12 DOGS AND ALL ABOUT THEM 



be held responsible for the faults in many specimens of more 

 recent years. Unfortunately, he was indiscriminately bred 

 from, with the result that in a very short time breeders found 

 it impossible to find a Mastiff unrelated to him. 



It is to be deplored that ever since his era there 

 has been a perceptible diminution in the number of good 

 examples of this fine old English breed, and that from being 

 an admired and fashionable dog the Mastiff has so declined 

 in popularity that few are to be seen either at exhibitions or 

 in breeders' kennels. At the Crystal Palace in 1871 there 

 were as many as sixty-three Mastiffs on show, forming a line 

 of benches two hundred yards long, and not a bad one among 

 them ; whereas at a dog show held twenty-five years later, 

 where more than twelve hundred dogs were entered, not a 

 single Mastiff was benched. 



The difficulty of obtaining dogs of unblemished pedigree 

 and superlative type may partly account for this decline, 

 and another reason of unpopularity may be that the Mastiff 

 requires so much attention to keep him in condition that 

 without it he is apt to become indolent and heavy. Never- 

 theless, the mischief of breeding too continuously from one 

 strain such as that of Crown Prince has to some extent been 

 eradicated, and we have had many splendid Mastiffs since 

 his time. Special mention should be made of that grand 

 bitch Cambrian Princess, by Beau. She was purchased by 

 Mrs. Willins, who, mating her with Maximilian (a dog of her 

 own breeding by The Emperor), obtained Minting, who 

 shared with Mr. Sidney Turner's Beaufort the reputation of 

 being unapproached for all round merit in any period. 



The following description of a perfect Mastiff, taken from 

 the Old English Mastiff Club's Points of a Mastiff, is 

 admirable as a standard to which future breeders should 

 aim to attain. 



POINTS OF THE MASTIFF : General Character and Symmetry- 

 Large, massive, powerful, symmetrical and well-knit frame. A com- 

 bination of grandeur and good nature, courage and docility. General 



