CHAPTER VI.

 "DIGNITY AND IMPUDENCE."

ONE of the most successful and popular of Sir Edward
 Landseer's delineations is the picture, Dignity and
Impudence." It is even better known and more widely prized
than his exquisitely comical sick dog, that is so sorry for
itself, while the keeper is examining its paw; and his deeply
pathetic Last Mourner," in which the shepherd's dog keeps
solitary watch by its master's coffin.
 The noble mastiff lies stately and serene, his vast bulk
tempered by his perfect proportions, and by a gait worthy of
the king of dogs. His well-opened hazel eyes look with
honest straightforwardness full in your face. His huge ears
hang down quietly. His jaws are closed and overlapped by
his deep jowl. He is the beau-ideal of strength in restraint
and repose, as he lies there with one paw, like that of a lion's
cub, hanging idly over the framework of his couch, and the
other half-turned inwards, as if he were about to put it on his
heart, in token of the true gentleman he is.
 From within the same pent-house, where he is freely