134 THE MASTIFF IN THE I Sill CENTURY. 



Graham estimates the usual height of the mastiff at 30 inches, 

 that of the Irish wolfdog 33 inches at least, but in these 

 measurements he has probably rather overestimated the 

 original height of both these breeds. 



Gay, who published his Rural Sports in 1711, followed by 

 his amusing Fables, furnishes us with so many particulars 

 concerning the mastiff as to render it obvious that he was not 

 only a good sportsman, but an intimate judge of canine life. 



Gay wrote his fables for the young Duke of Cumberland, 

 and finished them just before his death, and they were sub- 

 sequently published from the M.S. belonging to his patron 

 the Marquis of Queensbury. In his viiith Fable, part ii, he 

 admirably adopts the 407111 and following lines of the third 

 book of Virgil's Georgics. In his xxxivth Fable, "The Mastiff" 

 we see portrayed the pugnacious character of the breed. In 

 the earlier editions of his Fables we find various representa- 

 tions of the mastiff. 



In the 1746 edition, the mastiff in Fable ix. is represented 

 with cropped or rather rounded ears, much the same as in 

 Vandyck's painting, the head is short, and the hair somewhat 

 rough about the stern and back. 



The mastiff in the xxvith Fable has the ears cropped like 

 the modern bull-terrier, has the white blaze up the face, 

 and is much smoother in coat than the fighting mastiffs in the 

 xxxivth Fable. 



These dogs are generally depicted as having rougher and 

 harder coats than the breed has now, their heads are very 

 short and round, the stop well defined, and muzzle short and 

 blunt ; these are all drawn by G. Wooton, and engraved by 

 G. Von Gucht. 



