242 British Dogs. 



Coming down to the time of Cains and Cotgrave, who both wrote in 

 the reign of Elizabeth, mastiffs and bulldogs are both mentioned, bnt no 

 description of any accuracy is given of either ; and to construct a dog 

 from the loose references made to them sufficient to satisfy a modern 

 fancier, requires the active aid of imagination, and this, I find, generally 

 assists writers towards what they wish may have been, and facts of the 

 slightest character are strained to support pet theories. 



For my own part, I feel convinced that the mastiff and the bulldog 

 have sprung from a common origin. The attributes which they still have 

 01 common, after so many years of breeding towards opposite points, 

 strengthens me in this belief, which is still further confirmed by a study 

 of the various engravings and paintings made of them from time to time, 

 which I have been able to consult, all of which show that the further 

 back we go, starting from " Stonehenge " on "The Dog," the more 

 closely do the two breeds assimilate in general character. 



Of our present dogs, the strain for which the greatest, or rather absolute, 

 purity is claimed is the Lyme Hall mastiff, which has been in the Legh 

 family since the beginning of the fifteenth century, if not from a still 

 earlier date ; but whether the existing dogs of this strain have been 

 kept pure by absolute in-and-in breeding, or with such merely occasional 

 cross with some closely-allied strain as may have been found necessary to 

 prevent deterioration, so that we may rely on it as representing the 

 original type, I have no means of knowing ; but as it is held as a pure 

 representative of the old English mastiff by the family who have 

 so long had it in their possession, I can have no doubt that good reasons 

 for that belief exist, and that the strain is at least approximately pure 

 and best represents the whole breed ; and I am not aware that any other 

 breeders claim anything approaching to such a long descent for their 

 dogs, although a strain so noted as the Lyme Hall must long have been 

 would be sure to spread and leave its mark on such other kennels as 

 were most likely to be preserved with some degree of purity. 



Of late years the champion of the Lyme Hall mastiff has been Mr. 

 H. D. Kingdon, of Willhayne, Devon, who obtained the breed from Lyme 

 Hall by the courtesy of the present Mr. Legh, and who insists on their 

 superiority over all others with a tenacity, and, I might say, dogged 

 obstinacy, thoroughly English, and worthy of the breed he admires. I 

 cannot say, however, that I agree with him in his absolute worship of 



