The Mastiff. 



exercises as these, the dogs become more sturdy 

 and strong." Here the duties of the mastiff appear 

 to have been of a varied character, if not altogether 

 a pleasant one, and it would be a dog to be avoided 

 by the general public. 



Conrad Heresbach, of Cleves on the Rhine, who 

 flourished, as the school books say, about the 

 middle of the sixteenth century, he being born in 

 1509 and dying in 1576, in his book of Husbandry, 

 translated into English by Barnaby Goodge, calls 

 the mastiff " the ban dog for the house. Such a 

 one should have a large and mighty body, a great 

 and shrill voice, that both with his barking he may 

 discover and with his sight dismay the thief ; yea, 

 not being seen, with the horror of his voice put 

 him to flight. His stature must neither be too long 

 nor too short, but well set ; his head great, his eyes 

 sharp and fiery, either brown or grey ; his lippes 

 blackish, neither turning up nor hanging too much 

 down ; his mouth black and wide ; his neather jaw 

 fat, and coming out on either side of it a fang 

 appearing more outward than his other teeth ; his 

 upper teeth, even with his neather, not hanging too 

 much over, sharp and hidden with his lips ; his 

 countenance like a lion ; his breast great and shag- 

 haired ; his shoulders broad, his legs big, his tail 

 short, his feet very great. His disposition must 



