[14] Two years later (1824) Landseer painted the portrait of Mr Gosling's Neptune, showing head and shoulders in front view.
Though representing opposite stations in life, The Twa Dogs were excellent friends. On this occasion, weary of their usual diversions, they sat down together on a hillock
"And there began a lang digression
About the lords o' the creation."
It is Cæsar who opens the conversation, expressing curiosity as to how the poor man can endure his life. Luath owns that the cotter's lot is a hard one, but declares that in spite of poverty and hardships the poor are "maistly wonderfu' contented." The talk then drifts to the corruption of politics and the vices of the rich. Cæsar at last brings it to an end by describing the wearisome monotony and emptiness of the fashionable life.
John Andrew & Son, Sc.
THE TWA DOGS
South Kensington Museum, London
By this time it was sundown, and the two friends separated, rejoicing "that they were na men, but dogs."
The contrast between the two canine types is well brought out in our picture. Even the attitudes show their opposite temperaments. The collie is a somewhat awkward figure, sitting on his haunches, with legs far apart, nervously alert. The Newfoundland dog lies at his ease with one paw elegantly crossed over the other. They talk muzzle to muzzle, the one long and pointed, the other thick and square.
In those days the collie was chiefly the poor man's dog, the indispensable aid of the shepherd, and the friend of the laborer. It was not until later years that, following the example of the Queen, the rich began to notice his good qualities, and he became a popular favorite. But neither Burns nor Landseer needed to be taught by the dictates of fashion to understand the collie's fine nature. The dog they portrayed, however, was not the luxuriously reared pet we know to-day, but the unkempt companion of humble folk.