"There is only one style of ear admitted by judges as being correct nowadays, and that is the shape known as 'rose,' which, by the way it is folded, laps in an outward direction, exposing some part of the burr of the ear. The most objectionable form of ear is undoubtedly the 'button,' in which the tip falls forward, hiding the inside of the ear, as with fox terriers. What I consider a far less objectionable ear is the pricked or 'tulip' ear, because until quite recent years all the best specimens had them, and, moreover, in many cases they merely betoken a very large development of muscle in the jaw, whereas the 'button ' ear, being invariably a coarse one, is diametrically opposite to what is by general consent required, viz., smallness and thinness. The ears must be placed at the top edges of the skull, far from the eyes, and wide apart, so as to give an appearance of breadth to the skull between them, but if they are placed too low there is always a slight look of 'appleheadedness.'

"A good deal of a bulldog's appearance depends on whether his eyes are correct or not, though most writers appear to treat the subject as an unimportant one, contenting themselves by simply saying they should be dark. First, as regards position, they should be placed low down, but quite in front of the forehead, as far from the ears, from the nose, and from each other as possible so long as their outer corners are within the outline of the cheeks. They must be at right angles to the furrow before described, and only a little above the level of the base of the nasal bone. They should be quite round, fairly large, neither sunken nor protruding, and intensely dark, showing no white when looking directly forward; in fact, in the correct bulldog eye the dark brown colour of the iris seems to have run into the sclerotic, which fact accounts in some measure for the white of the eye not being seen.

"There is another phenomenon which is very typical of the breed that deserves notice, and that is an indescribable dark blue glare, seen especially when a bulldog is excited. I believe that the best word to express this is opalescence. The light hazel or yellow eyes that are now becoming prevalent are to be deprecated, there being a strong connection between them and Dudley noses. The deformity known as 'wall-eyed,' i.e., one eye of a lighter colour than the other, or eyes in which the iris is whitish, very light grey, or defective in colour, or eyes in which the whites are very large or distorted, is now very rarely seen, probably because it has been so persistently stamped out for many years.

"What is required in the neck is that it should be thick set, deep, muscular, and short, but of sufficient length to display an arch. The more it is furnished with thick loose skin forming a double dewlap for some distance downwards from the under jaw, the greater is the degree of character imported to the dog. The ribs should be of great depth and breadth, being well sprung, and should come far down between the fore legs to give ample space for the lungs and heart. The chests of many specimens lately exhibited have been of amazing width, an appearance added to by the immense development of the deltoid muscles, and this is certainly a point in the breed which every owner is anxious to produce even to exaggeration. Unless the shoulder blades are put on low, it is obviously impossible to obtain the desired width across the chest, therefore in good specimens it is found that the tops of the shoulder blades are never touching or even close together. Contrary to what is required in other breeds, the shoulder blades of a bulldog should slope considerably and not be vertical.

"The belly should be well tucked up, and not pendulous, a small narrow waist being greatly admired, it being a great object to obtain a large circumference just behind the shoulders, and the smallest possible one round the waist, which forms the appearance called 'cut up.' The back rises from behind the shoulders in a graceful curve, which curve reaches its summit over the top of the loins, and thence falls away rapidly to the stern, thus forming what is known as the wheel or roach back, which is essentially a characteristic of the breed, though very often wholly absent from many of the most successful dogs of the present time; and worse still is the endeavour to palm off dogs which are 'rump high' or 'stern high 'as being 'roached' backed, whilst the difference is that the 'stern high' dog rises in an almost straight line from behind the shoulder to the setting on of the tail.

"It is very noticeable that bulldogs are bred year by year shorter and shorter in the couplings, entirely replacing the long, low shape of former years by one as compact as possible. The tail should be set on low, deflecting slightly downwards, moderately short, thick at the root, tapering quickly to a fine point, should be devoid of 'feather,' not curved upwards at the end, called 'ring tailed,' and should be incapable of being raised above the level of the backbone, which is called a 'gay' carriage, a feat only possible to such tails as have no 'kinks' (kinks are really congenital dislocations of the joints of the tail). The screw tails, which are so peculiar to the breed, are objected to by a few authorities as indicating excessive in-breeding, an assumption which I venture to doubt.

"Of the limbs and feet the forelegs should be as wide apart as possible, very thick, stout, and strong, straight, and short. This great strength, muscularity, and immense bone are innovations of modern times, as our forefathers who kept bulldogs apparently were satisfied with limbs no thicker than pipe stems. How much of this abnormal growth of bone is the result of rickets in puppyhood is hard to say.

"Here again is evidence of a departure from what was admired, and sought after, but a very few years ago. I refer to what was called 'a pear-shaped front,' an expression which signified that the dog's chest across the shoulders when viewed from in front was very wide, that his fore legs appeared as if bowed, and that his pasterns nearly touched. But such a conformation is now denounced by nearly every judge of the breed, though I myself regret that 'pear-shaped fronts ' are now deprecated so strongly. I admit that a dog so formed is bound to have a 'wobbly' action when travelling, but it was a characteristic of the breed. Further, it had this advantage, that a dog so shaped in front was always allowed to stand naturally in the ring, whereas nowadays it is quite common to see dogs with their front legs deliberately propped as far apart as possible by their owners in the judging ring, so much so that judges have to lift dogs gently off the ground in front by their chain and collar, so as to allow their front legs to assume a natural position. The bitch Ruling Passion, and the dog Royal Rogue, were typical specimens of the "pear-shaped front".