Poodle Lit. pre-1929

Aubigné, Théodore Agrippa (1552-1630), French Huguenot soldier, historian and poet. Oeuvres complètes de Théodore Agrippa Aubigné; 2 (Paris: INALF, 1961- ; reprod. ed. Geneva: Slatkine, 1967):

Aulnay, d', Louise. See Gouraud, Julie (pseud. Louise d'Aulnay, b. ca. 1830) Mémoires d'un caniche.

Balzac, Honoré de (1799-1850). In English, Poodles for the past 180 years or so were commonly referred to as "French"; when this term first came into common use, it seems to have meant literally a French Poodle, in contrast to a German Pudel (and/or the Danish/Dutch etc. versions), or an English Water Dog. This term is also a clue that the Caniche/Barbet--the French Poodle/proto-Poodle/Barbet--occupies a secure and well-defined place in French dogdom to the point where these are considered, at least by outsiders, to be national breeds. Amplified evidence is provided in Poodles (and cousins) in language: French. However, perhaps the most telling clues are in French literature. As one might suppose, the towering Balzac made many figurative references to Poodles. We commenced to list these, and were quickly overwhelmed. Fortunately, these are at your fingertips at Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica site; click on "Catalogues" and from that window click on "Recherches plein-texte"; type in "caniche" ... "barbet" and you will be rewarded with a multitude of references to Poodles, proto-Poodles and Barbets in 19th century French literature, a large proportion of which are from Balzac. Another click or two allows you to read the texts. (This is elegantly-easy Poodle-research: very breed-appropriate!) Please also see:
Argens, Jean-Baptiste de Boyer, marquis de (1704-71);
Aubigné, Théodore Agrippa (1552-1630), French Huguenot soldier, historian and poet;
Barrès, Maurice (1862-1923);
Barreul, Augustin (pub. 1830; l'abbé Barruel);
Bernadin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri (1737-1814), naturalist and author, friend of Rousseau;
Buffon (1707-1788), please see Rare books;
Camp, Maxime du (1822-94);
Champfleury, pseud. of Jules Fleury-Husson (1821-89);
Cladel, Léon (1835-92);
Condillac, Etienne Bonnot de (1750-80; M. l'abbé de Condillac), French philosopher who developed theory of sensationalism--the life of the mind depends for its whole store of knowledge upon the senses;
Deimier, Pierre de (pub. 1610);
Flaubert, Gustave (1820-80);
France, Anatole, pseud. of Jacques Anatole Thibault (1844-1924);
Florian, Jean-Pierre Claris de (1755-94);
Garassus, François (pub. 1623)
Gautier, Théophile (1811-1872);
Genlis, Caroline-Stéphanie-Félicité Du Crest, comtesse de (1746-1830);
Goncourt, Edmond (1822-96) and Jules (1830-70) de;
Hamilton, Antoine (pub. 1786);
Hugo, Victor (1802-55);
Huysmans, J.-K. (1848-1907);
Leroux, Gaston (1868-1927);
Loti, Pierre pseud. of Louis Marie Julien Viaud (1850-1923);
Maupassant, Guy de (1850-93);
Mirabeau, Victor Riqueti (1715-1789, marquis de);
Murger, Henri (1822-61);
Nodier, Charles (1780-1844);
Palissot de Montenoy, Charles (pub. 1771);
Péladan, Joséphin (1859-1918);
Piis, Pierre-Antoine-Augustin de (pub. 1785);
Prudhomme, Sully (1839-1907);
Reybaud, Louis (pub. 1844);
Saint-Pierre, Jacques-Bernadin-Henri de, see Bernadin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri (1737-1814);
Sand, George, pseud. of Amantine Lucile Aurore, Baroness Dudevant(1804-76);
Sorel, Charles (pub. 1627);
Tyssot de Patot, Simon (b. 1655).

Barker, S. [translator], Memoir of a Poodle (London: 1877). See: Gouraud, Julie (pseud. Louise d'Aulnay, b. ca. 1830) Mémoires d'un caniche.

Barrès, Maurice (1862-1923). Mes cahiers. 01.T.1, 1896-1898 [publ. by Mme Maurice Barrès, Philippe Barrès, Raymonde Robert and Roger Sorg] (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Plon, 1929).

Barreul, Augustin (l'abbé Barruel). [Les] helviennes, ou Lettres provinciales philosophiques (Paris: INALF 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Poilleux, 1830).

Barrie, J.M., F. Anstey, Arthur Morrison, I. Zangwill, Beatrice Harraden, Q, Marie Correlli, Stories by English Authors; at least one of these stories is about a Poodle. Originally published in ten volumes in 1896; reprint of the 1896 edition published NY: Scribner, 1972? (volumes 2-4 and 6-10 have imprint New York: Garrett Press, 1969) ten volumes in five: 1-2: Africa; England. 3-4: France; Germany. 5-6: Ireland; Italy. 7-8: London; the Orient. 9-10: Scotland; the Sea.

Baum, L. Frank, Animal Fairy Tales (Chicago: International Wizard of Oz Club, 1969), 151 pp. First published in the Delineator, January - September, 1905. Reprinted, 1989. Contains story, "The Pea-Green Poodle."

Bennett, Arnold (1867-1931). The Old Wives' Tale (NY: Random House [The Modern Library], prior to 1953; first published 1908). 640 pp., and the "clipped poodle," Fossette, first appears on p. 475, and briefly perhaps thirty times thereafter, mostly in contrast to a smooth English Fox Terrier, Spot, so Fossette is not western literature's best-developed Poodle-character. Of greatest interest to the Poodle History Project: Bennett presents a Poodle as strange and unknown in ca 1900 in the Five [English pottery-manufacturing] Towns which are his meticulously-documented territory, and this is incredible to the Poodle-historian, if only because earlier in the book he describes an elephant with a carnival in the second half of the 1860s; typically, at that time and place, where there were carnivals and performing elephants, there were Poodles. It's easy to believe Bennett when he states that in this one of the Five Towns there was no grooming emporium where Fossette could be groomed as in her native Paris; hard to believe local universal ignorance about what sort of dog she was especially in light of the series of English Poodle-describing dog-encyclopedias which had been published and republished prior to 1900. (See Rare books.) Bennett's Fossette seems to be a Mini-sized Poodle: able to play freely (and fight freely) with Spot without anyone worrying about differences in size. In a British TV dramatization of The Old Wives' Tale, Sophia and Constance, silver SP in continental plays Fossette (see Old-timey (and not so old-timey) photos).

