one or two quick tears
Dropped upon his glossy ears,
Or a sigh came double,--
Up he sprang in eager haste,
Fawning, fondling, breathing fast,
In a tender trouble.'"

[Illustration]

[Illustration: FRENCH POODLE.]

THE POODLE.

"With all the graces of his fatherland;
With well-cut coat, and ever ready hand--
See--the French poodle sports his life away;
Obedient, wise, affectionate, and gay."
_Chronicles of Animals._

These dogs, like all others, possess many amiable qualities, and are
remarkable for the facility with which they learn several amusing
tricks, and for their extraordinary sagacity. This latter quality has
frequently made them a great source of profit to their masters, so
that it may be said of them, "c'est encore une des plus profitables
manieres d'etre chien qui existent." A proof of this is related by M.
Blaze in his history of the dog, and was recorded by myself many years
before his work appeared.

A shoe-black on the Pont Neuf at Paris had a poodle dog, whose
sagacity brought no small profit to his master. If the dog saw a
person with well-polished boots go across the bridge, he contrived to
dirty them, by having first rolled himself in the mud of the Seine.
His master was then employed to clean them. An English gentleman, who
had suffered more than once from the annoyance of having his boots
dirtied by a dog, was at last induced to watch his proceedings, and
thus detected the tricks he was playing for his master's benefit. He
was so much pleased with the animal's sagacity, that he purchased him
at a high price and conveyed him to London. On arriving there, he was
confined to the house till he appeared perfectly satisfied with his
new master and his new situation. He at last, however, contrived to
escape, and made his way back to Paris, where he rejoined his old
master, and resumed his former occupation. I was at Paris some years
ago, where this anecdote was related to me, and it is now published in
the records of the French Institute.

Perhaps the most remarkable instance known of what are called "Learned
Dogs," is that of two poodles, which were trained at Milan, and
exhibited at Paris in the spring of 1830. The account of them is given
by a lady, whose veracity is not doubtful, and who herself saw their
performance. "The elder, named Fido," says she, "is white, with some
black patches on his head