[ Wightwick / Blacklock Forest ]
Wightwick's last literary work, this novel was serialized in Colburn's New Monthly Magazine, edited by the Victorian writer William Harrison Ainsworth, in 1869 - 1870.
The novel mentions a Newfoundland in Chapter 19 (published in Vol. 146, March 1870) when a character awakens in a room he has never seen before and "in which he seemed to be the only living figure":
It has been said he seemed to be "the only living figure" in the picture; but as his eye peeringly wandered into the corner of the room between the fire and the window, he observed a second breathing figure, of the kind which Landseer has made the sole subject of one of his finest pictures; and who is there that is unfamiliar with "A Distinguished Member of the Humane Society"? There, slumbering in the silence and immobility of a bronze statue, lay a large, black Newfoundland dog! The noble animal, we say, rather slumbered than slept; for when Giacomo pushed the table a little aside, the slight noise made the sentry spring erect, with a mild bark and look of eager readiness, just to intimate that he was at his post. "Good dog," said Giacomo. The good creature came immediately forward, licked the hand which hung listlessly from the bed, and went back to his rug. (305 - 306)