Bernadin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri (1737-1814), naturalist and author, friend of Rousseau. Etudes de la nature, I (Paris: INALF 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Deterville, 1804).

Blanchard, Edward L. (1820-1889), Cinderella: or, Harlequin and the Golden Slipper. A Grand Comic Christmas Pantomime. (London: Tuck and Co., 1878). "The fairy story re-edited and dramatized by E.L. Blanchard, author of all the Drury Lane Annuals, successively produced here for twenty-nine years." Starring Azor, a Poodle, played by a Master Cullen, who appears in Scene 3, set in the gardens of the Baron's Chateau. Selfish sisters and helpful Cinderella on stage with the Baron, an invalid, who is bounced upon by the Poodle, he assails the Poodle, all sing "Run for the Doctor", Poodle recovers and all dance to that tune. Poodle also appears in Scene 4, set in the Kitchen in the Baronial Hall, where the Baron rehearses dance with the girls, as Azor interferes.

Bonn, Franz, see Meggendorfer, Lothar, below.

Bradley, Will, Peter Poodle, Toy Maker to the King (London; New York: B.F. Stevens & Brown, 1906), 166 pp. Illustrated.

Brewster, Mary K., Tasman (Boston: Everett Press, 1907), 39 pp. Story of a black Poodle in New Zealand.

Burrage, Edwin Harcourt, illustrated by "Yorick", A Knowing Dog. The story of a Poodle much loved & often lost. (London: Greening & Co., 1908), 135 pp.

Camp, Maxime du. (1822-94) En Hollande, Lettres à un ami (Paris: INALF, 1961 - . Reprod. ed. Paris: Poulet-Mallassis et De Broise, 1859).

Carter, Marion Hamilton, ed., Stories of Brave Dogs (NY: The Century Co., 1904), 198 pp. Stories retold from St. Nicholas Magazine; at least one's about a Poodle.

Champfleury, pseud. of Jules Fleury-Husson (1821-89). [Les] aventures de Mlle Mariette, contes de printemps (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: M. Lévy, 1857).

Cladel, Léon (1835-92). Ompdrailles, le tombeau des lutteurs. (Paris: INALF, 1961- ; reprod. ed. Paris: A. Cinqualbra, 1879).

Champney, Elizabeth W. (Elizabeth Williams; 1850-1922), illustrated by F.D. Steele, Pierre and his Poodle (NY: Dodd, Mead, 1897). 216 pp. Champney was a prolific American young-person's author who wrote novels and historical novels set in both North America and Europe, and travel books which a Jamesian heroine might have enjoyed (Champney's Three Vassar Girls cover a lot of territory in Europe). The second paragraph of Pierre and his Poodle unnerves today's reader: "Popotte and Zulu were two French poodles, but in widely different stations in life. Zulu was a genius in his way, affectionate, unselfish, and faithful to the death; but he was as black, and as ignorant of good society, as the Africans for whom he was named, and his master was the gypsy proprietor of a troupe of performing dogs; while Popotte was a pampered little aristocrat, with a valet [Pierre, the huntsman's son, 11 years old] to comb her silky white hair, to care for her collars and ribbons, her little coats and overshoes. She had a velvet cushion on a gilded tabaret in the grand salon, close beside the fauteuil of the Marquise; she was allowed to come to the table at dessert and to receive her canard (a lump of sugar dipped in black coffee) from the Marquise's own jeweled fingers. She lapped her bouillon from a Dresden cup; slept at night on a pad stuffed with down under the bed of her master, the young [nine years old] Marquis..." However, the author's social assumptions are immediately overwhelmed by her genius in telling a fast-paced, tension-filled story: Popotte elopes with Zulu (Popotte meets Zulu, above left), and the hero, Pierre, goes in search of Popotte, and from then on this trio is involved in intricately-woven adventures in which virtue battles against wickedness and deception, and including that Popotte is nearly eaten by a boa constrictor (saved by Pierre), Zulu learns to pick pockets to feed Popotte (so trained by the vile Signor Stromboli; see illustration, at right) and works up to nicking a famous ruby necklace which belongs to the Marquise. In the end, all is neatly resolved; a natural for Disney!

Colomb, Louis Casimir, Le Caniche blanc, edited by Victor J.T. Spiers (London, 1886), Hachette's Illustrated French Primary Readers, vol. 10, 71 pp.

Condillac, Etienne Bonnot de (1750-80; M. l'abbé de Condillac), French philosopher who developed theory of sensationalism--the life of the mind depends for its whole store of knowledge upon the senses. Cours d'étude pour l'instruction du prince de Parme (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Geneva: F. Dufart, 1789).

Craig, L.G. Menelik. Story of two boys, Michele and Alexandre, members of a travelling performance troupe, who were saved by their Poodle, Menelik, from the Messina earthquake, which began approximately 5:30 a.m. on 28 December 1908, and killed many thousands--but not Menelik's young masters. We suspect this story comes from a children's annual (for example, Blackie's Children's Annual), and will be very grateful to anyone who can give us the source.

