to the larder, and beheld his dog
stretched dead at the door. The gamekeeper stood extremely affected;
but what were his sensations, when he saw on the table eleven brace of
partridges, and five grouse untouched! This admiration increased his
grief, when he found the poor dog had suffered starvation rather than
transgress his duty.

At a convent in France, twenty paupers were served with a dinner at a
certain hour every day. A matin dog belonging to the convent did not
fail to be regularly present at this repast, to receive the scraps
which were now and then thrown to him. The guests, however, were poor
and hungry, and of course not very wasteful, so that their pensioner
did little more than scent the feast, of which he would fain have
partaken. The portions were served by a person at the ringing of a
bell, and delivered out by means of what in religious houses is termed
a _tour_--a machine like the section of a cask, that, by turning round
on a pivot, exhibits whatever is placed on the concave side, without
discovering the person who moves it. One day this dog, who had only
received a few scraps, waited till the paupers were all gone, took the
rope in his mouth, and rang the bell. His stratagem succeeded. He
repeated it the next day with the same good fortune. At length the
cook, finding that twenty-one portions were given out instead of
twenty, was determined to discover the culprit. In doing which he had
no great difficulty; for, lying in wait, and noticing the paupers as
they came for their different portions, and that there was no intruder
except the dog, he began to suspect the truth; which he was confirmed
in when he saw the animal continue with great deliberation till the
visitors were all gone, and then pull the bell. The matter was related
to the community; and to reward him for his ingenuity, the dog was
permitted to ring the bell every day for his dinner, on which a mess
of broken victuals was always afterwards served out to him.

THE CUR DOG.

Almost every dog which is cross-bred is ranked as a cur dog or
mongrel, but that which is specially described by Youatt, is the
shepherd's dog crossed with the terrier, and is nearly smooth; but he
is considerably longer in the legs in proportion to the size of his
body, is stronger in the make, has half-pricked ears, is generally
black and white, although sometimes all black, and has rather a short
tail. In the north of England and southern counties of Sco