THE GREAT BREEDERS OF THE MODERN MASTIFF. 169 



out of Dorah, (born 1826) by Hector, the son of Captain 

 Teuton's Tiger, and Juno from Bill Georges. Subsequently 

 to this Mr. Thompson purchased Cymba, a fawn mastiff, 

 from some gentleman in Surrey, but he never asked for her 

 pedigree. In a letter dated May i9th, 1873, ^ ie states: 

 ''Cymba I bought from a gentleman who lived near London, 

 she was a large bitch with a bullet head, small ears, smooth 

 coated, and fawn coloured." Writing also July 24th, 1873, 

 he stated : k% Cymba came from some part of Surrey, and her 

 owner's name \Yickens, a perfect stranger to me, but I believe 

 an ardent fancier ; Cymba stood 26 inches." 



On the advice of Mr. Statham, Y.S. of Derby, (who was at 

 that time a breeder of Mr. Edge's noted strain of Strelly 

 pointers) Mr. Thompson sent Dorah to Sir Robert Wilmot's 

 fawn mastiff named Lion, according to Mr. Statham's account, 

 the finest mastiff he had ever seen, and a dog of great size. 

 Mr. Thompson gave John Crabtree a puppy out of this litter 

 which Was named Bess. From Dorah and Captain Fenton's 

 Tiger came Lion, kept at Arthrington Hall, Yorkshire, and 

 from that dog out of Cymba came Thornton's Juno. 



All these mastiffs were bred previous to 1849, in which 

 year Mr. Thompson went to see for the first time, the kennel 

 of his great rival, Mr. Lukey, then at Morden, and there saw 

 Xero, Nelson, Boxer, Lion, Bruce ist, and between fifteen 

 and twenty female specimens. Mr. Thompson then selected 

 and purchased a dark brindle puppy, which he named Bruce, 

 being one of the same litter as Mr. Lukey's blue brindle 

 Bruce ii. Mr. Thompson returned this dog to Mr. Lukey 

 when about twelve months old, not being satisfied with him, 

 and having bred from him at ten months he informed me. 



