Photograph by J. W. Wilkins, Hednesford. 
In addition to the headpiece which adorns 
this page, we give portraits of 
The Mastiff. three dogs, each of whom can 
lay claim to some distinction. 
For the portraits and information concerning 
the English and Tibetan Mastiffs we are 
indebted to Mr. H. C. Brooke, who writes :— 
“Although the Bulldog is commonly called 
the national breed of this country, there is 
really not the slightest doubt that this title 
should really with far more right be borne by 
the Mastiff, which is a breed of far greater 
antiquity, and which no doubt was originally 
derived from the mastiff by a process of 
selection of specimens more suitable for the 
sport of bull-baiting. The mastiff we find 
referred to by old writers long before any 
mention is made of the bulldog; and even at 
the commencement, when we do find bull- 
dogs mentioned, there is no doubt that those 
animals were not bulldogs as we to-day 
understand the term, but simply dogs of 
any variety, but usually mastiffs, used for 
baiting the bull: similarly we find frequent 
references to bear-dogs, but on this account 
no one has yet claimed that the old English 
bear-dog was a special variety. A very little 
reflection will show that very different stamps 
of animals might be found suitable for combat 
with two such diverse adversaries as bull and 
bear: and whilst at first, according to the 
fancies of their respective owners, one pup 
out of a litter might become a bear-dog and 
the other a bulldog, that would not prevent 
them both from being mastiffs, from which 
breed, no doubt, in turn, by selection of small 
and undershot specimens, the real bulldog 
would be evolved. It is a matter for wonder 
and regret that such a noble, majestic, and 
ancient breed as the mastiff should have been 
allowed to dwindle away numerically in its 
native land as is now the case, when those 
fanciers who really do anything in the breed 
may be counted on the fingers. Why the often 
evil-tempered St. Bernard, with the additional 
drawback common to all long-haired dogs of 
requiring more attention, should be preferred 
to him is a riddle, and one might well have 
expected that when the Kennel Club pro- 
mulgated its edict against the cropping of 
dogs’ ears, many fanciers of big breeds would 
have left the Great Dane, who thereby was 
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