the bull-dog. 
717 
exposed, he has the constant appearance of grinning, while he 
is perfectly placid. He is the most ferocious and unrelenting 
of the canine tribe, and is, doubtless, courageous beyond 
every other animal in the world; for no animal, however 
great in magnitude, will be exempt from his attack. He is 
hardly capable of any education, and seems fitted only for 
combat and ferocity. He gives no warning by barking when 
he attacks, and holds with such determined pertinacity the 
part that he seizes upon, that it is with the utmost difficulty 
he can be disengaged. He generally lays hold of the lip, 
tongue, or side of the cheek or eye, which he maintains in 
spite of the most desperate efforts of the animal to free him¬ 
self from his antagonist; and no command of his master 
will induce him to desist, which can only be effected by 
squeezing the windpipe till he is nearly choked; and in¬ 
stances have occurred where he has been mutilated and still 
maintained his gripe. The thorough-bred bull-dog always 
attacks animals in front, seizing either on the head or 
throat, and when they lay hold of any of the extremi¬ 
ties, it is reckoned a degeneracy from the original purity of 
blood. 
This animal derived its name from his having been em¬ 
ployed in former times in assaulting the bull; and he is used 
for the same brutal purpose at the present day, where such 
amusements are still practised; but these are, like cock- 
fighting, happily on the decline. , 
The first bull-baiting, of which we have a well-authen¬ 
ticated account, took place in the reign of King John, in 
1209, at Stamford, in Lincolnshire, and had its origin in the 
following circumstance :—William, Earl Warren, Lord Stam¬ 
ford, standing upon the walls of his castle, saw two bulls 
fighting for a cow in the castle-meadow, till all the butchers’ 
dogs pursued one of the bulls (which was maddened by the 
