This sight so pleased the said earl that he gave all those meadows (called the Castle Meadows) where first the bull duel began for a common to the butchers of the town, after the first grass was eaten, on condition they find a mad bull the day six weeks before Christmas Day for the continuance of that sport every year."

A yet ignobler band is guarded round With dogs of war - the bull their prize; And now he bellows, humbled to the ground, And now they sprawl in howlings to the skies.

******

Now bull! now dogge! 'loo, Paris, loo! The bull has the game: 'ware horns, ho '.

In bull-baiting the object the dog was required to effect was that termed "pinning and holding," which was to seize the bull by the muzzle "and not leave it;" the bull's nose being his most tender part, he was, when seized by it, rendered helpless. The bull in fighting naturally lowers his head to use his horns, and was often provided with a hole in which to bury his nose - some old veterans ("game" bulls), not so indulged, would scrape one for themselves; it was therefore necessary for the dog to keep his own head close to the ground, or, as it was termed, to "play low;" the larger dogs were obliged to crawl on their bellies to avoid being above the bull's horns, hence the smallest dog of the kind capable of accomplishing the object required was selected, it being useless to sacrifice large dogs when smaller and more active, though equally courageous dogs, answered the purpose better. The dog found to be the best suited to the requirements, and actually used by our ancestors until the cessation of bull baiting, was from 14in. to 18in. high, weighing 401b. or 501b., very broad muscular, and compact, as shown in pictures still extant, notably an engraving dated 1734, from a picture by Moreland, of three bull-dogs of exactly the same type as that of the purest bred dogs of the present day Crib and Rosa (1817), Lucy (1834) - "Mr. Howard and his Pets," "The Bull Loose," and others.

On the suppression of bull-baiting by Act of Parliament in the early part of the present century the bulldog lost its peculiar occupation, but was preserved from extinction in the families of some of its admirers and bred in all its purity.

After some considerable time the breed became fashionable for awhile as a companion. Subsequently an attempt was made to breed it as small as possible, for a toy, by crossing it with the terrier, but this attempt only resulted in a travestie of the true breed, and eventually failed on account of the tendency to revert to the original size.

Of late years strenuous attempts in the opposite direction have been made by a few breeders to increase the bulldog's size, by breeding it with the mastiff and large foreign dogs, and also to have the gigantic mongrel race received as a new standard for the old breed, with which it differs in the most important points (the broad mouth and receding nose especially). The result is the obliteration of the characteristic type.

In spite of all the breed has suffered from the neglect and disparagement of its opponents, and the injury it has sustained from its more mischievous and inventive patrons, there still remain true representatives of the original bulldog for the use of those breeders who wish to preserve the correct type of the pure, old-fashioned dog, and who are wise enough to decline to be misled by false pedigrees and specious arguments into breeding from novel-shaped parents under pretence of improving the breed and restoring it to what it is alleged to have been before bull-baiting became a separate sport. There are men still living who remember bull-baiting being practised; some of such have frequently described it to me, and their descriptions of the sport agree entirely with the one quoted by Jesse, dated 1694. The baited bull, like the coursed hare, was supposed to be better for eating than when killed in cold blood. The bull was fastened by a rope or chain, about four or five yards long, to a ring round a stake, and the dogs were slipped at him (generally) singly. "The dog that runs fairest and furthest in wins." The owner of the bull charged a certain sum for each dog slipped, and both he and the owners of the dogs made collections amongst the spectators.

My informants agree that the dogs used were of the same type and size as the best medium-sized dogs of the present day, but one says that some dogs were, in the last days of the sport, bred impure, the favourite cross being with a colley (bearing to the pure breed the same relation that the lurcher or poacher's dog bears to the pure greyhound), and always "ran cunning." It is also stated that a dog of about 401b. was sometimes able not merely to pin a bull, but to throw it on its side. Another informant, on whose word I can rely, related to me the following occurence, which he witnessed: Some cattle were being driven through a butcher's shop in London, when one broke away from the rest, and could not be driven through the door. The butcher called his bulldog, described as of the old-fashioned type, about 451b., which had been quietly watching the proceedings from the side of the shop, and the dog rushed immediately and seized the beast by the nose, and dragged it forcibly through the shop into the yard at the back.

The distinguishing characteristics of the bulldog are (as given in the ancient descriptions of the alaunt) a short nose, a large and massive head, and a "broad mouth" - the latter the most essential of all other points and a sine qua non. The larger the head in circumference (caused by the prominent cheeks), the greater the quantity of muscle to hold the jaws together; the shorter the snout and jaws, the more powerful the grasp (as in a vice or pair of pincers); the broader and flatter the mouth in front, laterally, the larger and broader the grip taken. The under jaw projects beyond the upper, to enable the dog when running directly to the front to grasp the bull, and, when fixed, to give him a firmer hold; the lower jaw, being very thick and strong, makes the mouth appear curved upwards across the middle of the face. The top of the nose inclines backwards, so as to allow free passage of the air into the nostrils whilst the dog was "holding." It is apparent that, if the mouth does not project beyond the nose, but that if the jaws and nose were even (" level"), the nostrils would be flat against the part to which the dog was fixed, and breathing would then be stopped. The dog is really then not a bulldog to all intents and purposes.