66 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



night was especially memorable in their history. The soldiers of the garrison, overcome with wine, 

 were fast asleep, when the enemy disembarked, and would have advanced, had it not been for the dogs, 

 who attecked them with indomitable courage, and continued the conflict until forty-nine fell. The 

 survivor retreated from the battle-field to the citadel, but it was to give the alarm ; the soldiers were 

 aroused from their slumbers, and the foe was repelled. A monument of marble was erected in honour 

 of the dogs that fell, which bore their names, as well as that of the survivor, Soter, but the Senate 

 onl lined that he should wear a silver collar, bearing the inscription : " Soter, defender and preserver 

 of Corinth." 



A breed allied to the mastiffs, and, perhaps, the same race, existed in England before the Ronum 

 conquest, as did also a breed of large bull dogs. They were highly valued in Rome for the combats 

 of the circus. Colonel H. Smith, indeed, thinks there was only one of these breeds anciently in 

 England, that is, a large bull dog, nearly equalling the mastiff in size. 



Dr. Caius, a naturalist of the time of Elizabeth, states that three mastiffs were reckoned a match 



l-IIK MASTIFF OF T11IIIKT. 



for a bear, and four for a lion. Stow, in his " Annals," describes a contest between three mastiffs and 

 a lion, which took place in the presence of James I. One of the dogs being put into the den, was soon 

 disabled by the lion, which took it by the head and dragged it about. Another dog was then let loose 

 and served in the same manner ; but the third being put in, immediately seized the lion by the lip, and 

 held him for a considerable time, till, being severely torn by his claws, the dog was obliged to quit its 

 hold, and the lion, greatly exhausted in the conflict, refused to renew the engagement, but, taking a 

 sudden leap over the dogs, rushed to the inner part of his den. Two of the dogs soon died of their 

 wounds ; the last survived. 



Sir Thomas Roe took out some English mastiffs to India, as a present for the Great Mogul : they 

 vrere of marvellous courage. One of them leaped overboard to attack a shoal of porpoises, and \VM.S 

 lost. Only two of them lived to reach India. They travelled each in a little coach to Agra : one 

 broke loose by the way, fell upon a large elephant, and fastened on his trunk : the elephant at last 

 succeeded in hurling him off. This story delighted the Mogul, and these dogs, in consequence, came 

 to as extraordinary a fortune as Whittington's cat. Each had a palankeen to take the air in, with two 

 attendants to bear him, and two more to walk on each side and fan off the flies. The Mogul had a 

 pair of silver tongs made, that he might, when he pleased, feed them with his own hand. 



