1 68 THE GREAT BREEDERS OF THE MODERN MASTIFF 



looking through my kennel with Mr. Thompson, and coming 

 to Branch, bred by him, but then my property, he having 

 pressed me to accept the splendid but somewhat small animal, 

 1 asked him to what dog he attributed her full eyes to have 

 been derived from ; after thinking a few seconds, he replied 

 that he could trace them back to Fenton's Tiger, who had the 

 same peculiar look. The pedigree and breed of that dog Mr. 

 Thompson knew nothing about, never having troubled to 

 enquire at the time. 



1 would here wish to point out, as it shows the incorrectness 

 of the idea some have, that the English mastiff has been so 

 much improved by cultivation by Mr. Lukey and subsequent 

 breeders, that Mr. Thompson himself (who bred Cautley's 

 Quaker, who beat anything Mr. Lukey could bring against 

 him, and who obtained the sobriquet of " The Champion of 

 England," also Bill George's Tiger, notedly the best headed 

 dog of his day before the public, and the sire of Bamford's 

 Wolf, whose head perhaps has never been surpassed, if 

 equalled) considered " Hector," by Captain Fenton's Tiger, 

 the grandest headed dog that he had ever bred, and also 

 one of the largest. 



The English mastiff has not been so much improved as 

 some people ignorantly think, it has simply been resuscitated, 

 and in some instances from very doubtful blood, as 1 purpose 

 showing. Eor several reasons I have tried to trace Captain 

 Eenton out, but have failed hitherto, and fear he must have 

 been dead long since, as it must have been between 1830 and 

 1833 that he was at Halifax. 



One thing that fixes the date of Mr. Thompson's commence- 

 ment nearer to 1830 than 1833, is the fact that he had a litter 



