284 British Dogs. 



Island of Cuba, by Phillip II., for the purposes of the arena, and 

 their decendants are to be found, (but in very limited numbers) to this 

 day, with all the physical and mental qualities described by Dr. Caius, of 

 Cambridge, in the year 1576. The doctor heads his article "Ban- 

 dogge," and says : " This kind of dogge, called a Mastyre or Bandogge, 

 is vast, huge, stubborne, ougly, and eager ; of a heavy and burthenous 

 body, and therefore of but little swiftnesse ; terrible and frightful to 

 beholde, and more fearce and fell than any Arcadian curre, (notwith- 

 standing they are sayd to have their generation from the violent Lyon.) 

 They are serviceable against the Foxe and Badger, to drive wild and tame 

 swyne, to bayte and take the bull by the ear, when occasion so requireth, 

 one dogge or two at the utmost sufficient for that purpose, be the bull never 

 so monstrous, never so fearce, never so furious, never so stearne, never so 

 untameable: For it is a kind of dogge capable of courage, violent and 

 valiant, striking could feare into the hearts of men , but standing in fear 

 of no man, insomuch that no weapon will make him shrink or abridge his 

 boldness." 



There are various pictures in existence of the dog, as described 

 by Dr. Caius, and all are more or less identical with the ancient 

 bulldog of Britain, now better known through my importation of them as 

 the Spanish bulldog. The most accurate representation is an oil paint- 

 ing on oak panel in my possession, by A. Hondius, bearing date 1585. 

 This was painted within nine years of the time when Dr. Caius published 

 his article, and may be fairly said to offer a faithful illustration of the 

 same. The picture represents two bulldogs attacking a wild boar ia the 

 bed of a shallow stream. The dogs are respectively red, with a black 

 muzzle, and white with brindle ear patches, rose ears, long fine tails, 

 (termed "tyger tails," in the article on the bulldog in the Cynographia 

 Brittannica, published 1800,) and from the relative size of the dogs and 

 the wild boar which might have been painted from life but yesterday 

 the dogs must have weighed from lOOlb. to 1201b. The red dog is 

 represented as having a firm grip of the left ear of the boar, and the 

 white dog is rushing in on the other side. I have also in my possession 

 an engraving from a picture by Hondius showing the head of a bulldog, 

 who, with dogs of another breed, are about to attack a bear. The 

 description by Caius, and the illustrations by Hondius, are also well 

 supported by the "Master of the Game," who not only describes the 



