THE MASTIFF DURING ELIZABETH'S REIGX. IOI 



In the Life of Raleigh, in the History of the .first Colony 

 of Virginia, (1584 about) it is stated that the English soldiers 

 declared that they could not starve as long as they had the 

 two mastiffs, which they might kill and make soup of, and on 

 their return (1585 about) they had resource to their mastift 

 broth ; and although modern mastiff breeders may not be able 

 to dispose of their draft puppies to the butcher, yet the 

 ancients considered a young and fat dog excellent eating. 

 Hippocrates, who flourished 460 B.C., placing it on a footing 

 with mutton and pork, stating that the flesh of a grown dog 

 is wholesome and strengthening, and that of puppies relaxing. 



The brave and accomplished Lord Edward Herbert, of 

 Cherbury,- Salop, mentions the mastiffs kept about 1600 by 

 the Duke of Montmorency. He remarks on hunting in France, 

 " The Duke of Montmorency having given orders to the tenants 

 of the town of Merlon, and some villages adjoining, to attend 

 me when I went a hunting, they upon my summons usually 

 repaired to those woods where I intended to find my game ; 

 the}' entered the woods on one side, w r e on the other side of 

 the said wood, having placed mastiffs and greyhounds to the 

 number of twenty or thirty, which Monsieur de Montmorency 

 kept near his castle." It is worthy of mention that Lord 

 Herbert was the eldest son of a very ancient family, and was 

 born in 1581. at Montgomery Castle, Wales; he was a poet 

 of little merit, but an author of some repute, his English being 

 considered strong and free from the quaint pedantry of the 

 age. Having divided his time between country life and that 

 of various courts, he was calculated toknow^the mastiff when 

 he met it, and to give it a proper designation. 



In Barnaby Googes 1631 translation of a work by Conrad 

 Haresbatch, the mastiff termed the "The bandog for the 



