"I will mention three other dogs. The first, Lord Waldegrave's Turk, better known as 'Couchez,' was the foundation of Mr. Lukey's breed. This dog has frequently been described to me by Bill George and Mr. Lukey, and I have a painting of his head at the present moment, He stood about 29 1/2in. or 30in. at the shoulder, with great length and muscular development, and, although he was never anything but thin, weighed about 1301b. Muzzle broad and heavy, with deep flews; skin over the eyes and about the neck very loose; colour red, with very black muzzle. He was a most savage animal; was fought several times with other animals, and was invariably victorious. The second was a tailless brindled bitch, bought by Mr. Lukey from George White of Knightsbridge. She was a very large massively built animal, standing 30in. at the shoulder. Her produce with Couchez were remarkably fine. 'Long-bodied, big-limbed, heavy-headed bitches. They were mastiffs Mr. Lukey had in those days!' is Bill George's eulogium of them. This bitch was bred by the Duke of Devonshire, and must therefore have been one of the Chatsworth breed. The third animal, L'Ami, was a brindled dog of such vast size and weight that he was taken about and shown in England, in the year 1829, the price of admission being one shilling.

Of the head of this dog also I have a drawing, and it shows him to be very full and round above the eyes, with a broad heavy muzzle and remarkably deep flews, the ears being cropped close. This dog, with the exception of rather heavier flews, answered exactly to the type of Vandyke's mastiff.

"Now the point to which I wish to draw attention is, that both Couchez and L'Ami came direct from the Convent of Mount St. Bernard. The mighty dogs which used to be kept at Chatsworth (and one of which stood 34in. at the shoulder) were pure Alpine mastiffs, as also were the two magnificent animals I have mentioned as having seen at Bill George's kennels some sixteen years ago; while others that I frequently used to meet with at that time were of the same character. These, one and all, presented the same type - a strong proof of their purity - and that type was in all respects the same as the old English mastiff portrayed by Vandyke. The same may be said of the dogs in Landseer's picture of Alpine mastiffs, which have all the points of the true mastiffs, although their tails, as might be expected from the cold climate, are hairier than they should be. At that time one used to meet with good English mastiffs also, but they were few compared to the number of half-bred animals that went by that name; and, with the exception of Mr. Lukey's breed, the good ones have nearly all come from Lancashire, Cheshire, and the north of England generally, where some years ago they were still in considerable request for guarding the large bleaching grounds.

Between these and the Alpine dogs I never could discover the slightest difference except in size - the best English dogs varying from 29in. to 33in. at the shoulder, while the Alpine male specimens were seldom under 32in.

"Now, it is ridiculous to suppose that the dogs that used to be found at the convent, and in a few of the Swiss valleys, were a breed indigenous to that small part of the continent of Europe; and yet it was there only that the breed existed. When, therefore, we find the same animal common in England two hundred years ago, and still to be met with in considerable numbers, though more rarely than formerly, it is only reasonable to conclude that the English and Mount St. Bernard mastiffs are identical breeds, and that the monks, requiring large, powerful, generous, and high-couraged animals for their benevolent purposes, selected the old English dog in preference to all other breeds. It is very easy to understand that with the disuse of the breed for combating wild animals they should have been allowed to die out and degenerate in England; and it is equally easy to understand that the mastiffs kept at the Convent of St. Bernard for a particular purpose, requiring strength and courage, should have been kept up, and thus that the best specimens of the breed in modern times have come from there".

According to Captain Garnier, therefore, Mr. Lukey's original breed was composed of Chatsworth and Alpine mastiffs, to which was added, by means of Lion, a strain of the Lyme Hall* breed. But, whatever may have been the origin, there can be no doubt that no finer specimen of the mastiff than Governor has ever been exhibited, and I have therefore retained his portrait, which is undoubtedly a faithful one, as representing the true type of the modern English mastiff. Mr. Green's Monarch was larger, but his head and ears were not so good as those of Governor, who showed moreover no trace of the bulldog, supposed to have existed in King and in Miss Aglionby's celebrated litter by that dog, including Wolf and Turk, as well as in Lukey's Baron, also by him. This cross is traced to Lord Darnley's Nell, supposed to be nearly or quite half bull.

As I stated in the last edition of this book, there is probably no variety of the species which combines so much strength and power of doing mischief with such docility and amiability, and hence he is, par excellence, the keeper's dog. A well-broken mastiff may be taken out at all hours, and in any company, by the most delicate lady, without the slightest fear of leading her into a scrape, and with the most perfect confidence in his protection. There are few Newfoundlands even, docile as they are generally considered to be, from whom it would be safe to take away a bone, but this may be fearlessly done by the master or mistress of the mastiff; and with children he is gentleness itself; yet when roused, and set at man or animal, his courage is second only to that of the bulldog. His sense of smell is acute; Mr. Hanbury tells me that his Duchess will track him with the truth of a bloodhound, and he has seen her draw up to a covey of partridges like a pointer. These dogs are not good at water, and do not voluntarily take it, except in the heat of summer. According to my experience the English mastiff is more reliable in temper than the modern St. Bernard, and bears the chain much better, confinement having a greater tendency to procure disease both of body and mind in the latter.

Indeed, I know no dog that stands confinement so well as the mastiff, and it is probably owing to the unfair advantage taken of this peculiarity that we see so many mastiffs deficient in legs and feet, as the result of want of exercise.