IO6 THE MASTIFF FOR BAITING PURPOSES. 



of about 200 yards in circumference, and according to Dr. 

 Stukeley (who was termed the Arch Druid on account of his 

 knowledge of British antiquities) there existed the remains of 

 a smaller amphitheatre of about 65 feet, between Richborough 

 Castle and Sandwich. Vide Itinerarium Curiosum, by Wm. 

 Stukeley. 



Baiting wild animals seems to have been a very fascinating 

 spectacle to the Romans, and according to Pliny viii. the 

 bear was imported and publicly baited in Italy, and Claudian 

 mentions the aptitude of the British pugnaces in the following 

 lines: Magna tauvorem fvaClura' colla Britanna." Claudian de 

 Laud Stil. Lib. iii. 



According to Martial and Claudian the forests of Britain 

 produced a quantity of bears, and these continued in the 

 North of England until the eighth century, and according to 

 Gemeticencis nearly to the conquest. 



According to Gale's Scriptores from Doomsday, in the time 

 of Edward the Confessor, the town of Norwich was bound to 

 furnish annually to the King one bear and six dogs for 

 baiting it, but I am not aware how these dogs are described 

 in Doomsday, whether merely as dogs, or if their kind is 

 described. Such dogs were termed canis ursarius (bear dogs) 

 an old name for the mastiff. 



In some of the early constitutions of the Welsh, it is stated 

 of the wild animals that are hunted, only three arc lawful for 

 baiting, of which the bear is one. 



Chaucer mentions that the Alan was good for baiting either 

 the lion or bear. Principally the mastiff was used to bait 

 the bear, but at times even the horse and ass suffered, the 

 latter animal furnishing a spirited combat. Strutt gives an 



