174 THE DOGS OF THE BEITISH ISLANDS. 



were pure Alpine mastiffs, as also were the two magnificent animals I have 

 mentioned as having seen at Bill George's kennels some sixteen years ago ; while 

 others that I frequently used to meet with at that time were of the same character. 

 These, one and all, presented the same type a strong proof of their purity and 

 that type was in all respects the same as the old English mastiff portrayed by 

 Vandyke. The same may be said of the dogs in Landseer's picture of Alpine 

 mastiffs, which have all the points of the true mastiffs, although their tails, as 

 might be expected from the cold climate, are hairier than they should be. At that 

 time one used to meet with good English mastiffs also, but they were few compared 

 to the number of half-bred animals that went by that name ; and, with the excep- 

 tion of Mr. Lukey's breed, the good ones have nearly all come from Lancashire, 

 Cheshire, and the north of England generally, where some years ago they were still 

 in considerable request for guarding the large bleaching grounds. Between these 

 and the Alpine dogs I never could discover the slightest difference except in size 

 the best English dogs varying from 29in. to 33in. at the shoulder, while the Alpine 

 male specimens were seldom under 32in. 



" Now, it is ridiculous to suppose that the dogs that used to be found at the 

 convent, and in a few of the Swiss valleys, were a breed indigenous to that small 

 part of the continent of Europe ; and yet it was there only that the breed existed. 

 When, therefore, we find the same animal common in England two hundred 

 years ago, and still to be met with in considerable numbers, though more rarely 

 than formerly, it is only reasonable to conclude that the English and Mount St. 

 Bernard mastiffs are identical breeds, and that the monks, requiring large, 

 powerful, generous, and high-couraged animals for their benevolent purposes, 

 selected the old English dog in preference to all other breeds. It is very easy 

 to understand that with the disuse of the breed for combating wild animals they 

 should have been allowed to die out and degenerate in England ; and it is equally 

 easy to understand that the mastiffs kept at the Convent of St. Bernard for 

 a particular purpose, requiring strength and courage, should have been kept 

 up, and thus that the best specimens of the breed in modern times have come 

 from there." 



According to Captain Gamier, therefore, Mr. Lukey's original breed was 

 composed of Chatsworth and Alpine mastiffs, to which was added, by means of 

 Lion, a strain of the Lyme Hall ' breed. But, whatever may have been the 

 origin, there can be no doubt that no finer specimen of the mastiff than 

 Governor has ever been exhibited, and I have therefore retained his portrait, 

 which is undoubtedly a faithful one, as representing the true type of the modern 

 English mastiff. Mr. Green's Monarch was larger, but his head and ears were 

 not so good as those of Governor, who showed moreover no trace of the bulldog, 

 supposed to have existed in King and in Miss Aglionby's celebrated litter by 

 that dog, including Wolf and Turk, as well as in Lukey's Baron, also by him. 

 This cross is traced to Lord Darnley's Nell, supposed to be nearly or quite 

 half bull. 



As I stated in the last edition of this book, there is probably no variety of 



