: BY FRANCES POWER COBBE 
 
THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the collection of 
 Julius Doerner, Chicago 
 Purchased, 1918. 
 
 5915 
 C<b3£ 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY 
 AT URBANA-CHAMPAI6N 
 STACKS 
 
ilp Couulrij 3§mt$ij Jiiltiprnj, 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 FALSE BEASTS 
 
 AND 
 
 TRUE. 
 
 <fa|)5 jm |Taturat (and liumtut[at) History 
 
 BY 
 
 FRANCES POWER COBBE. 
 
 LONDON . 
 
 WARD, LOCK, AND TYLER, 
 
 WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
THE COUNTRY HOUSE LIBRARY 
 
 OP 
 
 FICTION, TRAVEL, ESSAY, BIOGRAPHY, 4c. 
 
 33 BTJ^JSTJDJ^^IJD XjIVIZtTG- ATJTHOHS, 
 COPYRIGHT EDITIONS. 
 PRICE ONE SHILLING EACH. 
 
 1. THE MAD WILLOUGHBYS, and other Tales. By Mrs. Lynn 
 
 Linton, Author of " Patricia Kemball." [Nov. 15, 1875. 
 
 2. FALSE BEASTS AND TRUE. By Frances Power 
 
 Cobbe. [Nov: 30, 1875. 
 
 3. THE BLOSSOMING OF AN ALOE. By Mrs. Cashel 
 
 Hoey, Author of " Out of Court," etc. [Jan. 15, 1876. 
 
 4. COUNTRY HOUSE ESSAYS. By JohnLatotjche, Author 
 
 of " Travels in Portugal." [Jan. 31, 1876. 
 
 London : WARD, LOCK, & TYLER, Warwick House, 
 Paternoster Row, E.C. 
 
PBEFACE. 
 
 Theee is one place of public entertainment and 
 instruction — only one, so far as I am aware — 
 to which all Londoners resort with nearly equal 
 gratification. Not everybody enjoys a " happy 
 day " at Rosherville. There exist people to 
 whom the lectures at the Koyal Institution seem 
 dull. Statesmen do not often visit their own 
 effigies at Madame Tussaud's, an( l nursery-maids 
 lack interest in the debates in Parliament. 
 Clergymen rarely frequent Cremorne; men of 
 science are not seen crowding to Exeter Hall ; 
 street boys may sigh in vain for admission to 
 the skating-rinks ; and the penny-gaffs are not 
 expressly calculated to afford relaxation either 
 to the judicial or the episcopal bench. Only at 
 the Zoological Gardens are all differences of 
 religion, politics, rank, culture, age and sex, 
 
iv 
 
 PllEFACE. 
 
 merged in a common interest in the appetite of 
 the lions, the agility of the monkeys, and the 
 obesity of the hippopotamus. To give the great 
 old Eoman saw a new Darwinian reading, " We 
 are animals, and nothing which has to do with 
 animals is alien to us."" And as the very dullest 
 beasts and birds — the buffalo, the rhinoceros, the 
 tortoise, and the cassowary — obtain a certain 
 measure of public attention and sympathy, even 
 so I hope these little sketches of their kin, how- 
 ever considerable their defects, may attract some 
 small portion of interest, and possess their share 
 of popularity. 
 
 Notwithstanding, however, the almost uni- 
 versal pleasure taken by all classes in zoological 
 collections and aquaria, and the testimony 
 afforded to the national taste by the publica- 
 tion of countless books on Natural History, I 
 cannot but think that we are as yet only on the 
 threshold of any real knowledge of the brutes. 
 As somebody has remarked that "Nature was 
 only discovered in the present century/' so 
 Animals (the most interesting part of Nature) are 
 only in our generation beginning to obtain the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 V 
 
