The
privilege of man's friendship has cost the dog his freedom. To offset
the hours of delightful companionship with his friendly master are the
weary times when he must tug impotently at the chain which keeps him
within the castle enclosure.

It has been said that Landseer looked upon most animals with the eyes
of the artist, the poet, and the natural historian, but the dog alone
he painted as a friend. Our picture is good evidence of the truth of
the statement. Every resource of the painter's art was lavished upon
his favorite subject with the loving care that one gives only to a
friend.

The massive size of the dog is seen by comparing the figure with the
height of the table and the door. The great creature practically
fills the canvas. The pose is so finely conceived, the figure itself
so admirably "modelled," to use the critic's phrase, that it seems
almost like a work of sculpture. The light and shadow are carefully
studied. The light seems to come from some source at the right,
bringing out strongly the expressiveness of the dog's face. Landseer,
we are told, was fond of introducing into his pictures a bit of
sparkling metal. Here the reflected light on the gauntlets, like that
on the spurs beside the King Charles Spaniels and on the helmet near
the Sleeping Bloodhound, adds an effective touch to the composition.

Suspense has been a popular favorite among Landseer's works, and is
one of the pictures referred to in the Memorial Verses published in
"Punch" after the artist's death. This is the stanza describing it:--

"The lordly bloodhound with pricked ear,
And scent suspicious, watches for his lord
At the locked door, from whose sill, trickling clear,
The blood bespeaks surprise and treacherous sword."

IV

THE MONARCH OF THE GLEN

An annual visit to the Scottish Highlands was one of Landseer's
pleasures. It was here that he learned to know the habits of the deer,
the subject of many of his noblest paintings. His first journey to
this region was as a young man of twenty-two, in company with a friend
and fellow painter, Leslie. An incident of the excursion was a visit
to Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. The painter and the
novelist had much in common in their attachment to dogs, their
fondness for vigorous out-of-door exercise, and their love of nature.

Landseer was deeply impressed with the rugged grandeur of the Highland
scenery. Especially was his imagination stirred by