Youatt infers, from a comparison of an old picture of King Charles's
spaniels with the living dog, that "the breed of the present day is
materially altered for the worse:" the muzzle has become shorter, the
forehead more prominent, and the eyes larger; the changes in this case have
probably been due to simple selection. The setter, as this author remarks
in another place, "is evidently the large spaniel improved to his present
peculiar size and beauty, and taught another way of marking his game. If
the form of the dog were not sufficiently satisfactory on this point, we
might have recourse to history:" he then refers to a document dated 1685
bearing on this subject, and adds that the pure Irish setter shows no signs
of a cross with the pointer, which some authors suspect has been the case
with the English setter. The bulldog is an English breed, and as I hear
from Mr. G.R. Jesse (1/85. Author of 'Researches into the History of the
British Dog.), seems to have originated from the mastiff since the time of
Shakspeare; but certainly existed in 1631, as shown by Prestwick Eaton's
letters. There can be no doubt that the fancy bulldogs of the present day,
now that they are not used for bull-baiting, have become greatly reduced in
size, without any express intention on the part of the breeder. Our
pointers are certainly descended from a Spanish breed, as even their
present names, Don, Ponto, Carlos, etc., show; it is said that they were
not known in England before the Revolution in 1688 (1/86. See Col. Hamilton
Smith on the antiquity of the Pointer, in 'Nat. Lib.' volume 10 page 196.);
but the breed since its introduction has been much modified, for Mr.
Borrow, who is a sportsman and knows Spain intimately well, informs me that
he has not seen in that country any breed "corresponding in figure with the
English pointer; but there are genuine pointers near Xeres which have been
imported by English gentlemen." A nearly parallel case is offered by the
Newfoundland dog, which was certainly brought into England from that
country, but which has since been so much modified that, as several writers