 attention tliey deserve. They have been our 
 slaves, our pets, our victims, and we have known 
 a good deal about them in their relations to us, 
 and just so far as touched our own interests, — 
 the horse's swiftness, the sheep's woolly cloth- 
 ing, the dog's intelligence in the chase. But 
 what each creature is, in its own wondrous and 
 mysterious individuality — its faculties, instincts, 
 reasonings, and affections — we have scarcely yet 
 begun to consider. People have actually written 
 and talked as if classifying animals were the same 
 thing as knowing them ; and they may be heard 
 describing one or another wise and lovely bird or 
 sagacious brute as a " specimen " of this or that 
 genus or species, just as they might speak of a 
 bit of spar or a pebble in a cabinet of minerals ! 
 Again, another set of philosophers have dissected 
 their dead bodies, and, alas ! vivisected their 
 living frames, till they can sketch each of their 
 bones and prick every one of their nerves ; and 
 when this is done they consider, forsooth, that they 
 have effected a scientific study of the animal ! 
 What should we think of an Ethnologist who 
 set up for knowing human nature — as Shake- 
 speare or Pascal knew it — because he could 
 
vi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 docket men and women as belonging to a 
 " brachiocephalic 93 or a tc dolicephalic yX race ? 
 Or what should we think of an Osteologist who 
 professed to be similarly acquainted with us be- 
 cause he could rattle off the " dental formula " 
 of the genus Homo ? More wise than these, 
 many genuine Natural Historians have noted 
 down such facts concerning the habits and intel- 
 ligent actions of animals as their observation 
 (generally of a somewhat superficial kind), has 
 supplied. But it would take a hundred Hiibers 
 and Lubbocks to get to the bottom of the Bee 
 mystery alone ; and on the world-wide harvest- 
 field for such researches offered by the myriad 
 tribes of earth and air, the few labourers who have 
 entered ha\e scarcely reaped the first sheaf. To 
 Mr. Darwin — whatever opinion we may hold of 
 the theories which he has deduced from his 
 studies — we certainly owe a new and powerful 
 impetus to this real study of "Our Poor Relations/' 
 and books (such as the admirable treatise by M. 
 Houzeau, u Sur les Facultes Mentales des Ani- 
 maux ,; ) J following up his steps, will, I doubt not., 
 multiply year by year, till, in time to come, our 
 descendants may, perhaps, venture to boasts- 
 
tREMCE. 
 
 vii 
 
 what none of us may dare now to affirm — that 
 they really know a Cat or a Parrot, or have even 
 obtained a glimmering of light into the solemn 
 obscurity of the mind of an Elephant. 
 
 In adding, with some fresh matter, the article 
 on the " Consciousness of Dogs " (originally 
 published in the " Quarterly Review ") to the 
 essays in this volume, which the proprietors of 
 the Country House Library have done me the 
 honour to reprint from the "New Quarterly 
 Magazine," I beg to be understood to put it 
 forth by no means as an example of such a real 
 study of an animal as I should consider desirable^ 
 but only as an effort, very imperfectly carried out, 
 in such a direction. I have attempted to look at 
 the dog's nature, so far as sympathy would help 
 me, from within ; and with the eye, neither of a 
 Sportsman who wants to use him as his servant, 
 nor of a Zoologist who looks at him through his 
 spectacles to find out where to pigeon-hole him 
 in his classification of the order Oarnivora and 
 genus Oanis — least of all with that of a Physio- 
 logist who is preparing to cut his quivering frame 
 to pieces to see how God has made the little 
 
viii 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 heart which beats so faithfully, — but of a Friend, 
 who shares not a few of his joys and sorrows, and 
 is in no wise ashamed cordially to return his affec- 
 tion. I have no pretension to possess any special 
 information about dogs or other animals, and, in 
 truth, have for many years been engrossed in 
 pursuits very far removed from the pleasant 
 woodland paths of Natural History. My only 
 claim to write about the brutes is — that I love 
 many of them, and would harm none ; and that 
 it has seemed to me as if my dumb friends 
 would be better understood by a few of those 
 who possess the faculty of speech, were I to 
 endeavour now and then to act as their inter- 
 preter. 
 
 FRANCES POWER COBBE. 
 
 24, Cheyne Walk, 
 
 November, 1875. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AUT 1 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY * ; . • 61 
 
 TIIE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS .... 107 
 
 Reprinted (by permission) from the " Quarterly Review." 
 
 DOOS WHOM I HAVE MET . 
 
