68 
DO G. Gass 
purpofes, as to attend to every part of the herd be’ 
it ever fo large; confine them to the road, and 
force in every ftrageler without doing it the leat. 
injury. 
The next is the Villaticus, or Catenarius;, the maf- 
tiff or band dog; a fpecies of great fize and ftrength, 
and a very loud barker. Manwood fays*, it de- 
rives its name from ma/fe thefefe, being fuppofed 
to frighten away robbers by its tremendous voice. 
Caius tells us that three of thefe were reckoned a 
match for a bear; and four for a lion: but from 
an experiment made in the Tower by Yames the 
firft, that noble quadruped was found an unequal 
match to only three. Two of the dogs were dif- 
abled in the combat, but the third forced the 
lion to feek for fafety by flight+. The Enghjh 
bull dog feems to belong to this fpecies; and pro- 
bably is the dog our author mentions under the 
title of Laniarius. Great-Britain was fo noted for 
its maftiffs, that the Roman Emperors appointed 
an officer in this ifland with the title of Procurator 
Cynegii t, whofe fole bufinefs was to breed, and 
tranimit from hence to the Amphitheatre, fuch as 
would prove equal to the combats of the place, ~ 
Magnaque taurorum fracturi colla Britanni ||. 
And Briti/ dogs fubdue the ftouteft bulls. — 
* Mauwood’s Foreft Law. 
$ Stow’s Annals, i427. 
t Camd. Brit. in Hampfbire. 
\| Claudia de laude Svilichonis. Lib. iii. Lin. 301. 
Gratius 
