The earliest recorded appearance of a toy spaniel in England was in a painting of Queen Mary I and King Philip. Mary, Queen of Scots, was also fond of small toy dogs, including spaniels, showing the fondness of the British royalty for these types of dogs before Charles II. King Henry III of France owned a number of small spaniels, which were called Damarets. Although one of the translations of John Caius' 1570 Latin work De Canibus Britannicis talks of "a new type of Spaniel brought out of France, rare, strange, and hard to get", this was an addition in a later translation, and was not in the original text. Caius did discuss the "Spainel-gentle, or Comforter" though, which he classified as a delicate thoroughbred. This spaniel was thought to originate from Malta and was sought out only as a lapdog for "daintie dames". Captain John Saris may have brought back examples of toy spaniels from his voyage to Japan in 1613, a theory proposed by Commodore Matthew C. Perry during his expeditions to Japan on behalf of the United States in the mid-19th century. He noted that dogs were a common gift and thought that the earlier voyage of Captain Saris introduced a Japanese type of spaniel into England. 17th century and Charles II In the 17th century, toy spaniels began to feature in paintings by Dutch artists such as Caspar Netscher and Peter Paul Rubens. Spanish artists, including Juan de Valdés Leal and Diego Velázquez, also depicted them; in the Spanish works, the dogs were tricolour, black and white or entirely white. French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon would later describe these types of dogs as crosses between spaniels and Pugs. King Charles II of England was very fond of the toy spaniel, which is why the dogs now carry his name, although there is no evidence that the modern breeds are descended from his particular dogs. He is credited with causing an increase in popularity of the breed during this period. Samuel Pepys' diary describes how the spaniels were allowed to roam anywhere in Whitehall Palace, including during state occasions. In an entry dated 4 September 1667, describing a council meeting, Pepys wrote, "All I observed there was the silliness of the King, playing with his dog all the while and not minding the business." Charles' sister Princess Henrietta was painted by Pierre Mignard holding a