 Reprinted (by permission) from the " Co^nldll Magazine" 
 
 179 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 There is a fine irony in the use we make of the 
 terms " brutal" and "beastly/' "manly" and 
 " humane. 93 As no brute ever kicks its mate 
 to death, nor any beast makes itself drunk, it is a 
 happy use of language by which our Police Re- 
 ports invariably qualify the first class of outrage 
 as "brutal/' and the condition of a tipsy man 
 wallowing in the gutter as "beastly." On the 
 other hand, it is by a pretty, if not well deserved, 
 compliment to ourselves, that we describe the 
 courage transcendently displayed by a hen on be- 
 half of her chickens as pre-eminently "manly/' 
 and when we have occasion to speak of com- 
 passionateness, complacently call the quality 
 " Humanity," as if the race from which has 
 sprung all the Herods, Neros, Alvas, and Majen- 
 dies, of ancient and modern times, were quite 
 incapable of cruelty. 
 
2 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 In one of yEsop's fables,, charmingly rendered 
 by La Fontaine, a lion is shown a picture wherein 
 a man stands triumphant over one of the animal's 
 own kind which he has just vanquished. The 
 four-footed critic in the fable simply remarks :— 
 
 " Avec plus de raison nous aurions le dessus 
 Si mes confreres savaient peindre."* 
 
 We may readily imagine the transposition of 
 terms of praise and' blame which would follow 
 were the promised experiment of teaching poor 
 Joe (the Chimpanzee in the Zoological Gardens) 
 the language of the Deaf and Dumb to prove 
 successful, and an age of talking animals to be 
 inaugurated. f How the eminently sensible Goose, 
 and the calm-judging Ass would recalcitrate 
 against the use of their names as synonyms of 
 stupidity and folly ! How those affectionate and 
 faithful comrades — Eats — would repudiate the use 
 of the term " Ratting/' as signifying treachery ! 
 How those quarrelsome and loosely-conducted 
 birds, the Doves, would coo satirically under 
 their wings at our romantic ascription to them 
 of innocence and fidelity ! And how one and 
 
 *B. Ill Fable x. 
 
 t M. Houzeau, in his " fttude? uiir-le3 Facultes Mentales 
 des Animaux," Paris, 1873), Vol. 2, expressly maintains that 
 the idea of teaching the Quadrumana to speak, " reposes on 
 probabilities." 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AM. 
 
 3 
 
 all would hoot, snort, bray, and cackle at the 
 utter absurdity of attaching to the word "human'' 
 any other sense than that of consummate perfidy 
 and merciless destructiveness ! 
 
 In default of any immediate prospect of such 
 a modification of affairs as would result from the 
 successful linguistic studies of Joe and his com- 
 peers, it has appeared to the present writer that 
 something ought to be said on behalf of several 
 animals whom a French novelist might justly 
 describe as Les Betes Incomprises. When we 
 have whitewashed Henry VIII. and Nero and 
 Judas, it is surely fair that we should likewise 
 rehabilitate wolves and toads and donkeys ; and 
 when we have discovered that the old human 
 heroes were poltroons, and the old martyrs 
 " scoundrels/' we are bound similarly to expose 
 the mean-mindedness of the Lion, and candidly 
 avow our suspicions of the conjugal fidelity of the 
 Turtle. It is true, unfortunately, that the same 
 slight inconvenience will attend the dispelling of 
 antique delusions in the cases of both men and 
 animals. Modern criticism has deprived the 
 preacher of every example wherewith he was 
 formerly wont to point a moral, and no man can 
 now hold up a saint for imitation, or a sinner 
 as a warning, without laying himself open to 
 be checked by the nearest school-boy with the 
 
