THE BULL-TERRIER 407 



the Bull-terrier were subjected to cropping a process of mutilation 

 that was performed at such a period and in such a way as to be 

 alike brutal and inhuman. This process was continued until com- 

 paratively recent times (1895), when it received its death-blow from 

 the Kennel Club. Never by any stretch of the imagination to be 

 called a popular dog, the cropping prohibition tended to make it 

 still less in favour for a few years. However, on every hand now 

 there are signs, and unmistakable ones, that the breed has taken 

 a new lease of life. This is evidenced by the greater number of 

 followers and by the real demand for first-class specimens at 

 remunerative prices. This is matter for congratulation, for as a 

 house-dog and companion a really well-trained Bull-terrier takes 

 a lot of beating; while as a personal guard there is no breed 

 anything approaching it in size that can compare with it. 



The Bull-terrier is one of the comparatively few varieties about 

 whose origin there is no mystery. He is mainly Bulldog and Terrier, 

 and it is quite easy to see how, given one of the " patched " dogs that 

 found favour with Bull-terrier fanciers in the old days, and crossing 

 it judiciously with the White English Terrier, Mr. James Hinks 

 succeeded in producing the milk-white variety that we know to-day, 

 and that is more popular in America than with us, despite the fact 

 that our cousins on the other side of the Atlantic have also a Boston 

 Terrier that those who have seen it and are well capable of forming 

 an opinion declare is nothing more nor less than the old fighting 

 Bull-terrier with perhaps slight modifications. In speaking of the 

 constituents from which the Bull-terrier was evolved, only the chief 

 ones have been specifically mentioned Bulldog and Terrier. Yet 

 there can be little doubt that some of the larger specimens, at any 

 rate, show unmistakable Pointer and Dalmatian blood ; while others, 

 again, partake of the Greyhound or the Whippet and even up to 

 the present day "whippety" is a common expression amongst 

 Bull-terrier breeders for specimens showing affinity to the last- 

 named varieties. 



Badger-baiting was common in London about the beginning of 

 the last century, and led up to such disgraceful scenes by drawing 

 the riff-raff of the town together, that the magistrates exerted their 

 power to put an end to the business. This baiting, or drawing, of 

 the badger was a mere worrying of the poor beast in a confined 

 space, and under conditions essentially unfair to him, with dog after 

 dog, until he was torn and exhausted, and was a totally different 

 thing from hunting the badger in his native stronghold. 



It may be noted that these degrading practices followed the 

 suppression of bull-baiting in the ring, and naturally so ; for the 

 authorities, in suppressing a practice the public had used as an 

 amusement for centuries, failed to provide opportunities for pleasures 

 of a higher and more rational order, " People mutht be amuthed," 



