THE ENGLISH MASTIFF. 



25 



him that have been a credit to him as a 

 sire. 



It is to be deplored that ever since the 

 era of Crown Prince there has been a per- 

 ceptible diminution in the number of good 

 examples of this fine old English breed, 

 and that from being an admired and 

 fashionable dog the Mastiff has so declined 

 in popularity that few are to be seen either 

 at exhibitions or in breeders' kennels. At 

 the Crystal Palace in 1871 there were as 

 many as sixty-three Mastiffs on show, 

 forming a line of benches two hundred yards 

 long, and not a bad one among them ; 

 whereas at a dog show held twenty-five 

 years later, where more than twelve hundred 

 dogs were entered, not a single Mastiff 

 was benched. 



The difficulty of obtaining dogs of un- 

 blemished pedigree and superlative type 

 may partly account for this decline, and 

 another reason of unpopularity may be 



that the Mastiff requires so much attention 

 to keep him in condition that without it 

 he is apt to become indolent and heavy. 

 Nevertheless, the mischief of breeding too 

 continuously from one strain such as that 

 of Crown Prince has to some extent been 

 eradicated, and we have had many splendid 

 Mastiffs since his time. Crown Prince was 

 by no means the only great Mastiff bred 

 in Mr. Woolmore's kennels. Special men- 

 tion should be made of that grand bitch 

 Cambrian Princess (12,833), by Beau. She 

 was purchased by Mrs. Willins, who, mating 

 her with Maximilian (a dog of her own 

 breeding by The Emperor), obtained Mint- 

 ing, who shared with Beaufort the reputation 

 of being unapproached for all round merit 

 in any period. It was a misfortune to the 

 breed that Minting was allowed to leave 

 this country for the United States, where 

 he was easily able to hold his own on the 

 show bench. Beaufort, his only equal, not 



THE BEAUTIFUL FAWN MASTIFF CH. MINTING BY MAXIMILIAN-— CAMBRIAN PRINCESS. 



EXPORTED IN 1SBS TO THE UNITED STATES, WHERE HE WAS REGARDED 

 AS SECOND ONLY TO CH. BEAUFORT 

 Photograph by Schreiber. 



