228 THE BULL-DOGf. 



Nor is there in any of the classics ascribed to other 

 dogs the habitual distinction of pulling down a bull, 

 noticed by Claudian. 



Magnaque taurorum fracturs3 coUa Britannas. 



In Stil. 3. 



Recent experiments have confirmed the result of 

 those instituted in the reign of James I. ; and al- 

 though our dogs are now of a smaller breed, four 

 have still proved more than a match for a caged 

 lion. 



The bull-dog is possessed of less sagacity and less 

 attachment than any of the hound tribe; he is there- 

 fore less favoured, and more rarely bred Avith care, 

 excepting by professed amateurs of sports and feel- 

 ings little creditable to humanity. In stature the 

 present race is of moderate size, but entirely 

 moulded for strength and elasticity; the head is 

 large; the forehead sinks between the eyes, and 

 the line of the nose rises again at a considerable 

 angle ; the lower jaw projects beyond the upper, 

 often showing the teeth, which altogether, with the 

 frequent redness about the eyelids, produces a most 

 forbidding aspect ; the ears are partially drooping, 

 unless the terrier blood is crossed in the animal ; 

 and the tail is carried high. The present breed is 

 commonly ochry or reddish buflp, Vi^ith the nose and 

 chops alone black. Formerly when the brindled 

 breed, always preferred on the Continent, was ex- 

 ported for strengthening the wolf and boar packs of 

 hounds, the ears Avere always cropped ; and we 

 have seen leathern armour, consisting of a breast- 

 piece and c?p, with holes for the eyes, made of 



