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Dogs and All about Them
·
Robert Leighton
349
There
are
now
four
recognised
varieties
of
the
English
Toy
Spaniel,
or,
more
properly
speaking,
five,
as
the
Marlborough
Blenheims
are
considered
a
distinct
type.
The
latter
are
said
by
some
to
be
the
oldest
of
the
Toy
Spaniels;
by
others
to
have
been
first
brought
over
from
Spain
during
the
reign
of
Charles
II.
by
John
Churchill,
first
Duke
of
Marlborough,
from
whose
home,
Blenheim
Palace,
the
name
was
derived,
and
has
ever
since
been
retained.
If
we
may
take
the
evidence
of
Vandyck,
Watteau,
Francois
Boucher,
and
Greuze,
in
whose
pictures
they
are
so
frequently
introduced,
all
the
toy
Spaniels
of
bygone
days
had
much
longer
noses
and
smaller,
flatter
heads
than
those
of
the
present
time,
and
they
had
much
longer
ears,
these
in
many
instances
dragging
on
the
ground.
The
Marlborough
Blenheim
has
retained
several
of
the
ancestral
points.
Although
this
variety
is
of
the
same
family,
and
has
the
same
name,
as
the
short-nosed
Blenheim
of
the
present
day,
there
is
a
great
deal
of
difference
between
the
two
types.
The
Marlborough
is
higher
on
the
legs,
which
need
not
be
so
fully
feathered.
He
has
a
much
longer
muzzle
and
a
flatter
and
more
contracted
skull.
The
Marlborough
possesses
many
of
the
attributes
of
a
sporting
Spaniel;
but
so
also
does
the
modern
Blenheim,
although
perhaps
in
a
lesser
degree.
He
has
a
very
good
scent.
Mr.
Rawdon
B.
Lee
states
that
"the
Blenheims
of
Marlborough
were
excellent
dogs
to
work
the
coverts
for
cock
and
pheasant,
and
that
excepting
in
colour
there
is
in
reality
not
much
difference
in
appearance
between
the
older
orange
and
white
dogs
(not
as
they
are
to-day,
with
their
abnormally
short
noses,
round
skulls,
and
enormous
eyes),
and
the
liver
and
white
Cockers
which
H.
B.
Chalon
drew
for
Daniel's
Rural
Sports
in
1801."
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