[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") Sin,—When a student at
Edinburgh, I enjoyed the friendship of a brown retriever, who belonged to a fishmonger in Lothian Street, and who was certainly the cleverest dog I have ever met with. He was a cleverer dog than the one described by "A. L. W.," because he knew the relative value of certain coins. In the morning, he was generally to be seen seated on the step of the fish- monger's shop-door, waiting for some of his many friends to give him a copper. When he had got one, he trotted away to a baker's shop a few doors off, and dropped the coin on the counter. If I remember rightly (it is twelve or fifteen years ago), his weakness was "soda scones." If he dropped a halfpenny on the counter he was contented with one scone, but if he had given a penny he expected two, and would wait for the second, after he had eaten the first, until he got it That he knew exactly when he was entitled to one scone only, and when he ought to get two, is certain, for I tried him often.—I am, Sir, &c., Birmingham. LAWSON TAIT.
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