THE MASTIFF, 



CANIS MASSIVUS BRITANNICUS. 



o 



CHAPTER I. 



ORIGIN OF THE DOG. 



Let Hercules himself do what he may, 

 The cat will mew, and dog will have his day. 



Shakespeare. Hamlet. 



THE origin of the various breeds of dogs becomes lost and 

 imtraceable amid the mystery and obscurity which clouds the 

 earliest ages of history, and I may say with W. Watts 



" 'T would far exceed my fixed intent ; 



To trace throughout the dogs descent." 



The Sculptor's art alone has left sufficient uncontrovertible 

 proof to explode the theory held by some naturalists, who have 

 advanced that the numerous varieties of the dog are all nothing 

 more than variations from one original race, of which the wolf 

 was the common progenitor ; but it is as absurd to argue that 

 all the different varieties of the dog are derived from one race 

 of dog or from the wolf, as it would be to maintain that all 

 the manifold species of wild dogs, wolves and hyaenas had 

 one common progenitor, and it is manifest that any such 

 hypothesis will not stand investigation. 



A 



