Mr. Robert Leadbetter 



ALTHOUGH this gentleman has, he tells me, taken a warm interest 

 in animals of every sort and kind all his life, I am bound to say I 

 should have drawn the line at bears; but I was sorry to see he 

 lost a valuable animal of this kind not long since, in a fight with 

 a companion with whom it had hitherto lived on good terms. 



Mr. Leadbetter 

 mentions that when 

 a small boy he was 

 much fascinated with 

 a Harlequin Great 

 Dane he saw in a 

 den in Wombwell's 

 Menagerie, in com- 

 pany with three per- 

 forming tigers, and 

 was so much struck 

 by the pluck and 

 determination shown 

 by the dog in the 

 rough play with his 

 companions, that he 

 determined to take 

 up Great Danes, with 

 which he has been 

 fairly successful, even 

 in these days of 

 several strong and 

 old-established ken- 

 nels, at many of the 

 best shows. 



I am pleased to 

 say he has also 



energetically espoused the cause of the Old English Mastiff, which 

 badly wants help, and I hope we shall see many good specimens 

 of this noble breed from the Hazlemere kennels, as all the old 

 fanciers who remember the grand classes we used to see of the'se 

 fine animals at most of the shows between 1870 and 1890 must 

 feel, with the writer, that it is almost a national reproach that there 

 should be more enthusiasm on the continent of Europe and in 



ii 



From photo by Thos. Fall, Baker Street, W. 



MR. ROBERT LEADBETTER 



