550 
looked at from his point of view, the dog 
has had a terrible unrelenting enemy from 
the very commencement of things in that 
heterogeneous mass of beasts and birds which 
are all included in the one word “‘ Game.” 
One could almost say in sporting parlance, 
that, at any rate in olden time, he had not 
a 100 to i chance. Everything that could 
be done for the perfect security of game 
was done, and would be done even if it 
meant annihilation, almost to extinction of 
the dog. If he were found even looking 
at game when he ought not to, one may 
be sure the death knell of that particular 
dog was sounded, and when one thinks over 
these matters and considers the great 
handicap that was always on him it 1s 
surely somewhat astounding to find now- 
adays any specimens of the canine race in 
existence at all. 
Relics of the old Forest Laws are, how- 
ever, still with us. The lord of a manor has 
still some rather autocratic powers which 
might work great hardship on the owner 
of a valuable dog, e.g. the 13th section of 
the Game Act, 1831, enacts that a lord of 
manor or steward of any Crown manor, has 
power by writing under hand and seal to 
appoint one or more gamekeepers to seize 
and take for the use of lord or steward, or 
kill all dogs used within the manor for killing 
game by any person not holding a game 
licence. 
Badger- ana Previous to the reign of Queen 
Bull-baiting, Victoria, a great deal of sport 
ele of the nature of badger- and 
bull-baiting seems to have been carried 
on, especially within the Metropolitan Police 
district. Doubtless it came to the ears of 
the legislature that the traditions of these 
sports were in London somewhat abused, 
and the crowds who collected to witness 
them no doubt gradually became worse and 
worse, many rowdy and objectionable scenes 
being witnessed, until it was felt at last that 
a whole batch of these forms of sport must 
be made illegal. Accordingly the statute 
2 and 3 Vict., c. 47, was passed, which 
enacted that (1) Within the Metropolitan 
Police District every person keeping, using, 
THE NEW BOOK 
OF THE DOG. 
or managing any place, room, house, or pit 
for baiting or fighting lions, bears, badgers, 
cocks, dogs, or other animals, shall be lable 
to a fine of £5, or be sent to a House of 
Correction for not more than one month, 
with or without hard labour, and that all 
persons found upon the premises at the 
time of such exhibitions being given, were 
liable to a fine of 5s. a piece. 
(2) Every person who, within the Metro- 
politan Police District, shall turn loose any 
horse or cattle, or suffer to be at large any 
unmuzzled ferocious dog, or set on or urge 
any dog or other animal to attack, worry or 
put in fear any person, horse or other 
animal, shall be liable to a fine of 4os. 
(3) Any person who, in the Metropolitan 
Police District shall use any dog for drawing, 
or helping to draw, any cart, carriage, truck, 
or barrow, shall be liable to a penalty of 4os. 
for first offence (by a later act it was made 
not exceeding {5 for the second and every 
subsequent offence). 
This statute must, indeed, at the time it 
was passed, have created a certain amount 
of consternation among the several different 
classes of society. One can only feel glad 
that such brutal exhibitions as dog fights, 
bear- and badger- baiting and the like, were 
put a stop to as far as the Law-makers of 
the day were able, and perhaps also the 
same remarks apply with regard to the 
making illegal the use of the dog as a draught 
animal, though it is true in reference to this 
latter, dogs as long as they are well treated 
and properly fed and kept, do not seem to 
object to being used as such ; on the contrary, 
in the writer’s experience they seem rather 
to enjoy any such employment, always 
providing they are with their master or the 
person they look upon as such. 
London is always said to be the centre of 
all evil, and whatever truth there may be 
in this, it seems so to have been considered 
in the early part of Queen Victoria’s reign, 
for although as stated above, these “‘ sports ”’ 
were made illegal by the statute referred to, 
it was not until some years later that the 
provisions of that statute were extended to 
all parts of the United Kingdom, this being 
affected by 17 and 18 Vict., c. 60. Whereas 
