82 THE ENGLISH MASTIFF. 



name Alan. Thus the word mastivus seems of Norman 

 introduction, and only to have been Anglicised about 1300, 

 while the majority of Englishmen would use the term bandog 

 long subsequently. 



There are few works between Chaucer and Caxton, but 

 the biographer of William de Clowne makes out that prelate 

 was the most amiable man who ever filled the Abbacy of St. 

 Mary, in Leicestershire. Among his excellent qualities he 

 had great skill in tlu i science of hunting, and in order to keep 

 his kennel well stocked, (for he seems to have experienced the 

 difficulties of rearing puppies well at home) he requested King 

 Richard 2nd to grant him a fair or market, for the sole purpose 

 of buying and selling dogs, which request was granted. 



This may fairly be considered the first dog show or collection 

 of dogs ever got together that we have any record of, and this 

 Rev. dog dealer should be regarded as the patron saint of 

 the English kennel, seeing he was considered the best 

 sportsman in pursuit of the hare in England ; and Richard 

 2nd, his son Prince Edward, and several of the nobility, 

 allowed him an annual pension for the instructions they 

 received from him in hunting. How much the Belvoir, Quorn, 

 and other kennels of hounds owe their origin and excellence 

 to the dog fairs, instituted by William de Clowne, and his 

 skill in breeding, and if (like some more modern clerical 

 gentlemen) he had a taste for adding to his income by a little 

 buying and selling of mastiffs, boarhounds, etc., would be 

 difficult to say. 



