Dog and Wig
A loyal dog shows his initiative in recovering his master’s property, though his timing might have been better.
1815
King George III 1760-1820
A loyal dog shows his initiative in recovering his master’s property, though his timing might have been better.
1815
King George III 1760-1820
In 1815, at a time when Sir Humphry Davy was popularising chemistry with his famous Royal Institution Lectures, a little handbook was published providing a light-hearted introduction to British zoology. Of course there was a lengthy section devoted to the Dog, and following some remarkable incidences of loyalty, devotion and even acting ability, the authors turned to examples of canine initiative.
Mr C. Hughes, a son of Thespis,* had a wig which generally hung on a peg in one of his rooms. To accommodate a brother player, he one day lent the wig to him and, some time after, called on his friend.
Mr Hughes had his dog with him, and the man happened to have the borrowed wig on his head. After some conversation, they parted; but the dog remained behind, and stood, for some time, looking the man full in his face, then, making a sudden spring, he leaped on his shoulders, seized the wig, and ran off with it as fast as he could, and, having reached his home, with the prey in his teeth, endeavoured, by jumping, to hang it up in its usual place.
The same dog one day, passing through a field in the skirts of Dartmouth, where a washerwoman had hung out her linen to dry, stopped, and surveyed one particular shirt with attention; seizing it, he dragged it away, through the dirt, to his master, whose property it happened to be.
* That is, an actor, a Thespian. Thespis (fl. 6th century BC) of Icaria (modern-day Dionysos in northeastern Attica) is remembered as the first stage-performer to have acted a role, rather than appearing as himself. He and his fellow-players worked from scripts and adopted masks as costumes, an acting style acknowledged as the foundation of Western theatre. He is also thought to be the first actor to go on tour, transporting his masks and costumes in a horse-drawn wagon.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.