THE ENGLISH MASTIFF. 



25 



him that have been a credit to him as a 

 sire. 



It is to be deplored that ever since the 

 era of Crown Prince there has been a per- 

 ceptible diminution in the number of good 

 examples of this fine old English breed, 

 and that from being an admired and 

 fashionable dog the ilastiff has so declined 

 in popularity- that few are to be seen either 

 at exhibitions or in breeders' kermels. At 

 the Crv'stal Palace in 1871 there were as 

 many as sixty-three ^lastiifs. 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-fi\e 

 \-ears later, where more than twelve hundred 

 dogs were entered, not a single Mastiff 

 was benched. 



The difficult}' of obtaining dogs of un- 

 blemished pedigree and superlative type 

 may partly account for this decline, and 

 another reason of unpopularitj' may be 



that the Mastiff requires so much attention 

 to keep him in condition that without it 

 he is apt to become indolent and hea\y. 

 Nevertheless, the mischief of breeding too 

 continuoush' 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. CrouTi Prince was 

 by no means the onh' great Mastiff bred 

 in Mr. Woolmore's kennels. Special men- 

 tion should be made of that grand bitch 

 Cambrian Princess (12,833). by Beau. She 

 was purchased by ilrs. WiUins, who, mating 

 her with ^Maximilian (a dog of her own 

 breeding by The Emperor), obtained Mint- 

 ing, who shared with Beaufort the reputation 

 of being unapproached for all round merit 

 in any period. It was a misfortune to the 

 breed that Glinting was allowed to leave 

 this country for the United States, where 

 he was easily able to hold his own on the 

 show bench, Beaufort, his only equal, not 



THE BEAUTIFUL FAWN MASTIFF CH. MINTING BY MAXIMILIAN CAMBRIAN PRINCESS. 



EXPORTED IN 1888 TO THE UNITED STATES, WHERE HE WAS REGARDED 

 AS SECOND ONLY TO CH. BEAUFORT 



Photograph by Schreibcr. 



