the Dane to be trained to find truffles, a well known edible fungus which grows underground.

A friend of mine who has kept the variety for years, and still owns some exceedingly fine specimens, says the Dane appears to have a peculiar dislike to pigs of any kind, and coming across either one or a "sounder" is pretty certain to lay himself out to attack them. This scarcely gives the impression that he has had any connection with Ireland, where the pig is so common.

As special attention has been called to the Great Dane as a companion, allusion to that dog belonging to Prince Bismarck may not be out of place; still Tyras, the dog, was, in his palmy days, not a very much greater favourite than his master came to be later on. Maybe, the happiness of two countries was on at least one occasion placed in jeopardy by the action of the German Chancellor's hound. It has been said that a somewhat spirited conversation was proceeding between Bismarck and the Russian Prime Minister Gortschakoff. The latter, gesticulating rather more violently than usual, led Tyras, who lay reposing on the rug, to suspect an attack on his master, so, springing at the proud Russian, he brought him to the floor. Apologies were profuse and accepted. Prince Gortschakoff was not bitten,

only frightened, and the peace of Europe remained

undisturbed.

A writer in the Kennel Gazette gives the following interesting description of Prince Bismarck's favourite dog: I reproduce it here, as it will assist my readers in arriving at the character and disposition of the ordinary Great Dane:

"Of all the dogs that have a place in history, Tyras, the noted Ulmer dog of the German Chancellor, is the only one whose death has been deemed of sufficient interest to be cabled round the world as an event, not merely of European, but of cosmopolitan interest. Indeed, the record of Tyras hardly ended with his life, for the cable has since told the world that the first visitor to Prince Bismarck on his recent birthday was the youthful emperor, who brought as a present another dog, of the type of the lamented Tyras. For nearly sixty years Prince Bismarck has owned specimens of the Great Dane, and generally has had one or more of unusual size. His first hound, acquired while living with his parents at Kniephof, was one of the largest ever seen, and was an object of awe to the peasantry of the district. This dog afterward accompanied his young master to the college at Göttingen, where he speedily made his mark. Once when Bismarck was summoned to appear before the rector

for throwing an empty bottle out of his window, he took with him his enormous hound, to the great dismay of the reverend dignitary, who promptly found refuge behind a high-backed chair, where he remained until the hound had been sent out of the room. Bismarck was fined five thalers for bringing this "terrific beast" into the rector's sanctum, in addition to the punishment meted out to the original offence.

"As a law student and official at Berlin, during his travels in many lands, throughout his diplomatic career at Frankfort, St. Petersburgh, Paris, and elsewhere, as well as at Varzin and

at

Friedrichsruh, Bismarck has always had the companionship of one or more of his favourite dogs. Probably the one to which he was most attached was Sultan, which died at Varzin in 1877. Tyras, who was of unusual size, and of the slate colour, which is most popular in Germany, was then quite a young dog, and he was the constant companion of his illustrious owner till the time of his death, sharing his walks, his rides, his business, and his meals, and keeping guard in his bedroom at night. Owing to his uncertain temper, he was not often seen in the streets or gardens of Berlin.

"He was, indeed, regarded more as belonging to

the "Pomeranian Squire" side of the Prince's life than to his official establishment. At Varzin or Friedrichsruh, however, the two were inseparable. No sooner was the most absolutely necessary business of the morning dispatched, than the Reichskanzler sallied off with the "Reichshund " at his heels, and for the rest of the day, the long light coat, and the battered felt hat of the famous statesman, were not greater objects of interest than the huge dog which followed him everywhere, on horseback or on foot."

At the present time the best Great Danes in England are owned by Mr. Reginald Herbert; Mr. R. Hood Wright, Frome; Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Horsfall, Diss; Mr. C. Petrywalski, London; Mr. R. Leadbetter, Berkshire; Mr. S. Pendry, Windsor; Mr. R. Coop, St. Helen's, and some few others. He is not in many hands, and, although the entries in the Kennel Club's stud book keep up their numbers fairly well, the old Great Dane Club itself had but twenty-seven members when it ceased to exist in 1895, consequent on the rule the Kennel Club adopted with regard to the abolition of cropping. Another club was immediately started, and at the time of writing, it has over forty members. Now the classes at Birmingham, the Crystal Palace, Brighton, Liverpool, &c., secure entries quite equal in number to any