58 THE BRITISH PUGNACES. 



In the Parish of Castor, in Northamptonshire, the remnant 

 of a Roman station was found, which has been identified as 

 the Durobrivse of Antoninus, who it will be remembered 

 died A.D. 161. Numerous examples of Romano Britannic 

 pottery have been found at this station, and it is commonly 

 called Castor or Durobrivan ware, and on this ancient pottery, 

 (which has been fully treated on by Mr. Roach Smith) 

 numerous examples of dogs are found, which are so boldly 

 and typically rendered, that we may regard them as fairly 

 accurate examples of the canine forms of that date. These 

 dogs fall usually under two widely divergent and distinct 

 types, namely, that of the vertragal or great Celtic greyhound, 

 and the pugnaces or mastiff. 



In 1823, E. T. Artis published a work entitled " Roman 

 Antiquities, or the Durobrivse of Antoninus Identified." In 

 a series of plates illustrative of the excavated remains of that 

 Roman station, in page 48 of the work, is figured a mastiff 

 attacking a horse in the flank, showing at once that the 

 manner of attack in these ancient British mastiffs, was not 

 the attack of the bulldog, which, if pure bred, always flies at 

 the head or throat. 



In page 33 of the same work is another plate, showing one 

 of these mastiffs galloping after a horse. Judging from the 

 relative size of the horses and dogs which are both very 

 carefully and accurately delineated, these dogs must have 

 been between 28 to 30 inches at shoulder, and in conformity 

 with all the examples I have met with of those early times, 

 their heads are broad and full, muzzles very short, broad and 

 truncated, (the shortness of the muzzle being a marked 

 characteristic of the British mastiff, lost sight of by man)' 

 breeders, owing to their ignorance of these facts, the last 25 



