shall to his friends,
who had witnessed the result of this affair from one of the windows of
the coffee-room, "that our canine acquaintance (patting the animal
at the same time) is now clearly exonerated from any participation of
knavery. I had my suspicions that he was a well-disciplined associate
in iniquity, taught to follow any person whom his pretended owner might
point at, as a fit object of prey."

The Baronet and the Squire, particularly the latter, had heard much of
the "Frauds of London," but neither of them was aware that metropolitan
roguery was carried on and accelerated through the medium of canine
agency.

In confirmation of this fact, however, Dashall mentioned two
circumstances, both of which had occurred within these few years back,
the one of a man who, in different parts of the suburbs, used to secrete
himself behind a hedge, and when a lady came in view, his dog would go
forth to rob her; the reticule was the object of plunder, which the dog
seldom failed to get possession of, when he would instantly carry the
spoil to his master. The other case was that of a person who had trained
his dog to depredations in Whitechapel-market. This sly thief would
reconnoitre the butcher's stalls, particularly on a Saturday night
amidst the hurry of business, and carry off whatever piece of meat was
most conveniently tangible, and take it home with all possible caution
and celerity. We have heard of their answering questions, playing
cards, and casting accompts,--in fact, their instinctive sagacity has
frequently the appearance of reasoning faculties; they even now are
competent to extraordinary performances, and what further wonders the
ingenuity of man may teach them to accomplish, remains hereafter to be
ascertained.{1}

1 The following anecdote is particularly illustrative of
canine sagacity. It shews that the dog is sensible of
unmerited injury, and will revenge it accordingly; it
exhibits the dog also, as a reflective animal, and proves
that, though he has not the gift of speech, he is yet
endowed with the power of making himself understood by his
own species. Some years ago, the traveller of a mercantile
house in London, journeying into Cornwall, was followed by
his favourite dog, to Exeter; where the traveller left him,
in charge of the landlord of the Inn, until his return. The
animal was placed in an inner yard, which, for sometime
back, had