THE BULL-TERRIER 199 



unearth the fox, or bolt the otter : which accomplishments 

 afforded no amusement to the Town. They wanted a dog 

 combining all the dash and gameness of the terrier with the 

 heart and courage and fighting instinct of the Bulldog. 

 Wherefore the terrier and the Bulldog were crossed. A large 

 type of terrier was chosen, and this would be the smooth-coated 

 Black and Tan, or the early English White Terrier ; but pro- 

 bably both were used indifferently, and for a considerable 

 period. The result gave the young bucks what they required : 

 a dog that was at once a determined vermin killer and an 

 intrepid fighter, upon whose skill in the pit wagers might with 

 confidence be laid. 



The animal, however, was neither a true terrier nor a true 

 Bulldog, but an uncompromising mongrel ; albeit he served 

 his immediate purpose, and was highly valued for his pertina- 

 city, if not for his appearance. In 1806 Lord Camelford 

 possessed one for which he had paid the very high price of 

 eighty-four guineas, and which he presented to Belcher, the 

 pugilist. This dog was figured in The Sporting Magazine of 

 the time. He was a short-legged, thick-set, fawn-coloured 

 specimen, with closely amputated ears, a broad blunt muzzle, 

 and a considerable lay-back ; and this was the kind of dog 

 which continued for many years to be known as the Bull-and- 

 terrier. He was essentially a man's dog, and was vastly in 

 favour among the undergraduates of Oxford and Cambridge. 



Gradually the Bulldog element, at first pronounced, was 

 reduced to something like a fourth degree, and, with the 

 terrier character predominating, the head was sharpened, the 

 limbs were lengthened and straightened until little remained of 

 the Bulldog strain but the dauntless heart and the fearless 

 fighting spirit, together with the frequent reversion to brindle 

 colouring, which was the last outward and visible characteristic 

 to disappear. 



Within the remembrance of men not yet old the Bull-terrier 

 was as much marked with fawn, brindle, or even black, as are 

 the Fox-terriers of our own period. But fifty years or so ago 



