Episode 121: The Thing About Henry Tilney's Dogs with guest Dr. Stephanie Howard-Smith

The Thing About Austen

This episode explores the historical and literary significance of dogs in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, specifically focusing on Henry Til

Key takeaways

• Newfoundland dogs in the Regency era were viewed as large, 'bear-like' animals known for their swimming prowess and moral rectitude.
• Terriers of the period were a diverse group bred primarily for hunting vermin using a signature 'shake kill' technique.

Main topics

• Newfoundland breed history
• Terrier hunting characteristics

Notable quotes

The remains that there are one of those who possessed beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without ferocity.

Conclusion

The episode provides a fascinating look at how subtle details like pet

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Welcome to The Thing About Austin, a podcast about Jane Austen's world. I'm Zan. Speaker 2 (0:06) And I'm Diane. And this episode, we're talking about Henry Tilney's dogs. Speaker 2 (0:22) We are so excited to introduce our guest today, The Thing About Austin's official canine correspondent, Dr. Stephanie Howard-Smith. Stephanie is a dog lover and animal historian with a PhD on the cultural history of lap dogs in the 18th century. She is the author of a number of academic essays on dogs in 18th and 19th century Britain, and her scholarly research has explored London's first celebrity veterinarian, porcelain pugs, and Dogs at Home in Georgian England. Stephanie also writes about dogs in culture and society for a popular readership, and her first book, Yap! A Short History of Small Dogs, will be out in October of this year. And I'm so excited for your book. I'm so excited, yes. Speaker 3 (1:07) Welcome, Speaker 2 (1:08) Stephanie! Thank you. You'll be happy Speaker 3 (1:10) to know that Pug Bertram obviously has to get a mention Speaker 1 (1:12) in the book. Oh, Speaker 3 (1:13) well, obviously. Of Speaker 1 (1:14) course. Alright, so let's jump in. So the topic of this episode today comes to us from Northanger Abbey. So to set the scene, Catherine is staying at the abbey with the Tilneys, when General Tilney arranges a little day trip to Woodston to see Henry Tilney's parsonage. And Catherine is beyond thrilled. This is a big thing for her. It's a big moment. So here is the text. At the further end of the village, and tolerably disengaged from the rest of it, stood the parsonage. a new-built substantial stone house with its semicircular sweep and green gates. And as they drove up to the door, Henry, with the friends of his solitude, a large Newfoundland puppy, and two or three terriers, was ready to receive and make much of them. Just a frolicking bunch of puppies. This is exciting. Speaker 2 (2:03) Okay, Stephanie, so this is obviously not your first time coming on the show, so you can probably guess the first question we're going to ask, because obviously we want to know all about these dogs. So let's start with the Newfoundland puppy. What is a Newfoundland, both our modern conception of the breed and what would have been recognized in Austin's time, if they are at all different? Speaker 3 (2:26) Okay, so they are larger than that. I'll get to the differences in a bit. But for today, if you go to a dog show and you meet a Newfoundland puppy, sorry, not puppy, adult dog, you're going to be expecting a very large, fluffy animal. Probably black or brown or maybe black and white, which is a special colour variation. But I'll mention that later. And they are very well known for being exceptionally sweet-tempered. lovely, friendly dogs. But big. They're big dogs. That's the important thing. In the 18th century and the early 19th century, Newfoundland dog means the same thing. But there's also a certain extent where they could be a dog from Newfoundland. There's this one 18th century novel, Humphrey Clinker by Tobias Smollett, where there's this spinster character, Aunt Tabitha, who has a dog called Chowder. that we've told has been bought from a ship come from Newfoundland. It's landed in Swansea. But it's obvious from the book that that dog is small. It's a small dog. It rides in a sedan chair with her. It goes in a coach with Tabitha and her brother and other women. So it's a small dog. At the same time, I don't know whether we're supposed to know from the text that she's been scammed, maybe? That she thinks she's buying this trendy dog, but it's not. It's described as an ugly cur. But for the most part, 18th century, early 19th century, people knew what Newfoundland was. And they had a kind of a, their name recognition, they