4 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 volunteered information that this saint is uni- 
 versally recognized now-a-days as a truculent 
 impostor, and his sinner as one of the noblest 
 of mankind, born, unhappily, a little too soon 
 for the recognition of the age in which he lived. 
 Of course, our language will be deprived of a 
 whole catalogue of terms of honour or contempt 
 if the hitherto glorified beasts and birds are ever 
 to suffer similar detraction, or the long-slandered 
 ones to be rehabilitated. Just as for the future 
 to " out-Herod Herod " will be an expression 
 for extreme mildness ; " King Oambyses vein" 
 will indicate bashful modesty; and the family 
 name of De Merode, instead of denoting marau- 
 ders, will stand as a synonym for neighbour- 
 liness ; so, in like manner, a Goose may hereafter 
 be recognized as the type of Wisdom ; and a 
 Raven, of a sanguine temperament and fastidious 
 appetite. Philology will long bear the traces of 
 such an event, as it bears that of the great pre- 
 historic schism, when the Vedic and Persian 
 Aryans exchanged their gods and devils, their 
 " A suras " and their " Devs." We have despised 
 the brutes and dealt cruelly with them, but we 
 betray how much they interest and concern us 
 by using their names to express almost every 
 quality of human nature. No phrases convey 
 half as forcible or definite meaning as simply 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 6 
 
 calling a man or woman a Bear, an Ass, a Lamb, 
 a Shark, a Cur, a Fox, a Wolf, a Pig, a Lion, a 
 Tiger, a Book- Worm, a Chameleon, a Gorilla, a 
 Snake, a Viper, a Serpent, an Adder, a Raven, 
 a Vulture, a Toad, a Donkey, an Owl, a Cor- 
 morant, a Parrot, a Magpie, an Ostrich, a Worm, 
 a Dog, a Wasp, a Calf, a Pigeon, a Sheep, a 
 Mule, a Lynx, a Vixen, or a Harpy. Nor could 
 we easily dispense with such verbs as to Dog, 
 to Hound, to Lark, to Rat ; such adjectives as 
 Waspish, Vixenish, Apish, Wolfish, Fishy, 
 Parrot-wise, Ostrich-like, Elephantine, Oxlike, 
 Swinish, Spaniel-like, Serpentine, Monkeyish, 
 Dove-like, Eagle-eyed; or such similes as are 
 afforded by the Busy Bee, the Industrious Ant, 
 the Sloth, the Glutton, the Scapegoat, the laugh- 
 ing Hyaena, and the chattering Magpie. Fortu- 
 nately, only a certain number out of these house- 
 hold words are misused to any considerable 
 degree, and it will be very still fewer with whose 
 exactitude we shall at present concern ourselves. 
 
 The radical mistake in all our writing and 
 painting of animals from very early ages has 
 been the semi-serious effort to see human nature 
 in the brute and bird, and to describe it as, in 
 fact, a Man in fur or in feathers. The process, 
 though at first sight similar to the true method, 
 is in reality the very converse of it, and begin- 
 
6 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 ning at the wrong end, diverges wider from 
 the truth at every step. The more elaborate 
 the story or the picture so constructed, and the 
 more wire -drawn the parallel, the further it in- 
 evitably departs from the veracity of nature. 
 Not by starting with the resolution to find 
 human character in animals, . but by studying 
 them carefully and dispassionately till we come 
 down to the ground of common feeling where 
 they and we are alike, and where Nature is 
 neither Human nor Bestial, can we hope to obtain 
 a real "knowledge of them.* So far as can now 
 be seen, Bidpai, ^Esop, and the other animal 
 fabulists, must have proceeded very much on the 
 principle on which the old Egyptians chose the 
 figures of their gods. They picked out the 
 animals which exhibited some obvious approach 
 to a given human characteristic, and made it 
 thenceforth a mere type of that attribute. It 
 was not a real Fox, Ass, or Lion which the fable- 
 makers sought to portray, but a purely con- 
 ventional creature, intended to exhibit Cunning, 
 Folly, or Courage ; in fact, as strictly an allego- 
 rical figure as a statue of Justice with her Scales, 
 
 * An effort to accomplish such a study in the case of one 
 animal was made by the present writer in an article in the 
 " Quarterly Review," October, 1872, " On the Consciousness 
 
 of Dog??." 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART, 
 
 7 
 
 or of Hope with her Anchor. Even a tree would 
 answer the purpose as well as an animal, and 
 might no less plausibly be made to speak, as 
 we see in the very ancient fable propounded by 
 Jotham to the Israelites (Judges ix. 9), The 
 Cedar was a natural emblem of dignity, and the 
 Bramble of insignificance, and that was all which 
 was required. It is hard for us, with our more 
 critical minds, to understand how all the absur- 
 dities and mixed metaphors which thence ensued 
 could have been condoned. But obviously these 
 sort of reflections never occurred to men of 
 remoter times; or perhaps we should say there 
 was a tacit understanding that, as nothing was 
 meant but an illustration, provided the illustra- 
 tion was good, as such, everything else in the 
 story should pass unchallenged. 
 
