Quite recently a somewhat interesting correspondence has taken place in the Field regarding what some contributors called the "deterioration of the mastiff," implying by these words that the old English mastiff of the present day was not equal to what it had been, say, twenty-five years or so ago. Whether this is the case or not it would be difficult to determine from what was written by those engaged in the controversy, for, as is always the case with ordinary newspaper discussions, the general reader was about as wise at its termination as he was at the beginning. There is, however, no doubt that the modern mastiff breeder, in allowing a craze for huge heads and great skulls to get the better of him, has, as a rule, produced these exaggerations to the sacrifice of the body, loins, legs, and general symmetry of the animal.

This was, however, so marked about two years ago that even those who had been the means of causing such retrogression noticed the error they had made, and are now, I fancy, doing their best to remedy their mistake. So, possibly in a couple of years more, our race of mastiffs will have become more symmetrical, will have lost their cow-hocks, crooked fore legs, and hollowed backs, which combined render their gait an awkward rolling movement, more like that of an aged shorthorn going into the byre than that which ought to be possessed by a leading family of the canine race.

Some of our modern mastiffs of the Crown Prince strain would, I am afraid, have made but sorry protectors for an English warrior who lay grievously wounded on the field of Agincourt.

Although considerable diversity of opinion has existed, and will always exist, as to the origin of the mastiff, there is little doubt that it is the oldest variety of dog connected with Great Britain, and upon this most authorities appear to be agreed, though there are occasional admirers of the bulldog who would have us believe that that variety of the canine race was one of the original dogs of the British Isles. History has told us that during the time of the Roman occupation of Britain, an officer was appointed with the title of Procurator Cynegii, whose business it was to obtain and transmit to Rome mastiffs that would prove useful as guards and, mayhap, in fighting in the arena either amongst themselves or with wild beasts. At about this period every two "villeins" were by law compelled to keep between them one mastiff dog, and the duties of the Procurator would, no doubt, be to collect the dogs, when fully grown, from these common people. Strabo tells us that the same mastiffs were used by the Gauls in times of war.

The Rev. M. B. Wynn, in his "History of the Mastiff," has been most praiseworthy in his researches as to the origin of the mastiff, and, I believe, has collected facts together which ought to convince even the most sceptical of the identity of the mastiff with that large dog which the Romans found in this country, and which they afterwards made useful and amusing in their degrading sports of the arena. There are numerous illustrations on various pieces of ancient Roman-British pottery which can easily be identified as representing a dog of the mastiff type, such a one as some nineteen hundred years or more ago might be found in this country, and utilised as guard to the flocks and herds, protecting them by their size, strength, and ferocity from the wolves that then overran the country.

There might at the same time be a smaller variety of the same dog, but of this there is no proof, and that the early mastiff was quite different from the early bulldog in leading particulars may be safely inferred, especially when, in support thereof, there are extant illustrations dating from the Roman period where the mastiff is attacking a horse, which he is represented as doing from behind, and not flying at the nose or front, which is the natural seizing place of the true bulldog.

Mr. Wynn further says that in 1823, in a work entitled "Roman Antiquities, or the Durobrivæ of Antonicus Identified," there is a picture of a mastiff galloping after a horse, and, judging from the relative size of the two animals, which are both carefully and accurately delineated, such dogs must have been from 28 to 30 inches at the shoulder, heads broad and full, muzzle very short and broad, ears small and partially erect. Their necks and bodies are massive, limbs short and stout, sterns fine, and the tout ensemble that of long-bodied, muscular, heavy mastiffs. The same writer proceeds to say that such instances are proof of what the mastiff was say between A.D. 100 and 150, which would be about the time the vessels were made upon which the figures were represented, and from which the engravings were taken. "These," the author of the "History of the Mastiff" proceeds to say, "are the best drawn and most reliable evidences I have met with, and it would be ridiculous to class such dogs as bulldogs, with their manner of attack and large size; yet their broad skulls and short muzzles show their close affinity to the British bulldog".

There are other illustrations of large dogs extant taken from ancient pottery, and in some of them the ears of the animals are shown as cut, the latter no doubt done to prevent the aural appendages being torn, either when the dogs were fighting with each other, or with some wolf, or fox, or badger.

However, it would occupy too much space were I to enter fully into the origin of the mastiff and describe him seriatim from the earliest days to the present time. He was early known as the Alaun or Alan, the Molossus, and later, according to some authorities, as the Bulldog, but I should be inclined to believe - nay, do in reality believe - that our modern mastiff, as he appears on the show bench to-day, is very far removed from what he was when Julius Caesar first landed on our shores, and although Mr. Wynn, Mr. H. D. Kingdon, and others have endeavoured to trace the breeding of these favourite dogs for many years back, their labours have not had a successful result. A dog's pedigree for a hundred years, excepting, maybe, in a foxhound or greyhound, is not to be compiled with any degree of exactitude. Still there have been in this country, from earliest records to the present time, a breed of dog that has done duty as the mastiff, and so well has he performed his part that he may be well called the most historical dog of the day.