were a recognisable brand almost. And so for Austen, what she is talking about is a large dog, a very large dog, not quite as large as Newfoundland's today. So we know from dog encyclopedias at the time that during this period, A Newfoundland is probably about 25 inches tall. That's the same height as a small female newf today. So about the same size. There's a larger range of body types and fur types. They can have longer fluffy fur, shorter curly fur. And the most common coloration is white and black. And that's now known as the landseer Newfoundland, which in some places is described as a different breed these days. In the 18th century and 19th century, that was, if you say Newfoundland puppy, Austen's readers are thinking of a really big bear-like dog with this kind of black and white colouration. Sometimes with cropped ears, not always. So that's what it looks like. And then it obviously has this reputation. So Newfoundland tells us where it's from. They are known as bear dogs to begin with. And they have this really close association with Newfoundland, which is in Canada. So in Newfoundland, it seems they were used as kind of general work dogs. They could pull carts, they could run water wheels, they could guard houses. Today's Newfers, I don't think we're particularly good at that because they're so friendly. But at the time, they're these kind of all-purpose dogs. But the thing they're most renowned for doing is being excellent swimmers. And they get a reputation for this. back in Britain really, really quickly. And they're good at doing a sea rescue. And so they have this kind of mythology about them that attached them really quickly. And people find this idea that these dogs are these amazingly brave, capable, altruistic beings, really attractive. So they begin to come over to Britain in the mid-18th century. And they are, because they're an import, they're in high demand. So you have people constantly writing to people who are based in Canada trying to get these dogs because they're so interesting. There's one reference I found to a dog that's auctioned in Wapping, so London's Docklands, in 1811. And it belongs to a neighbour officer and they end up being sold for 18 guineas. That's half the price of a horse. Wow. And it says a competition was excited among the bidders by the auctioneer, stating that the animal had at different times saved three persons from drowning. And 18th century newspapers, early 19th century newspapers are full of stories of these daring rescues by these dogs. But yeah, so they're really strong swimmers. But there are all these stories about these really incredible rescues. The most important thing about the Newfoundland isn't just that these massive, huge dogs really look imposing. but more so that they have, when Austen's writing, all these attributes to do with their moral character. That's even more important than the size in many ways. And that's obviously clearly what Austen's getting to with Mr. Tilney. Speaker 2 (7:24) They're good enough to be the Nana for your children. Exactly. Speaker 1 (7:27) Okay, I was wondering if we had to mention Nana from Peter Pan. We had to, yes. Speaker 2 (7:33) If they're qualified to be your children's nursemaid, then they're a pretty... Pretty high caliber dog. Their moral Speaker 1 (7:41) rectitude is really on point. Speaker 3 (7:43) Yeah. So this is an association we've had for a really, really long time. And it reaches its kind of apex in the decade after Austen's writing, the 1830s, where you have Edwin Lanser, who's Victoria's animal painter, eventually, who does this portrait of a dog called Paul Pry, kind of staring out into the distance nobly. And it was a hugely, hugely, hugely popular painting as a print and it kind of solidified the dog's reputation even further. They're hugely popular for a really long time to the point where in this dog encyclopedia I mentioned, which is a book called Cynography in Britannica, it's published around 1800, so exactly the period when Jane Austen's writing this book, by a guy called Sydenham Edwards. And he's like, these dogs are so popular to the point that they're... even displacing native breeds because people want Newfoundlands. They're just so desirable as companions. Because suffice to say, the majority of people in Britain who have Newfoundlands, they're not draft animals. They're not always rescuing people. It's because they're good companions. Speaker 2 (8:50) That black and white colorway then, when they named that later, that would have been after the painter? Speaker 3 (8:55) Yeah, after Lansley, who painted... Yeah, exactly. Because that image of Paul Pryde, the dog,