 A curious exemplification of the peculiarity 
 of this ancient literary treatment of animals, is 
 the fact that each species is continually described 
 as if it consisted of one individual. There is 
 17^ Wolf, The Fox, The Cock (in the German 
 Thier-epos, " Sir Isengrim," " Sir Reynard," and 
 " Chanticleer and so on through all the other 
 beasts and birds. And this single creature, this 
 Representative Animal, by a still more singular 
 play of the antique mind, is frequently erected 
 into a Federal Head of his race, and in the my,. 
 
8 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 thology of the Metamorphoses (which runs 
 parallel with the Fables) is made to merit reward 
 or incur punishment on their behalf for all 
 succeeding time, without even being supposed 
 to be their progenitor. There are, for example 
 of such Adamitic creatures and plants, the Eaven 
 turned black for betraying secrets ; the Eose 
 which changed from white to red when the tears 
 of Eve fell on it ; the Cross-bill which bears 
 the sanguine mark of its efforts to tear out the 
 nails on Calvary ; the Ass whose back keeps 
 •the sign of the Cross in memory of the Entry 
 into Jerusalem ; and the John Dory, whereon 
 the black stains of St. Peter's figners are still 
 visible. As Sir Henry Maine, Mr. Tylor, and 
 Mr. M'Lellan have so well proved, in primitive 
 society, the individual was nothing, the Family 
 — and, before the Family, the Tribe — everything. 
 All rights were common, and the punishment 
 incurred by one member might be justly inflicted 
 on another, or (as continually happened under 
 the great Eastern monarchies) on the whole tribe 
 or village of the offender. Obviously men could 
 not lend to the brutes any higher idea of in- 
 dividual responsibilities than their own state of 
 society realized, and it is easy to imagine them 
 describing a pack of wolves destroyed for one 
 wolfs theft, or a whole rookery turned black for 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 9 
 
 one rook's indiscretion. But the poetical exten- 
 sion of this idea in such a multitude of cases, 
 both in Heathen and Christian mythology, to 
 the entire species of the Adamitic animal, seems 
 surely to prove a mistiness of conception con- 
 cerning personality in general, not to speak of 
 an immaturity of the moral sense, which needs to 
 be kept in mind, if we would in thought occupy 
 the old standpoint. Beyond these transfor- 
 mations again of actual animals, there is a vast 
 store of myths of men and women changed into 
 beasts, birds, plants, and stones, which are ever- 
 more spoken of poetically as if each were the 
 person who had been so transformed. Such as 
 the stories of Daphne changed into a Laurel, 
 Lyrinx into Reeds, Cyanus into a Swan, Ocyrrhoe 
 into a Mare, the Mariners into Dolphins, Alcithoe 
 and her sisters into Bats, Cadmus and his Queen 
 into Serpents, Atlas into a Mountain, Cyane into 
 a Fountain, Niobe into a Statue of Stone, the 
 Pierides into Magpies, Arachne into a Spider, 
 Philomela into a Nightingale, Procne into a 
 Swallow, Lichas into a Hock, Hyacinthus into 
 the Flower which bears his name, Coeneus into 
 an Eagle, and iEgeria into the sweet Fountain 
 which we have all visited outside the walls of 
 Rome. Of course we, dull moderns, in dealing 
 with myths of any kind, are always in danger 
 
