which scaled 65lb., and was good enough to win at Birmingham in 1872, did not satisfy him. So, as before hinted, he went to Spain to seek for a bigger animal, with the result above stated. However likely Toro was to improve the bulldogs of this country, and his appearance led one to believe that he would do so, at stud he proved a complete failure. This was unfortunate, for then, an introduction of new blood would have been very useful, especially so far as improving the activity and strength of the modern article. And Toro was an active dog. He may have been a "fluke" somehow or other, for if his parents, or one of them, or his uncles or aunts, or grandparents had been as good as he, he must have got better stock than was actually the case. sonally, I considered Toro an exceptionally fine dog, and would prefer him to many of the leading winners of the present day. What he resembled will be seen from the following description from the Field at that time: "Toro is a huge, massive dark chestnut or 'carroty' brindled dog, with blackish muzzle; he has very deep flews, high temples, large nostrils, and is very much underhung, and, for his size, short in the face. His eyes are tolerably full, and a good deal of the white is shown; the 'stop,' or indentation between the eyes, is large and deep, and runs high up the head. The skin about

Per

His

the head is very loose, and falls into wrinkles and folds when the ears of the dog are erected; and a deep double dewlap runs from the angles of the mouth to the sternum. His ears have been cut out, very little of the burr being left, and this greatly detracts from the apparent size of his head. neck is arched, short, very thick and muscular, and covered with quantities of loose skin; the shoulders broad and flat at the top, standing well out from the ribs, and very muscular; the elbows well out from the ribs; the forearm very thick, and slightly bowed; feet large and round, and furnished with very strong claws; the chest is great, and not only broad, but deep, and the ribs are very round. There is a considerable fall at the shoulders, and from that point the loins begin to rise, the arch terminating at the insertion of the tail. This is placed very low, has a downward crook at the root and another at the end,

is

very short and fine in bone, and is never erected so high as the level of the dog's back. The loins are strong and muscular, as are also the hind quarters, the stifles turning out slightly, and the hocks rather close together. The whole of the hind quarters are small, as compared with the fore quarters, and are considerably higher. The coat is very fine and smooth, and the hair very hard in texture. In showing condition Toro weighs golb. The follow

ing are his exact measurements: Head, 22in.; chop, close up to eye, 14in.; length of face from corner of eye to tip of nose, 24in.; from corner of eye down to angle of mouth, 5in.; between eyes, 2 in.; from ear to ear across forehead, 5 in.; from top of nose to under jaw, 3in.; projection of lower incisors beyond those in the upper jaw when the mouth is closed, in.; between canines in upper jaw, 2in.; in lower jaw, about 2in., being broken; round neck, 19in.; length of neck, 5in.; round ribs, 31in.; across chest, 13in.; between forelegs, 9in.; length of neck and body from apex of skull to root of tail, 30in.; round forearm, 8 in.; round loins, 21in.; height at shoulder, 22in.; from point of elbow to ground, 11in.

"Toro, although very forbidding in appearance, is exceedingly quiet and docile, and is possessed of great intelligence; he retains all the peculiar attributes of the ancient British bulldog-such as size, courage, &c. He will only pin an animal by the head, and when fighting is perfectly silent and utterly regardless of pain. He is rather slow in his movements, has a rolling kind of gait, and carries his head low."

Although Toro has not handed down any of his excellent qualities to present generations, I should say that heavy weight bulldogs are more numerous now than was the case then. At the leading shows

we see some half dozen bulldogs or more that vary from 55lb. to 65lb. in weight, and these big dogs, which usually have special classes provided for them, if not proportionately so massive in head as the medium-sized animals, are, as a rule, more active on their legs and smarter generally in their movements. Of course, in dwelling so much on the matter of activity, I do not mean to infer that a bulldog should be as lithe and smart in his action as a fox terrier. Still, he must be able to walk and run a bit, which he does with a peculiar roll, which is all his own.

About the same period a little later and a little earlier perhaps that Mr. Adcock was proving unsuccessful in producing bulldogs as big and active as he desired, others were working away on a somewhat different line, and with greater success. These were, in addition to those already named who came earlier, Messrs. Bill Page, Frank Redmond, Rivers Wilson, and Billy Shaw, of London; Messrs. Peter Eden and John Henshall, of Manchester; Mr. W. H. Tyser, Mr. R. Fulton, Mr. T. Verrinder, Mr. H. Layton, Mr. A. Benjamin, Mr. J. W. Gurney, with Messrs. R. J. Lloyd Price, S. E. Shirley, G. Raper, J. W. Berrie, J. Ure, Dundee; H. Munro, Hull; R. J. Hartley, &c. At one time or another, and during a period extending over almost two generations, the British bulldog must be indebted to the

above gentlemen for the position and excellence it holds at the present time.

Some of them were dealers, others were amateurs; but all worked with the same object in view, and, I should say, have attained their end. Jacob Lamphier at one time had the lead, and, at any rate, he made his mark by possessing two such good dogs as King Dick and Romanie, the latter purchased by Mr. Lloyd Price for £150-an enormous sum then for a bulldog, as it is now. Unfortunately, Mr. Price was not so successful as he deserved, for, after winning first prize at Birmingham in 1865, on his journey to the next show poor Romanie was found smothered in the guard's van. F. Lamphier's Crib (brindled), Jesse Oswell's Dan (a white dog, particularly handsome for a bulldog), Mr. John Henshall's Duke (another white dog, bred by the Duke of Hamilton), Mr. R. Fulton's Falstaff, Mr. Lloyd Price's Michael the Archangel (another white dog, and historical in his way because eaten during the siege of Paris in 1871), Mr. Clement Butler's Stead, Mr. Henshall's Juno, Mr. F. Lamphier's Meg and Rush, Mr. G. A. Dawes' Maggie Lauder, Mr. Verrinder's Poll, were about the best specimens that flourished from twenty to twenty-five years ago, and there are few modern bulldogs, if any, which do not contain the strain of one or another of them.