Deimier, Pierre de (pub. 1610). [L'] Académie de l'art poétique... (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: J. de Bordeaulx, 1610)

Delille, Jacques (1738-1813). French poet, celebrated in his own day for translations of the Georgics, the Aeneid, and Paradise Lost, and for his own poem, Les Jardins. In a later work, la Pieté, he wrote of the dog (a Poodle? see Companions to genius (and etc.), Louis XVI) who had followed the daughter of Louis XVI into exile:
"'Et moi, qui proscrivis leurs honneurs funéraires,
J'implore un monument pour des cendres si chères,
Pour toi qui, presque seul au siècles des ingrats,
Dans le temps du malheur ne l'abandonnas pas,
Va donc danc l'Elysée, où son ombre repose,
Jouir des doux honneurs de ton apothéose!
Je ne te mettrai point près du chien de Procris,
J'offre un plus doux asile à des mânes chéris;
De Poniatowski, de sa soeur vertueuse,
Les jardins recvront ton ombre généreuse;
Là, parmi les gazons, les ruisseaux et les bois,
Tu dormiras tranquille, et la fille des rois
En proie à tant de maux, objet de tant d'alarmes,

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor (1821-1881). The Brothers Karamazof (first published, 1880; NY: Random House, 1950), Book XII, Chapter 2, p. 811: "'...all he has said is true,' cried Mitya, in a loud voice. "....The old man [Grigory, a servant] has been honest all his life and as faithful to my father as seven hundred poodles.' 'Prisoner, be careful in your language,' the President admonished him. 'I am not a poodle,' Grigory muttered. 'All right, it's I am a poodle myself,' cried Mitya. 'If it's an insult, I take it to myself and beg his pardon...'"

Draner (pseud. Jules Renard), Types Militaires: Français (Paris: Dusacq et Cie, [ca. 1862-71]). 65 hand-finished colour lithographs by Renard, poignant yet light-hearted caricatures of French officers and enlisted men. Elegant wasp-waisted young cavalry officers apply rouge while a Poodle observes... (Also in "...Visuals".)

Eckartshausen, Carl von, Der Pudelhund. Ein Lustspiel in einem Aufzuge. (Munich: 1800), 51 pp. An event-filled romance suitable for very young ladies, showing the intelligence, trusting nature, and devotion of the Poodle, as well as the feat of retrieving his master's wallet, left behind at an inn. HB, 6/97.

Elmslie, Theodora C., His Lordship's Puppy, illustrated by Ida Waugh (Penn Publishing, 1900; 1902), 204pp. Mini-sized Poodle named Black Puppy has adventures with small boy wearing golden shoulder-length curls and bangs and a short dress. In the tradition of Frances Hodgson Burnett's Little Lord Fauntleroy (NY: Scribner's, 1886), about which, when the editor of the Poodle History Project was young, an older person remarked, "was a bit much even when it was first published."

Ewing, Juliana Horatia, Papa Poodle and other Pets (London: Christian Knowledge Society, 1884), 32 pp. Rhymes; "depicted by R. André."

Flaubert, Gustave (1820-80). Madame Bovary: moeurs de province, ed. Claudine Gothot-Mersch (Paris: Bibliopolis, 1998-99; reprod. ed. Paris: Bordas, 1990; Madame Bovary was originally published in 1859).

Florian, Jean-Pierre Claris de (1755-94). Fables de M. de Florian (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: P. Didot l'aîné, 1792).

Fontane, Theodor (1819-1898). Unwiederbringlich. First published after 1880; translated with an introduction by Douglas Parmée, and published as Beyond Recall (London: Oxford University Press, 1964). This is an historical novel: the following Poodle-scene (from the beginning of Chapter 3, pp. 17-18) is set at Holkenäs Castle (an edifice in "the Italian style," the family seat of Count Holk, built on a dune sloping down to the sea, a mile south of Glücksburg), in 1859: "...Elizabeth [a young girl coming to call with her grandfather] was picking up small pieces of wood and bark and throwing them into the sea so that Schnuck, a splendid black poodle, could retrieve them.... [Adult observer:]'...I rather like that poodle, what's his name?' 'Schnuck,' said Asta [another young girl]. 'Oh, yes, Schnuck. More a name for a character in a comedy than for a dog, don't you think? He has already been up and down here three times. He's obviously enjoying himself immensely. And now tell me, Asta, what is he pleased about--you or the tricks he is going to show off or the sugar you are going to give him for doing them?' Two hours later....Everyone had retired to the drawing-room...and from here, they were able to look out on to the well-kept garden, with its greenhouses adjoining, which sloped away towards a large park. The drawing-room was richly furnished but there was still space to move freely about. ....Asta and Elizabeth were sitting...on two footstools...putting the poodle through his tricks, to its great and manifest delight. At last, however, tired by its efforts, it overbalanced and its paw struck one of the piano keys... [followed by a discussion of piano-playing/music between the girls]." Queries: Since a Poodle who has enjoyed retrieving from the sea from a dune will drift sand for hours, even days (unless rigorously rinsed in fresh water), does the author intend to convey the ultimate in aristocratic disregard for housekeeping details and labour? Or, was the author oblivious: subject to male chauvinism in relation to saving (presumably female) energy? Or, had the author never owned a Poodle-by-the-sea? Or, perhaps the standard of housekeeping in Glücksburg has risen greatly since 1859? Perhaps the answer(s) may be found in Gordon A. Craig's Theodore Fontane: Literature and History in the Bismark Reich (Oxford, 2000), reviewed by Dennis Drabelle, "The Dickens of Berlin," Atlantic Monthly, October 2000, pp. 134-6.

France, Anatole, pseud. of Jacques Anatole Thibault (1844-1924). [Le] lys rouge vol. 9 of Oeuvres complètes de Anatole France (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Calmann-Lèvy, 1927).

Garassus, François (pub. 1623) [La] doctrine curieuse des beaux esprits de ce temps, ou prétendus tels: contenant plusieurs maximes pernicieuses à la religion, à l'Estat et aux bonnes moeurs, combattue et renversée (Paris: INALF, 1961- ; reprod. ed. Paris: S. Chappelet, 1623).
...un garçon qui se tapit dans un bourbier, est la figure d'un esprit hebeté. Un barbet qui se cache dans un ruisseau de peur de la pluye, est une marque evidente de grande stolidité...
Our source for this reference is: Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica site; click on "Catalogues" and in that window, click on "Recherches plein-texte"; type in "caniche" ... "barbet."

Gautier, Théophile (1811-1872). Albertus ou L'âme et le péché (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Fasquelle, 1910).