10 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 of committing the egregious mistake of taking 
 the old mythologists au grand serieux, when 
 they meant nothing but play ; and. arguing 
 gravely about what they said so lightly, that it 
 is to break a butterfly upon the wheel to bring 
 down our ponderous criticism upon it. How 
 ^Esop would have laughed at a solemn German 
 Professor who, spectacles on nose and book in 
 hand, should ask him "whether he conscien- 
 tiously believed that the Frogs had entreated 
 Jupiter to grant them a King V or at Rousseau's 
 virtuous indignation at the deception he had 
 practised on the innocent mind of Childhood 
 with his stories of talking beasts and birds ! The 
 whole region we are treading is the great play- 
 ground of the human imagination in its boyhood, 
 and it is utterly idle to ask how we come to find 
 a hoop here, a ball there, and a painted kite a 
 little further off. It is not too soon for mankind 
 to begin studying the brutes and birds by the 
 true method, not as if each were a little pool in 
 which we can see ourselves mirrored, but as if it 
 were one into whose depths we would pene- 
 trate to behold the lovely and mysterious things 
 which are surely lying below ; to take each 
 animal not as " a tale told by an idiot, full of 
 sound and fury, signifying nothing/' but as a 
 Verse of the great Bible of the Universe, to be 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 11 
 
 read thoughtfully and treated tenderly. The day 
 must come, if not in this generation, yet before 
 long, when many species of animals, like many 
 races of men, must die out under the unfit con- 
 ditions of a civilized world. When a single one 
 has perished, even if it be the dull old Dodo, 
 with what regret do we regard it ! How anxious 
 we are to treasure up whatever traditions, or 
 pictures, or relics may remain to record what 
 once it resembled, and what a thrill of hope 
 passed through us when it was suggested that 
 possibly a survivor might exist ! Bat no ! The 
 loss is final and irremediable. The Steam En- 
 gine (as a clever child once said) is " the only 
 Animal Man ever made," and not the genius 
 of a Watt or a Stephenson will ever make any- 
 thing nearer than that Frankenstein parody of 
 true Life. Doubtless, as the time draws near, 
 and naturalists begin to remark that such and 
 such creature is becoming rare, and can no 
 longer be found in his old habitat, great efforts 
 will be made to preserve each failing race, and 
 possibly for a century or two a few couples will 
 survive, guarded and fed with infinite care, in 
 the Zoological Gardens, which then will be mul- 
 tiplied in every great city of both hemispheres. 
 But such precautions cannot prevail for ever, 
 and when the Last of the Wolves or the Last 
 
12 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 of the Chamois utters its dying howl or bleat, 
 the Frank Buckland of the period will telegraph 
 to the Times of the Universe, and the human 
 race from pole to pole will echo the intelligence 
 with a groan. 
 
 " And through the wide and sultry East, 
 And through the frozen North ; 
 
 The tabret and the harp are hushed, 
 The wail of grief goes forth." 
 
 Another Cyrus may arise, but till the end of the 
 ages no ear of man will hear a wolFs howl or a 
 chamois^ bleat again. While we have them with 
 us, it behoves us at least to try to read these 
 Sybilline books, so full of wisdom and of poetry, 
 which will surely be torn up one by one before 
 we have half fathomed the meaning of their 
 oracles. 
 
 In the present paper no attempt can be made 
 to deal exhaustively with the idiosyncrasy of 
 any animal, but a few remarks on the miscon- 
 struction to which some of the most estimable 
 have been exposed, and the over-exaltation 
 accorded by tradition to the less deserving, may 
 be of use in rendering some of the Beles Incom- 
 p rises less uncomprehended than at present. 
 The Fabulists, of course, as already remarked, 
 were the chief source of our misconceptions, 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 13 
 
 not being concerned at all about giving true 
 pictures of animal character, but only having 
 used certain animals as allegorical figures, to 
 stand for certain human qualities. It was, in- 
 deed, no part of their aim or object to write on 
 Natural History, but only on human morals and 
 politics ; and far be from us the presumption 
 of meddling with them in their proper capacity, 
 or raising our puny voice in the Babel of critics 
 who have discussed with such profound erudi- 
 tion the difference between the Eastern Thier- 
 f abel (Brute-Fable) and the Gothic Thier-epos 
 (Brute-Epic). A whole literature of its own is 
 devoted to them, with Lessmg's great work on 
 the iEsopic Fablos at the head, Jones and Wil- 
 kins, Gervinus and Grimm, and scores of others 
 dealing with each department of the subject, 
 from the Hitopadesa to " Beinecke Fuchs." The 
 translations and editions of the same fables, from 
 Babrius and Pheedrus to La Fontaine and 
 Florian, I/Estrange and Gay, would alone fill a 
 library. Our subject, happily, only requires us 
 to skirt this tangled grove of fable-literature, and 
 then turn to note the part which Art has played 
 in modifying our ideal of such animals as it has 
 condescended to touch. Undoubtedly this in- 
 fluence .of Art, like that of Fable, has been 
 warped by the same error — that of trying to see 
 
