CHAPTER XL 



The Mastiff 



ORE has been written about the mastiff than almost any 

 other breed of dogs; and, we are sorry to add, more mis- 

 information. Even up to the time of penning this chapter 

 the work of distributing erroneous statements and perfectly 

 indefensible conclusions goes on in England; and one of 

 the leading kennel papers gravely informs a correspondent that the name of 

 mastiff comes from a word said to be masethefe, "because they do mase and 

 feere away theeves. " Also that there was a Roman official appointed in 

 Britain to take care of the Roman war-dogs. This is an entirely new version 

 of the oft-repeated absurdity that there was at Winchester an official, known 

 as Procurator Cynegii, whose duty it was to select fighting dogs to ship 

 to Rome. Twenty years ago the late Rev. M. B. Wynn exposed this 

 stupid blunder. The official was "Procurator cynoecii" and his duty was 

 to attend to the shipping of goods manufactured at the royal weavery there. 

 Mr. Wynn held that, had the office been in connection with what the 

 Romans called the dogs of England, the title of any official whose duty it 

 was to select and ship fighting dogs to Rome, would have been Procurator 

 Pugnacium Vel Molossorum. 



Mr. Wynn's "History of the Mastiff" is the best work on the breed, 

 but it should be read with caution by persons who have not made a thorough 

 investigation and read up for themselves. The reason is that while he has 

 brought together a most valuable collection of data and gives many valuable 

 references to olden-time books, manuscripts and illustrations, he was so 

 rabidly impressed by the conviction that the mastiff was a very old breed and 

 yet thoroughly English that he twisted every available fact or stringing to- 

 gether of two or three words to bear out his line of argument. Unfortunately 

 for Mr. Wynn and those who have published similar suppositions, the 

 foundation upon which they built was a quicksand. Their whole structure 

 is based upon the mastiff of the earliest writings being the mastiff of our day, 

 and there they are wrong. It is singular that no person has at any time 



549 