Gay, John (1685-1732). (See Pope, Alexander, below.)
"An Elegy on a Lap-Dog [named Shock]."
"Shock's fate I mourn; poor Shock is now no more,
Ye Muses mourn, ye chamber-maids deplore....
Cease, Celia, cease; restrain thy flowing tears,
Some warmer passion will dispel thy cares
In man you'll find a more substantial bliss,
More grateful toying, and a sweeter kiss.
He's dead. Oh lay him gently in the ground
And may his tomb be by this verse renown'd
Here Shock, the pride of all his kind, is laid;
Who fawn'd like man, but ne'er like man betray'd.

Genlis, Caroline-Stéphanie-Félicité Du Crest, comtesse de (1746-1830). Adèle et Théodore ou Lettres sur l'éducation: contenant tous les principes relatifs aux trois différens plans d'éducatioin des princes, des jeunes personnes et des hommes (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: 1782)

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832). In Faust (1808), part one, lines 1147-1176, the learned Faust first encounters Mephistopheles disguised as a black Poodle; the great teacher is tempted by the dog's trainability. Wonderful sketch of a German Poodle in the early 19th century. See particularly (only because the rest of the book is tremendous fun, although frustrating because under-referenced): The Dog Lover's Literary Companion, ed. John Richard Stephens (Rocklin, CA: Prima, 1992) ISBN: 1-55958-218-9; "The Devil in Disguise", pp. 267-70. Unfortunately, the section quoted does not include the Poodle (Mephisto) turning himself into a hippopotamus (part one, lines 1177-1256.) Finally, see Companions..., Agrippa von Nettesheim, for a supposed precursor to Goethe's Poodle. See: Stanley Coren, Why We Love the Dogs We Do: How to Find the Dog That Matches Your Personality (New York: The Free Press, 1998), pp. 173-5 for description of Goethe's personality and his non-relationships with dogs, including particularly a performing Poodle who co-starred in a travelling play, The Dog of Aubry, with a popular comedian named Karsten; when the owners of the Weimar Theatre agreed to allow a production of the play, Goethe (then serving as director) resigned; to explain his actions, he wrote, to his friend Johann Schiller, doggerel translated as follows: The theater stage is not a kennel / Nor a home for curs. / Enter poodle -- exit poet: / No artist to a dog defers. The editor/co-ordinator of the Poodle History Project hesitates to argue with 200 years of scholarship, but the description of the Poodle in Faust rings so true, one cannot help but wonder if Goethe's genius did not perhaps transcend the petty conflicts of everyday life?

Goncourt, Edmond (1822-96) and Jules (1830-70) de. Madam Gervaisais. Romans de Edmond et Jules de Goncourt, 2. (Paris: INALF, 1961- . Reprod. ed. Paris: Charpentier, 1876).

Gouraud, Julie (pseud. Louise d'Aulnay, b. ca. 1830) Mémoires d'un caniche. 75 illustrations by Emile Antoine Bayard (1837-1891), including the frontispiece at left in which the "author" (César/Fidèle) displays his quill pen in his ear fluff. 1st edition, 1866, in.-16, 1-285 p. fig. & pl.; 2nd edition, 1866; 3rd, 1869; 5th, 1876; 6th (Paris: Hachette, 1879); 8th, 1885; 9th, 1890; 10th, 1894; 11th, 1898; 12th, 1901; 14th, 1908; 15th, 1910; 16th, 1913; English language edition (128 pp., translated by Mrs. Sale Barker, etc.; London and NY: George Routledge and Sons., 1877 [1876]). Either much was edited out in the translation, or the translators were very economical, because the meaty French original is nearly 300 pp. long. Adventures of Poodle brought up in sheltered well-to-do circumstances, rescues baby from drowning, lost in forest, experiences slum life, involved in romantic intrigue, when restored to comfort, writes his memoires. Gouraud was also author of the following classics of 19th century French literature: Les enfants de la ferme, Cécile ou la petite soeur, Lettre de deux poupées, Le petit colporteur, L'enfant du guide, La petite maîtresse de maison and Les petits voisins each of which was published in multiple editions, but none so many as Mémoires d'un caniche!

Grimms' fairy tale, "The Pink", which "features a man who is turned into a Poodle and fed hot coals until flames come from his throat." You may enjoy the text on line at a Carnegie-Mellon site: The Pink where there is also an extensive bibliography and brief biographies of the Grimm brothers.

In loose connection with Grimm: Fabula, Journal of Folktale Studies, first four volumes, comprising two physical volumes numbered Heft 1/2 and Heft 3, by Fabula, ed. K. Ranke, (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1957-61). Includes material on the "Poodle motif."

Also in connection with Grimm and for your convenience, we'll list here two other German folktales with Grimms'; translations are on line at a University of Pittsburgh site: Beauty and the Beast, Folktales of Type 425C.
"The Clinking Clanking Lowesleaf." A king has three daughters, and when he sets out on a trip, promises to bring the youngest daughter, his favorite, a clinking, clanking lowesleaf. On the way home (without the gift) he meets a Poodle who makes a bargain with the king: if the dog lets him have the leaf, in a year and a day, the king will give the dog the first thing he sees upon his return, which, of course, turns out to be his youngest daughter; after ups and downs--mostly downs--the Poodle turns into a handsome Prince. Source: Carl and Theodor Colshorn, Märchen und Sagen aus Hannover (Hannover: Verlag von Carl Ruempler, 1854), no. 20, pp. 64-9.
"The Little Nut Twig." A rich merchant has three daughters, and as he sets out on a trip, the youngest, his favorite, asks for a pretty green nut twig. On the way home, he finds such a twig, from which is hanging a cluster of golden nuts, but is threatened by a bear, who says he may take the twig if the bear may have the first thing he sees on his return home. Expecting that the first thing he sees will be his Poodle, as usual, he agrees; alas, the first thing he sees is his youngest daughter, and so on until the bear turns into a Prince. Source: Ludwig Bechstein, Sämtliche Märchen, edited by Walter Scherf (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1983, pp. 101-105; Scherf's source: Ludwig Bechstein Märchenbuch (Leipzig: Georg Wigand, 1857).