n 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART, 
 
 Human nature in the beast or bird, and import- 
 ing into its representation a foreign element. In 
 this respect the greatest of all animal painters 
 has been the chief offender. The intense fun 
 of the thing was too great a temptation for 
 Landseer. While Rosa Bonheur sees in her 
 horses and her dogs only a horse or a dog, 
 Landseer, on the contrary, too often sits down 
 resolutely, and of malice prepense, before an 
 animal, determined to see in him something quite 
 else beside a dog — a King, a Philosopher a 
 Courtier — a Man, in short ; nay, even a special- 
 ized man with a profession. Such are the pictures 
 of Alexander and Diogenes, A Jack in Office, 
 Laying Down the Law, and The Travelled 
 Monkey. Now, it must be admitted that dogs 
 do, by their inconceivable sympathy, come in a 
 certain shadowy way to resemble their masters. 
 They <c grow like that which they worship/' and 
 become brave and trustful, or sneaking and 
 suspicious, affectionate and demonstrative, or 
 morose and reserved, according to the character 
 of their human associates. There is, then, a 
 point up to which the painter is authorized to 
 put human nature into the dog, because human 
 nature has actually, by force of sympathy, got 
 into him already. It is obvious, however, that 
 Landseer's delicious pictures have far, far tran- 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AKT. 
 
 15 
 
 scended the narrow margin wherein such blend- 
 ing of the human or the animal nature can take 
 place, and thus, what he has given us in the 
 particular class of pictures in question (of course, 
 nine-tenths of his works are of quite another 
 order), are not dogs which reflect human quali- 
 ties, but dogs employed arbitrarily to caricature 
 humanity. The former would be a true study, 
 offering deep revelations of canine nature; the 
 latter is radically false, and its tendency al- 
 together misleading. 
 
 Having thus briefly touched on the fabulous 
 and artistic misrepresentations of the few animals 
 which we shall find space to notice, and the 
 erroneous popular ideas of them thence derived, 
 we shall merely cite a few corrective facts of 
 natural history, and leave the reader to " look 
 on this picture and on that," and regulate his 
 feelings accordingly. 
 
 Among the personages who ought to bo 
 dethroned from their eminence of ill-gotten glory 
 are Richard of the Lion Heart, and the Lion 
 himself. The former, faithless, covetous, and 
 ferocious,* the latter a Bombastes Furioso of the 
 
 * We have been favoured by the historian of the Norman 
 Kings with the following quotations from the old chroniclers 
 regarding the character of Richard I. u To such a height of 
 
16 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 beasts — a great carnivorous impostor ! The brute 
 has been credited with all manner of sublime and 
 generous qualities, simply on his own showing, 
 his magnificent head, his impressive mane and 
 tail, and his tremendous roar. .With one consent 
 all fabulists have crowned him King of Beasts, 
 and taken for granted afterwards that he pos- 
 sesses all royal virtues and only royal failings, 
 les clefauts de ses qualites. We venture boldly 
 to challenge his leonine majesty's right to this 
 exalted glory, to deny his supremacy of courage 
 among his peers, and to ask proof of his supposed 
 magnanimity and generosity beyond the bland- 
 ness of his Harold Skimpole countenance, and 
 the disdainful manner in which he throws back 
 his mane as if he were quite incapable of the 
 pettiness (of which he is nevertheless frequently 
 guilty) of picking up and eating a humble black- 
 beetle. Let us first glance at what Fable and 
 
 wilfulness and ferocity did he come, that all his good qualities 
 became clouded." — (R. Coggeshall, 83. Rec. des His*., XVIII.) 
 "He was beyond human nature covetous.' ' "He never kept 
 pact with any."— (Oh. Havon, 415. Alb. 3 Font., 756.) " Twice 
 he made a new seal, to the end that every charter should bo 
 brought to new sealing, nor could the whirlpool of his covetous- 
 ness be appeased thereby." — (R. Coggeshall, 863.) The most 
 delightful touch of all, however, is by Giraldus Cambrensis 
 (Top. Hib. III. 50) — " He resembled a Lion, and like a Lion 
 was troubled with a Quartan ague ! " 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 17 
 
