But what thy dulled spirits hath dismayed,
That never thou dost sport along the glade?
And (most unlike the nature of things young)
That earthward still thy moveless head is hung?
Do thy prophetic fears anticipate,

Meek child of misery! thy future fate?
The starving meal, and all the thousand aches
Which patient merit of the unworthy takes?
Or is thy sad heart thrilled with filial pain
To see thy wretched mother's shortened chain?
And truly very piteous is her lot—

Chained to a log, within a narrow spot-
Where the close-eaten grass is scarcely seen,
While sweet around her waves the tempting green!
Poor ass! thy master should have learnt to show
Pity-best taught by fellowship of woe!
For much I fear me, that he lives, like thee,
Half famished in a land of luxury!

How askingly its footsteps hither bend?

It seems to say, "And have I then one friend?"
Innocent foal! thou poor, despised forlorn!
I hail thee brother-spite of the fool's scorn!
And fain would take thee with me, in the dell
Of peace and mild equality to dwell,

Where Toil shall call the charmer Health his bride,
And Laughter tickle Plenty's ribless side!

How thou wouldst toss thy heels in gamesome play,
And frisk about as lamb or kitten gay!
Yea! and more musically sweet to me
Thy dissonant harsh bray of joy would be,
Than warbled melodies that soothe to rest
The aching of pale Fashion's vacant breast.

COLERIDGE.

THE dog, independent' of the beauty of his figure, his strength, vivacity, and nimbleness, possesses every internal excellence which can attract the regard of man. A passionate, and even a fero

cious and sanguinary temper, renders the wild dog formidable to all animals. But in the domestic dog these hostile dispositions vanish, and are succeeded by the softer sentiments of attachment and the desire of pleasing. He consults, he interrogates, he supplicates his master. A single glance of the eye is sufficient,—— for he knows the external signs of our intentions and wishes. Without being endowed, like man, with the faculty of thinking," his feelings are extremely delicate, and he has more fidelity and steadiness in his affection. He is not corrupted by ambition, by interested views, or by a desire of revenge; and he has no fear but that of displeasing. He is all zeal, ardour, and obedience. More apt to recal benefits than outrages, he is not discouraged by blows or bad treatment, but calmly suffers and soon forgets them, or he remembers them only to increase his attachment. Instead of flying, or discovering marks of resentment, he exposes himself to torture, and licks the hand from which he received the blow.

More tractable than man, and more pliant than any other animal, the dog is not only soon instructed, but even conforms himself to the manners, movements, and habits of those who govern him. He assumes the very tone of the family in which he lives. Like other servants, he is haughty with the great, and rustic with the peasant. Always eager to obey, and to please his master or his friends, he pays no attention to strangers, and furiously repels beggars, whom he distinguishes by their dress, their voice, and their gestures. When the charge of a house or garden is committed to him during the night, his boldness increases, and he sometimes becomes perfectly ferocious. watches, goes the rounds, smells strangers at a distance, and if they stop or attempt to leap any barrier, he instantly darts upon them, and, by barking and other marks of passion, alarms the family and neighbourhood. Equally furious against thieves as against rapacious animals, he attacks and wounds them, and forces from them whatever they have been attempting to carry off: but contented with victory, he lies down upon the spoil, and will not touch it even to satisfy his appetite, exhibiting at the same time an example of courage, temperance, and fidelity.

He

To conceive the importance of this species in the order of nature, let us suppose that it never existed. Without the assistance of the dog, how could man have conquered, tamed, and reduced the other animals into slavery? How could he still discover, hunt down, and destroy noxious and savage beasts? For his own safety, and to render him master of the animated world, it was necessary to form a party among the animals themselves, to conciliate by caresses those which were capable of

attachment and obedience, and to oppose them to the other species. Hence the training of the dog seems to have been the first art invented by man; and the result of this art was the conquest and peaceable possession of the earth.

Most animals are superior to man in agility, swiftness, strength, and even in courage: nature has fortified and armed them better. Their senses, and particularly that of smelling, are likewise more perfect. To have brought over to our interest a bold and tractable species, like that of the dog, was to acquire new senses and faculties. The machines and instruments we have invented, to improve or to extend our other senses, are not nearly so useful as those presented to us ready made by nature, which, by supplying the defects of our smelling, have furnished us with great and permanent resources for conquest and dominion. The dog, ever faithful to man, will always maintain a portion of this empire; he will always preserve a degree of superiority

above the other animals.

He reigns at the head of a flock, and s better heard than the voice of the shepherd. Safety, order, discipline, are the fruits of his vigilance and activity. Sheep and cattle are a people subjected to his management, whom he prudently conducts and protects, and never employs force against them but for the preservation of peace and good order.

