Matthew Arnold, explaining why those were his most popular poems which dealt with his canine pets, Geist, Kaiser, and Max, said that while comparatively few loved poetry, nearly everyone loved dogs.

The literature of the Anglo-Saxon is rich in tributes to the dog, as becomes a race which beyond any other has understood and developed its four-footed companions. Canine heroes whose intelligence and faithfulness our prose writers have celebrated start to the memory in scores—Bill Sykes's white shadow, which refused to be separated from its master even by death; Rab, savagely devoted; the immortal Bob, "son of battle"—true souls all, with hardly a villain among them for artistic contrast. Even Red Wull, the killer, we admire for his courage and lealty.

Within these covers is a selection from a large body of dog verse. It is a selection made on the principle of human appeal. Dialect, and the poems of the earlier writers whose diction strikes oddly on our modern ears, have for the most part been omitted. The place of such classics as may be missed is filled by that vagrant verse which is often most truly the flower of inspiration.

CONTENTS

PART I
Puppyhood
TITLEAUTHORPAGE
We Meet at MornHardwicke Drummond Rawnsley[3]
The Lost PuppyHenry Firth Wood[5]
A Laugh in ChurchAnonymous[8]
TreasuresAnonymous[10]
That There Long DogAlice Gill Ferguson[11]
My FriendAnonymous[12]
TedMaxine Anna Buck[14]
Little Lost PupAnonymous[16]
My Brindle Bull-TerrierColetta Ryan[18]
LauthRobert Burns[20]
The Drowned SpanielCharles Tennyson Turner[21]
PART II
The Human Relationship
ClunyWilliam Croswell Doane[25]
The Best FriendMeribah Abbott[26]
My Dog and IAlice J. Chester[27]
My GentlemanAnonymous[29]
The Dead Boy's Portrait and His DogGerald Massey[31]
Advice to a Dog PainterJonathan Swift[33]
Mercy's RewardSir Edwin Arnold[34]
Beau and the Water LilyWilliam Cowper[37]
PetroniusFrederic P. Ladd[39]
My DogJoseph M. Anderson[40]
Charity's EyeWilliam Rounseville Alger[42]
To BlancoJ.G. Holland[44]
The Ould HoundArthur Stringer[46]
The Miser's Only FriendGeorge Crabbe[48]
Poor Dog TrayThomas Campbell[51]
My ComforterAnonymous[53]
The Little White DogMay Ellis Nichols[54]
The Irish GreyhoundKatherine Phillips[55]
The VagabondsJ.T. Trowbridge[57]
In CineamSir John Davies[62]
Old Matthew's DogAnonymous[63]
A Dog and a ManAnonymous[67]
Rover-DogMarie Louise Tompkins[68]
Horse, Dog and ManS.E. Kiser[70]
The Best DogAnonymous[73]
Cæsar, King Edward's DogO. Middleton[75]
Just Our DogAnonymous[76]
Ragged RoverLeslie Clare Manchester[78]
To Flush, My DogElizabeth Barrett Browning[80]
FrancesRichard Wightman[86]
To My Setter, ScoutFrank H. Selden[88]
Why Strik'st Thou Me?Nathan Haskell Dole (Translator)[90]
ConsolationHoward C. Kegley[92]
ArgusAlexander Pope[93]
Chained in the YardAnonymous[94]
Why the Dog's Nose is ColdMargaret Eytinge[95]
Dog LanguageMarion Hovey Briggs[97]
A Dog's LoyaltyAnonymous[98]
PART III
The Dog in Action
Told to the MissionaryGeorge R. Sims[101]
The Dog of the LouvreRalph Cecil[106]
The ChaseLord Somerville[109]
The Under DogAnonymous[111]
The Shepherd and His DogWilliam Lisle Bowles[112]
Beth GelertWilliam Robert Spencer[113]
The Flag and the FaithfulWilliam J. Lampton[117]
A Guardian at the GateJohn Clare[118]
A Tale of the Reign of TerrorCaroline Bowles Southey[119]
An Elegy on the Death of a Mad DogOliver Goldsmith[126]
The Fusiliers' DogFrancis Doyle[128]
FidelityWilliam Wordsworth[131]
The Shepherd Dog of the PyreneesEllen Murray[134]
The Dog Under the WagonAnonymous[137]
Sal's Towser and My TrouserAnonymous[139]
Rover in ChurchJames Buckham[141]
PART IV
The Dog's Hereafter
BillyLorenzo Sears[145]
The BondGeorge H. Nettle[147]
To a DogAnonymous[148]
Canine ImmortalityRobert Southey[150]
A Friendly WelcomeLord Byron[152]
Exemplary NickSydney Smith[153]
The DifferenceAnonymous[154]
LaddieKatherine Lee Bates[155]
A Dog's EpitaphLord Byron[157]
The Passing of a DogAnonymous[159]
My DogAnonymous[160]
JackH.P.W.[161]
In Memory of "Don"M.S.W.[162]
Roderick DhuHelen Fitzgerald Sanders[164]
QuestionsWilliam Hurrell Mallock[166]
His EpitaphWilliam Watson[167]
In MemoriamHenry Willett[168]
QuestionsOliver Wendell Holmes[170]
Our Dog JockJames Payn[171]
Tory, a PuppyMortimer Collins[172]
On an Irish RetrieverFanny Kemble Butler[173]
A Retriever's EpitaphRobert C. Lehmann[174]

PART I

PUPPYHOOD