The Bulldog. 217 



were examined, who were unanimous in their opinion 

 that the marks had been wilfully made whilst the 

 dog was in the show, and Mr. Oliver was exonerated 

 from all blame in the matter. He, however, took 

 the dastardly action so much to heart as to 

 completely sever his connection with the bulldog 

 " fancy." Another dog of note known to be 

 " faked " was F. Lamphier's Tiger, for which Mr. 

 George Raper gave ^45, well aware of the defects 

 of his purchase, but he considered him cheap at 

 the money for breeding purposes. 



About this time, which may be called the middle 

 period of the modern bulldog, Mr. F. Adcock a 

 most earnest admirer of the race was upon the 

 scene, and sometimes he had thirty or forty bulldogs 

 in his kennels. He had an opinion that the British 

 bulldog was degenerating physically and otherwise. 

 He believed that the original bulldog was a heavy 

 animal, and, as he could not find one to his liking in 

 this country, took a journey into Spain. As the 

 West had produced the wise men, so it was said 

 Spain had produced the best dogs. Mr. Adcock 

 brought back with him an immense animal, which 

 he called Toro. 



Now this dog was not so " black " as many 

 persons painted him. Mr. Adcock had been yearning 

 after big bulldogs, and even his great dog Ajax, 