From the British Library's on-line catalogue:

Hamerton, Philip, Chapters on Animals (1900), 88 pp. Early reader containing story about troupe of performing French Poodles. Illustrated with engravings.

Hamilton, Antoine (pub. 1786). [Le] cabinet des fées ou Collection choisie de contes de fées; 20 (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Geneva: Barde: Manget, 1786).

Heine, Heinrich (1797-1856); Nachgelesene Gedichte (1845-1856)

Der tugendhafte Hund

"Ein Pudel, der mit gutem Fug
Den schönen Namen Brutus trug,
War vielberühmt im ganzen Land
Ob seiner Tugend und seinem Verstand.
Er war ein Muster der Sittlichkeit,
Der Langmut und Bescheidenheit.
Man hörte ihn loben, man hörte ihn preisen
Als einen vierfüßigen Nathan den Weisen.
Er war ein wahres Hundejuwel!
So ehrlich und treu! eine schöne Seel!
Auch schenkte sein Herr in allen Stücken
Ihm volles Vertrauen, er konnte ihn schicken
Sogar zum Fleischer. Der edle Hund
Trug dann einen Hängekorb im Mund,
Worin der Metzger das schöngehackte
Rindfleisch, Schaffleisch, auch Schweinefleisch packte. -
Wie lieblich und lockend das Fett gerochen,
Der Brutus berührte keinen Knochen,
Und ruhig und sicher, mit stoischer Würde,
Trug er nach Hause die kostbare Bürde.

Doch unter den Hunden wird gefunden
Auch eine Menge von Lumpenhunden
- Wie unter uns -, gemeine Köter,
Tagdiebe, Neidharde, Schwerenöter,
Die ohne Sinn für sittliche Freuden
Im Sinnenrausch ihr Leben vergeuden!
Verschworen hatten sich solche Racker
Gegen den Brutus, der treu und wacker,
Mit seinem Korb im Maule, nicht
Gewichen von dem Pfad der Pflicht.

Und eines Tages, als er kam
Vom Fleischer und seinen Rückweg nahm
Nach Hause, da ward er plötzlich von allen
Verschwornen Bestien überfallen;
Da ward ihm der Korb mit dem Fleisch entrissen
Da fielen zu Boden die leckersten Bissen,
Und fraßbegierig über die Beute
Warf sich die ganze hungrige Meute -
Brutus sah anfangs dem Schauspiel zu,
Mit philosophischer Seelenruh;
Doch als er sah, daß solchermaßen
Sämtliche Hunde schmausten und fraßen,
Da nahm auch er an der Mahlzeit teil
Und speiste selbst eine Schöpsenkeul.

Moral

Auch du, mein Brutus, auch du, du frißt?
So ruft wehmütig der Moralist.
Ja, böses Beispiel kann verführen;
Und, ach! gleich allen Säugetieren,
Nicht ganz und gar vollkommen ist
Der tugendhafte Hund - er frißt!"

Hope, Laura Lee, Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue and Their Trick Dog (NY: Grosset & Dunlap, 1923), 248 pp., four illustrations. Two children adopt a Poodle named Patter who knows many tricks so they put on a show; lots of dog training; lots of adventure. One of a series of Bunny Brown books written by the author of the Bobbsey Twins books.

Hugo, Victor Marie, Viscount (1802-85). Hugo was a Poodle-owner (see Companions...); although what must it have been like to belong to Victor Hugo? Hugo wrote Poodle literature: "Chelles" (for the full text of the poem see Chelles)
....Quand j'arrive avec mon caniche,
Chelles, bourg dévot et coquet,
croit voir passer, fuyant leur niche,
Saint Roch, et son chien saint Roquet....
Also see Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica site; click on "Catalogues" and in that window, click on "Recherches plein-texte"; type in "caniche"; if you request "barbet" and go from there to the three Hugo passages from Correspondance T.3. 1867-73; Oeuvres complètes de Victor Hugo [publ. par Paul Meurice, puis par Gustave Simon]; 3. (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: A. Michel: Ollendorff, 1952), you'll find "Barbet" is a surname; Hugo makes a joke: "m'attaque par le jappement de ce Barbet."

Huysmans, J.-K. (1848-1907). [Les] soeurs Vatard (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: G. Crès, 1928).

James, Henry (1843-1916), Roderick Hudson. First published serially in the Atlantic Monthly from January 1875 and published in book form in USA in the same year. We used the Penguin edition, 1969, 350 pp. Roderick Hudson, a talented (perhaps a genius) young American sculptor studying in Rome, and his patron, Rowland Mallet, observe "a young girl, apparently of about twenty. She was tall and slender [and very beautiful] and dressed with extreme elegance; she led by a cord a large poodle of the most fantastic aspect. He was combed and decked like a ram for sacrifice; his trunk and haunches were of the most transparent pink; his fleecy head and shoulders as white as jeweller's cotton, his tail and ears ornamented with long blue ribbons. He stepped along stiffly and solemnly beside his mistress, with an air of conscious elegance.... 'Immortal powers!' cried Roderick; 'what a vision! In the name of trancendent perfection who is she? .... I wonder if she would sit to me?' 'You had better go and ask her,' said Rowland, laughing. 'She is certainly most beautiful.' 'Beautiful? She's beauty itself--she's a revelation. I don't believe she is living--she's a phantasm, a vapour, an illusion!' 'The poodle,' said Rowland, 'is certainly alive.' 'No, he too may be a grotesque phantom, like the black dog in Faust.' 'I hope at least that the young lady is nothing in common with Mephistopheles. she looked dangerous.' 'If beauty is immoral, as people think [in the small New England town from which Roderick comes]....she is the incarnation of evil...'" (Pp. 81-2.)