The dog may be said to be the only animal whose fidelity is unshaken; who always knows his master and the friend of the family; who distinguishes a stranger as soon as he arrives; who understands his own name, and the voices of the domestics; who confides not in himself; who calls on his lost master by cries and lamentations; who, in long journeys which he has travelled but once, remembers and finds out the roads ;-in fine, the dog is the only animal whose natural talents are conspicuous, and whose education is always successful.-BUFFON.

1. Better independently. Why?

2. The assertion is rather strong. The dog certainly can think and go through some process of reasoning; innumerable facts show this to be the case.

3. The meaning is not very well expressed here. It would perhaps be better to say, "Like other servants he is haughty when in the employment of

the great, and rustic," that is ungainly and rough, "when in the service of the peasant.'

4. Badly expressed again. "To be convinced of the importance of the dog, let us consider how we could have got on without him," or some such mode of expression would have been better.

ULYSSES' DOG.

WHEN wise Ulysses, from his native coast
Long kept by wars, and long by tempests tost,
Arrived at last, poor, old, disguised, alone,

To all his friends, and e'en his queen, unknown;
Changed as he was with age, and toils, and cares,
Furrowed his reverend face, and white his hairs;
In his own palace forced to ask his bread,
Scorned by those slaves his former bounty fed,
Forgot of all his own domestic crew;
The faithful dog alone his master knew;
Unfed, unhoused, neglected, on the clay,
Like an old servant, now cashiered, he lay ;
And though e'en then expiring on the plain,
Touched with resentment of ungrateful man,
And longing to behold his ancient lord again.
Him when he saw, he rose, and crawled to meet,—
'Twas all he could,-and fawned, and kissed his feet,
Seized with dumb joy; then, falling by his side,
Owned his returning lord, and looked and died.

Insidious.

Affection.

Extremities.

Assailants.

POPE.

THE tiger preys upon all other animals, but he seems to prefer man; he is insidious and bloodthirsty to a great degree. He generally lies in ambush until his unsuspecting prey is within reach of his bound, which is sudden and so forcible as to bear down his victim, into whose body he fixes his teeth, and carries him into the jungle, whence the spring was made.

Notwithstanding the ferocious character of the tiger, the female displays the deepest feelings of maternal affection, braving every danger for the preservation of her cubs, and furiously attacking every animal and man in their defence. The tiger, when taken soon after its birth, may be tamed, and it is capable of great attachment and fondness; but the natural disposition of the animal is apt to break out; consequently, even in the tamest state it is not to be trusted.

Tigers are captured in various ways in India, but the hunt is the most manly and the noblest mode of capturing the animal;

and when the native princes engage in it, all that barbaric pomp in which they delight is exhibited to the utmost. The following graphic account will afford some idea of this amusement. Previous to the hunt, an encampment had been formed near the scene of action, and elephants were despatched for the accommodation of the hunters. "With the appearance of the grey dawn the sportsmen, all mounted on elephants, formed themselves into a line of great extent, and entered the jungle. For some minutes no game was discovered; but the eye of the huntsman, as it searched the gloom of the thicket, lighted on a tiger's lair, in which were the half-devoured carcass of some large animal, two human skulls, with a heap of bones, some bleached, others still red with gore. They had not proceeded many hundred yards before the cry of 'Bâg! Bâg! the tiger! the tiger!' re-echoed along the line. On the spot where a single tiger had been pointed out on the discharge of the first gun, a scene presented itself which the most experienced tigerhunters then present declared to be the most striking they had ever seen. Five full-grown royal tigers sprang together from the same spot where they had sat in bloody congress. Each took a different path, but running heavily they again couched in new covers within the same jungle, and were all marked.

The hunters now formed a crescent, whose horns embraced both extremities of the jungle-the state elephants, with the marksmen and the ladies, forming the centre. When we had slowly and warily approached the spot where the first tiger lay, he moved not until we were close upon him, when, with a roar that resembled thunder, he rushed upon us. The elephants wheeled round at once, and shuffled off. They returned, however, after a flight of about fifty yards, and as they again approached the spot where the tiger had lodged himself, towards the skirts of the jungle, he once more rushed forth, and springing at the side of an elephant, upon which three natives were mounted, at one stroke tore a portion of the pad from under them, and one of the riders, panic struck, fell off. The tiger, however, seeing his enemies in force, returned slow and indignant, into his shelter; where, the place he lay in being marked, a heavy and welldirected fire was poured in by the principal marksmen; when, pushing in, we saw him in the struggle of death; and, growling and foaming, he expired. Three others were roused and killed under similar circumstances; but the fifth, the oldest and most ferocious, escaped. When the last of the three was attacked he escaped several assaults, and from different parts of the jungle rushed upon his assailers at each wound he received with rekindled rage, and as often put the whole line to flight.