702 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



efforts of the animal to free himself from his antagonist ; 

 and no command of his master will induce him to 

 desist, which can only be effected by squeezing the 

 windpipe till he is nearly choked ; and instances have 

 occurred where he has been mutilated and still main- 

 tained his grip. The thorough-bred bull-dog always 

 attacks animals in front, seizing either on the head or 

 throat, and when they lay hold of any of the extremi- 

 ties, it is reckoned a degeneracy from the original 

 purity of blood. 



This animal derived its name from his having 

 been employed in former times in assaulting the bull ; 

 and he is used for the same brutal purpose at the 

 present day, where such amusements are still practised; 

 but these are, like cock-fighting, happily on the 

 decline. 



The first bull-baiting, of which we have a well- 

 authenticated account, took place in the reign of King 

 John, in 1 209, at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, and had 

 its origin in the following circumstance : William, 

 Earl Warren, Lord Stamford, standing upon the 

 walls of his castle, saw two bulls fighting for a cow in 

 the castle-meadow, till all the butchers' dogs pursued 

 one of the bulls (which was maddened by the noise and 

 multitude) through the town. This sight so pleased 

 the Earl, that he gave the castle-meadow, where the 

 bulls' combat began, for a common to the butchers of 

 the town, after the first grass was mowed, on condition 

 that they should find " a mad bull " on a day six weeks 

 before Christmas, for the continuance of that sport 

 for ever. At Tutbury, in Staffordshire, about the 

 year 1374, an establishment of a similar nature was 

 instituted, which was abolished by the praiseworthy 

 and humane exertions of the Duke of Devonshire, in 

 1778, as steward of Tutbury. 