This large (but what is meant by "large"?) white Poodle, Stenterello, was given by a Florentine nobleman to the expatriate American "young girl," Christina Light. Christina "'can think of nothing but her poodle'" -- she is "'teaching him to talk for me...to say little things in society. It will save me a great deal of trouble. Stenterello, love, give a pretty smile and say tanti complimenti!' The poodle wagged his white pate--it looked like one of those little pads in swan's-down, for applying powder to the face--and repeated the barking process." (P. 116). Roderick asks to sculpt Christina's bust; she replies, "'I would rather you should make the poodle's.'" (P. 119.) After that understandable and straightforward-to-Poodle-lovers beginning of the acquaintance, it develops that Christina bewitches (a James specialty) Roderick, and woos him away from his faithful American fiance, Mary Garland, with whom Rowland has for two years been silently and loyally (to all concerned) in love. Mary and Roderick's mother come to Rome; Christina marries a very rich Italian prince (according to her mother's dearest ambition) and thus becomes Princess Casamassima. Roderick's creative powers overwrought and dessicated, his character ruined, he falls off an Alp and dies; safely back in the United States, Mary retires to live with Roderick's mother, often visited by Rowland who waits year after year to declare himself.

James follows Roderick... with the two-volume The Princess Casamassima which Poodle-lovers may peruse in vain. Thus it's puzzling when Diana Souhami, in Gertrude [Stein] and Alice [B. Toklas] (Pandora--an imprint of Harper-Collins--1991), states (p. 171): "Alice had wanted a white poodle for years, ever since reading Henry James's novel, The Princess Casamassima." Souhami is perhaps referring to Roderick... but the brief appearance is hardly sufficient to inspire even a very susceptible dog-lover to buy a large Poodle. (See Companions... RE Gertrude Stein's and Alice B. Toklas's Poodles, Basket I and Basket II.) It's possible that Toklas said this in a mischievous spirit, to sort out the ones who'd waded through Roderick... and The Princess... from the pretenders.

It's hard to avoid the impression that Christina-the-virgin-demon-lover is the creation of James' own particularities/peculiarities, and difficult to believe she was credible even in 1876. James wrote, decades later: "the determinant function attributed to Christina Light, the character of well-nigh sole agent of his [Roderick's] catastrophe that this unfortunate young woman has forced upon her, fails to commend itself to our sense of truth and proportion" and her causitive effect was unbelievable to the author at the time of writing: "It didn't help, alas, it only maddened, to remember that Balzac would have known how, and would have yet asked no additional credit for it." (Pg. 16: Preface to vol 1 in the New York edition, 1909.)

Why--other than to establish Christina as Mephisto--does James attach a beloved Poodle to Christina? Mephisto turned himself into a charming Poodle in order to deceive Faust into taking him home. By contrast, both James and his hero Roderick appear to be immune to Stenterello's charms. James was not a "dog person"; in 1875 "large" Poodles were still used by market gunners in the valley of the Somme; they were typical circus dogs; they pulled milk carts in Holland. Is this a lower-class dog given as an ironic gesture by that Florentine nobleman to the beautiful daughter of an ambitious American mother? What was the Florentine nobleman doing with a large Poodle, anyway: were Poodles more common in Italy then, than now? Or, is James depending upon a fantastic American image of the Poodle (see Alcott, above)? Hypotheses may be derived from Balzac's mid-century references to Poodles (see Balzac, above). If you are a pet-Poodle owner searching for a Grade 12 English Lit. term-paper subject, you might consider illuminating the character of Stenterello with the many Balzac Poodle-references. (Please e-mail the finished product--on which you will surely get an A+ if your English teacher is a pet-Poodle owner--to the Poodle History Project!)

Janvier, Thomas Allibone, From the South of France (New York and London: Harper & Bros., 1912), 234 pp. Collection of stories, including "The Poodle of Monsieur Gaillard."

Kuprin, Aleksandr Ivanovich (1870-1938), "The White Poodle". This longish short story (45 pages in an English edition), was written in 1903. It's an adventure tale which takes place in 1901, about street entertainers in a troupe consisting of an organ grinder, a young acrobat, and their white Poodle--who is stolen. Perhaps the handiest edition for English readers is The White Poodle, and The Elephant, translated by Musia Renbourn (London: Hutchinson's Books for Young People, 1947), 96 pp. A new Russian edition was published in 2000 (illustrated by Pokrovskaia; published by August, Russia). Try also: Selections (Moscow: Khudozhestvennaia literatura, 1983), "Bel'yi pudel". To do a bibliographical search, library catalogue subject is Fiction in Russian, 1800-1917.

Laboulaye, Édouard René (1811-1883), Prince Caniche (Paris: Charpentier, 1868), translated as The Spaniel-Prince by Mary E. Robinson (Liverpool: E. Howell, 1895), 237 pp. Story about the adventures of Prince Jacinth who turns into a dog from time to time.

Leroux, Gaston (1868-1927). [Le] mystère de la chambre jaune; Aventures extraordinaires de Joseph Rouletabille, reporter..., 1. (Paris: INALF, 1961- ; reprod. ed. Paris: L'Illustration, 1907). In May 1999, on Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica site, references to caniche were too numerous to present; barbet was mentioned in relation to a proper name, as so often in Balzac:

Loti, Pierre pseud. of Louis Marie Julien Viaud (1850-1923). [Le] roman d'un enfant (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1891).

Mackie, Lillian, The Adventures of Mr. Pax Poodle (London, Edinburgh: W.& R. Chambers, 1925), 116 pp.

Manifesto published in "the French papers" by the Poodles of France and Algeria, 1844. A protest against a proposed increase in the pet tax in the city of Paris. Authors--Azor, Trim, Rox, Diane, Bob, and Betty-- wrote: "'We have spent a lifetime in acquiring one thousand and one agreeable talents, all to the advantage of man: we turn the spit, we carry our master's dinner in little straw baskets, we guard his treasures, and we defend them better than any lock and key, including those of Mr. Fichet [French inventor of the safe], we dive into icy rivers to rescue children who have seen fit to risk drowning on the pretext of amusement, and lastly, we play dominoes; we even dance the Polka.'". Signed by 300,000 petitioners, "mostly Poodles". Paul-Marc Henry, Poodlestan: a Poodle's Eye View of History, illustrated by Peter Ustinov (New York: Reynal, 1965), pp. 12-3.

