An English) officer, who was in Paris in 1.815, mentions the case of a dog belonging to a shoeblack, which brought customers to its master. This it did in a very ingenious and scarcely honest manner. The officer, having occasion to cross one of the bridges over the Seine, had his boots, which had been previously polished, dirtied by a poodle dog rubbing against them. He, in consequence, went to a man who was stationed on the bridge, and had them cleaned. The same circumstance having occurred more than once, his curiosity was excited, and he watched the dog. He saw him roll himself into the mud of the river, and then watch for a per son with well-polished boots' against which he contrived to rufr himself. Finding that the shoeblack waß the owner of the dog, he taxed him with the artifice, and after a little hesitation, he confessed that he had taught the dog the trick in order to procure customers for himself. The officer, being much struck with the dog's sagacity, pur chased him at a high price, and brought him to England. He kept him tied up in London some time, and then released him. The dog remained with him a day or two, and then made his escape; a fortnight afterwards he was found with his former master, pursuing his old trade of dirtying gentlemen s boots on the bridge.
VERSE FOR VERSE.
