CHAPTER XL 

 THE MASTIFF FROM ELIZABETH'S REIGN. 



E'en so the mastiff as the meaner cur 

 At times will from the path of duty err. 



lilonm field. Farmer's Boy. 



THE 1 6th century opens like the dawn of clay, throwing a 

 brightening ray of light on the history of most things in 

 England of that period, and among them that of the mastiff 

 is revealed much clearer. 



With the introduction of printing and illustrating by wood- 

 cuts, we get many more examples of the form of the mastiff 

 of that date, and the painter and poet seem to have responded 

 to the effulgent beams of the press. 



At Castle Howard, -Yorkshire, the seat of the Earl of 

 Carlisle, there is a painting by Titian of a mastiff and some 

 cats. In colour the dog is a rich red fawn with a white blaze 

 up the face and w r hite on the forelegs ; this dog has a still 

 more massive frame and larger limbs than the English mastiff' 

 generally, and in character resembles more the Asiatic, old 

 Alpine, and Spanish mastiffs; and seeing that Titian was 

 invited by Charles vth to Spain, and remained in that country 

 from 1550 to 1553, I think it is very probable it was drawn 

 from some Spanish mastiff, as Titian painted numerous 

 pictures while in Spain. The picture itself was obtained 

 from the Cornaro Palace, Venice. 



. Berjeau's work contains a cut of a mastiff bitch and whelps, 

 plate 40. The original was drawn previous to 1591. The 