MacNab, Sophia. Diary of Sophia MacNab, ms. Young girl's diary contains entries about small Poodles Fin and Finette, brought from Montreal to Hamilton, Ontario in 1846. Sophia's father, Sir Allan Napier MacNab (1798-1862) was Prime Minister of the United Canadas, 1854-1856; his 35-room Dundurn Castle (1832-55) is now a house-museum; the diary is one of the museum's treasures. The Surprise, Mel Bailey, ed., contains Sophia's account of the arrival of the Poodles and is available from the museum (York Blvd., L8R 3H1).

Malot, Hector (1830-1907). Sans Famille (1878). The publication of this beloved book set off bibliographical fireworks. The first edition was shortly followed by a second, and a third (in two hefty volumes and frequently republished), and translations into the main European languages. Illustrators include Emile Bayard (1837-1891). As a small boy, Jean-Paul Sartre found this story enthralling, and recollected, in his Nobel response, having memorized this book (Henry, pp. 78-9). In 2004, several French editions are available--and perhaps the best quick source is Amazon France ; and you could also try Amazon Canada which lists both French and English versions for sale, including the two-volume edition approved by the Académie française.

There are least three translations into English: No Relations (510 p.) published by R. Bentley and Son, London, 1898; Nobody's Boy, translated and abridged by Florence Crewe Jones, originally published in 1916 and available in 2004 in a facsimile edition (308 p.) published by Buccaneer; and The Foundling (258 p.), translated by Douglas Munro, illustrated by Alan Herriot, published by Cannongate in Edinburgh in 1984. As of 6/04, there are seven movies (see Poodle Films ): 1925 (silent); 1934; 1957/8; 1965 (TV); 1977 (TV; animation; Japan); 1981 (TV); 2000 (TV).

This is the story of a small boy, Remi, a foundling who is sold for 40 francs to a vagabond musician, Vitalis, who operates a performing-dog troupe. There are three dogs in the troupe: Capi--Capitano, a white Poodle; Zerbino--a black Barbet; and Miss Dulcie--small gray female; (see Gallica and from there go to Malot...Sans Famille...vol. 1, p. 30, second paragraph: "...un caniche blanc, un barbet noir, et une petite chienne grise..."). After many cliff-hanger adventures (including involving the deaths of Zerbino, Dulcie and Vitalis), Remi (with the faithful Capi) finds his very well-off real family from whom he was abducted as a baby and the book ends happily approximately 800 action-packed pages later.

From the perspective of the Poodle History Project, corruption begins with Florence Crewe Jones' translation: inexcusably, she translates both "caniche" and "barbet" as "spaniel"; and this erosion continues to this day: the TV series Sans Famille (2000) stars a maybe-Pyr (Capi) and a BC (Zerbino)!

Maupassant, Guy de (1850-93). Bel-Ami (Paris: Bibliopolis, 1998-99; reprod. ed. Paris: Garnier, 1988).

Meggendorfer, Lothar, with verses by Franz Bonn, Lustige Geschichten (Munich: von Braun und Schneider [undated; 1895?]). Five stories, including "Der Pudel"; stiff wraps, chromolithographed illus. including a Poodle. Each story is illustrated, two illustrations to a page, and marvelously hand-coloured.

Miller, Emily Huntington, Captain Fritz: His Friends and Adventures (NY: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1880), 128 pp., black and white illustrations; chromolithograph cover picture of Captain Fritz, a French Poodle who is a performing dog, sitting in an easy chair nursing a monkey.

Mirabeau, Victor Riqueti (1715-1789, marquis de). [L'] ami des hommes, ou Traité de la population... (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Avignon: 1756).

Murger, Henri (1822-61). Scènes de la vie de bohème (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: M. Lévy, 1869),
p. 285:

Nodier, Charles (1780-1844). Contes: avec des textes et des documents inédits, Pierre-Georges Castex, ed. (Paris: Bibliopolis, 1998-99, reprod. ed. Paris: Garnier, 1983); [La] fée aux miettes [appears to be one of the "contes"] (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Nillsson, 1930).

Ouida, psued. (i.e. Louisa de la Ramée; 1839-1908), Moufflou and other stories (NY: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1910). Additional information casually acquired: 1910 is the 6th impression; "Moufflou", pp. 1-19; line drawings by Edmund Garrett; colour pix by Maria Kirk. Another edition: Moufflou (London: T.C. & E.C. Jack [undated]), 63 pp. Four colour plates by Cecil Aldin with additional black and white drawings in text. One of three stories is about Moufflou (Poodle) and a small boy.

Palissot de Montenoy, Charles. [La] Dunciade: poème en dix chants (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. London: 1771).

Péladan, Joséphin (1859-1918). [Le] vice suprême (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Laurent, 1886). Reference to the "rue barbet de Jouy" and also as follows:

Piis, Pierre-Antoine-Augustin de, [L'] harmonie imitative de la langue française, poëme en quatre chants (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; Paris: P.-D. Pierres, 1785).

--Alexander Pope, "Rape of the Lock", Canto II, lines 108-16:
"Forget her prayers, or miss a masquerade;
Or lose her heart, or necklace, at a ball;
Or whether Heaven has doomed that Shock must fall.
Haste, then, ye spirits! to your charge repair:
The fluttering fan be Zephyretta's care;
The drops to thee, Brillante, we consign;
And, Momentilla, let the watch be thine;
Do thou, Crispissa, tend her favorite lock;
Ariel himself shall be the guard of Shock."
Other references to Shock in "Rape of the Lock": I, 115 and IV, 164. Similarly, see: John Gay (1685-1732), "An Elegy on a Lap-Dog [named Shock]." "Shock" is thus defined in the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary: (1933) as "1638. (Cf. Shough) "A dog having long shaggy hair, spec. a poodle--1800.... A thick mass of hair [1819]....Having rough thick hair. Of hair: Rough and thick, shaggy....Shock-dog. 1673."

