CHAPTER X. 

 THE MASTIFF FOR BAITING PURPOSES. 



Come men and mastiffs ; some to fight 

 For fame and honour, some for sight. 



Butler. Hudibras, Part 1, Canto 2. 



IT will be seen that the legitimate uses of the mastiff among 

 the Britons were to defend their homes and property, and also 

 to assist in driving cattle, while in times of war they afforded 

 a guard for the women and chariots. The Romans fought 

 animals in their amphitheatres, and from their savage fondness 

 for such sights as gladiatorial shows and pitting animals 

 against each other in all probability arose the intro- 

 duction of baiting animals with dogs in Britain. The 

 antiquity of such sport is shown in Pliny's account of the 

 Albanian dog that successfully baited the boar, lion, and 

 elephant before Alexander the Great some 300 B.C. Vide 

 Pliny Nat. Hist. viii. 64. 



Among ancient nations baiting animals was a common 

 sport, and was practised by the Egyptians, Greeks, and 

 Romans. The amphitheatres at Rome were made of wood 

 until the age of Augustus, at whose desire Statilius Taurus 

 (a cognomen very suggestive of a family of matadors) erected 

 the first durable one of wood and stone combined. 



Thus it is not surprising that little vestige of any are 

 found in Britain, although amphitheatres existed during the 

 Roman dominion at Dorchester, Silchester, and other towns, 



