AN irascible Samuel Pepys was unimpressed by proceedings in the Council Chamber at Whitehall in September 1667. Charles II, Pepys noted, was distracted. ‘All I observed… is the silliness of the King, playing with his dog all the while, and not minding the business, and what he said was mighty weak.’ Evidently, the pleasure-loving monarch struggled to absorb himself in Alderman Barker’s complaints about the Council of Ireland, preferring instead to stroke his spaniel as his mind wandered.
Which dog lover among us fails to sympathise with Charles? The King’s view was almost certainly akin to that of French naturalist the Comte de Buffon. In his Natural History of 1755, Buffon celebrated canine elegance and good nature: ‘The dog, independent of the beauty of his figure, his strength, vivacity, and nimbleness, possesses every internal excellence which can attract the regard of man.’
For centuries, men and women have identified ‘internal excellences’ in their dogs. At one time or another, every puppy owner has shared the young Queen Victoria’s reaction to her newest