Prudhomme, Sully (1839-1907). "[Les] vaines tendresses," Oeuvres / Sully Prudhomme, Poésies; 2 (Paris: INALF, 1961-) p. 220. Reprod. ed. Paris: A. Lemerre, 186-?:
à la barrière de l'étoile,
un saltimbanque malfaisant
dressait dans sa baraque en toile
un chien de six mois fort plaisant.
Ce caniche, qui faisait rire
le public au seuil rassemblé,
était en conscrit de l'empire
misérablement affublé.
Coiffé d'un bonnet de police,
il...
Our source for this reference is: Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica site; click on "Catalogues" and in that window, click on "Recherches plein-texte"; type in "caniche" and/or "barbet."

Reuter, Heinrich Ludwig Christian Friedrich, Hanne Nüte un de lütte Pudel (Weimar und Ludwigslust, 1865). In verse. And, the related: Heinrich Ludwig Christian Friedrich Reuter, Illustrationen zu Hanne Nüte un de lütte Pudel...37 Bilder [by O. Speckter]nebst Reuter's Portrait (Wismar: Rostock & Ludwigslust, 1868).

Reybaud, Louis (publ 1844). Jérôme Paturot: à la recherche d'une position sociale (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Paris: Paulin, 1844).

Roundhead pamphlets RE Prince Rupert of the Rhine's white Poodle, Boy, and including a lengthy poem (elegy); see Army dogs

Saint-Pierre, Jacques-Bernadin-Henri de, see Bernadin de Saint-Pierre, Jacques Henri (1737-1814).

Sand, George (pseud.); Amantine Lucile Aurore, Baroness Dudevant (1804-76). French novelist. Histoire de ma vie (Paris: Callmann-Lévy, 1879; reproduced, Paris: INALF, 1961-) contains frequent references to her beloved Poodles. See also Companions to genius (and etc.). In May, 1999, Bibliothèque Nationale de France's Gallica site didn't present Sand's references to Poodles: too many (we sympathize!). In January, 2000, we find two, to an elderly Poodle, Babet, pp. 317 and 325; surely incomplete!

Sorel, Charles. [Le] berger extravagant (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Geneva: Slatkine reprints, 1972. Facsim. Paris: 1627).

Tarkington, Booth (1869-1946), Gentle Julia (NY: Doubleday, 1922). Glimpse of Gamin, who had "a bang like a black chrysanthemum, eyes like twinkling garnets, and a clown's heart so golden that he sometimes reminded me of the Jongleur of Notre Dame."

Tarkington, "Teach Me, My Dog!" (The American Magazine, January 1923). Four-page article by Booth Tarkington, about "'Wop,' the black Florentine poodle dog to which the famous Indianian [here] pays a touching tribute..." Includes a 6"-deep portrait photograph of Tarkington with Wop.

Thornton, Lucy D., The Story of a Poodle. By himself and his mistress. (London: Sampson Low & Co., 1889), 49 pp.

Tyssot de Patot, Simon (b. 1655). Voyages et avantures de Jaques Massé (Paris: INALF, 1961 - ; reprod. ed. Bordeaux (La Haye): Jacques l'aveugle, 1760). The original text is dated 1710.

Vimar, A., author and illustrator, Clown The Circus Dog, translated from French by Nora K. Hills (Chicago: Reilly & Britton Co., 1917). 1st American edition. Over 100 pp, with almost as many drawings. Classic tale of dog and circus.

Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de (1694-1778). "'Circe' changeait en chiens barbets les compagnons d'Ulysse," Voltaire Ep. 97, noted in Littré's dictionary (1878), entry "Barbet". We've been unsuccessful tracking down this reference, and also another from the same source: letter from Voltaire to Schomberg 31 8.17 69, a remark to the effect that the Barbet is man's best friend.

Watson, Emily Rowley, illustrated by Louis Wain, The Lament of Billy Villy [Verses] (London: Raphael Tuck & Sons, 1894), 12 pp. Printed in Germany. Two-page colour picture; six pages have colour pictures; remainder, black and white. Story about Billy Villy the great Poodle. Copy for sale September '98 is stamped, inside cover, top left corner: "Spring Greeting '95, compliments of Famous, St. Louis, MO."

Wright, Mabel Osgood, Dogtown. Being some chapters from the annals of the Waddles family, set down in the language of housepeople, illustrated with photographs by the author (Macmillan, 1902). 405 pp. Waddles (a dog) is the mayor of Dogtown; among his many dog-constituents is a big Poodle, Hamlet. Book is dedicated to "all those who love children and dogs." Even a century after publication, this book gains fans easily!

Zolotow, Charlotte, illustrated by Roger Duvoisin, Poodle Who Barked at the Wind British Library catalogue indicates this is an early title: World's Work, 1913. (NY: William Morrow, 1964; Kingswood, Surrey: Hilversum printed, 1965). Republished: Charlotte Zolotow, illustrated by June Otani (NY: Harpercrest, 1987).

Noted: Engler, p. 114, notes that the poets Eduard Friedrich Mörike (1804-75) and Heinrich Heine (1797-1856; see Heine, above) rhapsodize about Poodles in their poems.

Finally: "Hoddley, poddley, puddle and fogs,
Cats are to marry the poodle dogs;
Cats in blue jackets and dogs in red hats,
What will become of the mice and the rats?"
Hoddley Poddley, London Treasury of NR (1933), Iona and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford: Clarendon, 1951), p. 210, #225.

The headpiece comes from Pierre and His Poodle (see Champney, above), p. 45; Popotte meets Zulu, Champney, p. 7; Signor Stromboli and his van, Champney, p. 50; and the tailpiece, Champney, p. 216.

"Ben and Sancho" (see Alcott, above), from Under the Lilacs (Boston: Little, Brown, 1903), frontispiece.

Remi with Capi (see Malot, above, at left), from the cover of the 2nd volume of the 1895 edition of Sans Famille, illustrated by Leowitz, published in two volumes in Paris by Ernese Flammarion; at right, headpiece of chapter XV.

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