THE BANDOG OR MASTIFF. 75 



Anciently by law the ban-dog had to be muzzled, or to be 

 kept chained up during the day, otherwise the owner was 

 liable to be fined, but this law had fallen into disuse in 

 Elizabeth's reign. 



Mr. Vero Shaw in his book of the Dog, has seen fit to sneer 

 at the ancient bandogs as unlucky brutes, kept always on the 

 chain ; thus showing great historical ignorance of the breed 

 on his part, as dogs fastened up in a yard with a long chain 

 during the day, and let loose at night to roam about the 

 premises at pleasure, would get far more exercise, and conse- 

 quently be far healthier than many of our show specimens. 

 The constant exercise would fully account for their superior 

 legs and feet, points Mr. Yero Shaw himself notes, as shown 

 in old pictures of the mastiff, and in practical exposition of 

 this treatment, I may quote Sir T. G. F. Hesketh's Nero 

 2318 as an instance. This dog took the first prize at 

 Birmingham in 1872, and was a marvel in strength and 

 straightness of limbs, and muscular development, he was 

 constantly on chain as the watch-dog at Park View, near 

 Towcester, and his sire, Nero ist was the watch dog at Rufford 

 Hall, being so savage, that he dare not be let loose. 



We see from Bloomfield's Farmers Boy that it was the 

 custom in England up to 1800 even, to leave the mastiff 

 unchained at night to roam at pleasure, even to go sheep 

 worrying until suspected ; and More in his Antidote against 

 Atheism, mentions the custom of farmers keeping the bandog 

 to protect their premises. Henry More was born at Grantham 

 in 1614, and died in 1687, having been educated at Cambridge. 



Although the origin of the term ban-dog is palpably from 

 being banded or chained, Stephen Skinner deduces it from 

 bana, a murderer. Stephen Skinner born about 1622, was a 



