Robert Spencer
Preserved but no longer current.
The tale is that one day Llewelyn returned from hunting, when his favourite hound, covered with gore, ran to meet him. The chieftain ran to see if anything had happened to his infant son, found the cradle overturned, and all around was sprinkled with blood. Thinking the hound had eaten the child, he stabbed it to the heart.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Robert Spencer” mean?
The tale is that one day Llewelyn returned from hunting, when his favourite hound, covered with gore, ran to meet him. The chieftain ran to see if anything had happened to his infant son, found the cradle overturned, and all around was sprinkled with blood. Thinking the hound had eaten the child, he stabbed it to the heart.
Is “Robert Spencer” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.