 - Art have said and done for the Lion, and then 
 try to correct their misrepresentations by the 
 better witness of Natural History, 
 
 One of the most impressive of all the Thier- 
 fabeln (which we are in no danger of forgetting 
 just now in London, thanks to a certain gigantic 
 advertisement) is the story of the Lion and the 
 Mouse. It is so pretty a little tale, and the idea 
 of performing the part of the Mouse is so pleasing 
 to those amongst us who in this mortal life have 
 no chance of performing that of the Lion, that 
 we cannot greatly err in tracing a very large 
 share of the popular idea of the character of the 
 King of Beasts to this charming romance. But 
 is there the slightest authority for supposing he 
 would have acted under the contingency as the 
 most graceful of the narrators of the fable 
 affirms ? 
 
 u Mentre il leon dormia 
 I topi in allegria 
 Si stavano ballando, 
 Cantando e saltellanclo 
 Un d'essi, mal accorto, 
 Credendo il leon morto 
 Vibrandosi in alto 
 Gli fe sul ventre un salto, 
 Risvegliasi il leon ; 
 Ma, in simile occasion, 
 
18 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 Egli, grande e generoso 
 Non men che valoroso 
 Si sdegna di far male 
 Al piccolo animale." 
 
 We strongly suspect that a dab of his for- 
 midable paw at the impertinent disturber of his 
 imperial repose would have followed much more 
 surely than the similar effort of the "grateful 
 Bear 33 in another fable to frighten away a fly 
 from the sleeping hermit. Still less is Clement 
 Marot's version of the story plausible, or that the 
 lion had won his little friend's gratitude by active 
 interposition- on his behalf when caught in a trap. 
 
 " Trouva moyen et maniere et matiere 
 D'ongles et dents de rompre la ratiere." 
 
 Another impressive fable is immortalized by 
 Gay in the shape of Counsel to Prince William, 
 Duke of Cumberland. 
 
 u The Tiger roaming for his prey, 
 Sprang on a traveller in the way.'* 
 
 The Lion comes in, kills the Tiger, and sets 
 the Traveller free, who reads him a lesson on 
 true glory. 
 
 "To me your clemency hath shown 
 The virtue worthy of a throne ; 
 Heaven gives you power above the rest, 
 Like heaven to succour the distrest." 
 
ANIMALS IN FABI E AND ART. 
 
 19 
 
 Again, there is the fable of the lordly Lion 
 who rebukes the Cub for braying like an ass, 
 and another fable of the Lioness who, when 
 taunted with the smallness of her family (a 
 mistake in natural history), proudly answers that 
 " she has but one cub, but he is a lion." And 
 yet again there is the fable of the Lion in Love, 
 a genuine feline Samson, who allows his teeth 
 and claws to be drawn to propitiate his pro- 
 posed father-in-law, and is then ignominiously 
 driven from the door of the deceitful Delilah, 
 All these fables have had their share in impress- 
 ing us with an idea of the magnanimity and 
 bonhommie of the Lion, to which the tale of 
 Androcles (is it also a fable ?) has given the 
 finishing touch. On the other hand, there are 
 a whole series of fables concerning the Lion, con- 
 veying a totally different view of his character, 
 but which somehow seem to have failed to leave 
 an equally strong impression on popular opinion. 
 The origin of these, as Frances chi clearly shows 
 in his quaint book, " Les Fabuleuses Betes du 
 Bonhomme," was the endeavour to satirize 
 under safe cover the frauds and oppressions of 
 Kings. Of this class is the fable of the Lion and 
 the other Beasts Hunting, in which the Lion takes 
 the "Lion's share," having divided the prey 
 into three parts, appropriating the first to him- 
 
20 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 self as King, the second to himself for his share 
 in the chase, and defying anybody to lay hand 
 on the third. There is also the fable of the Lion 
 causing the three Bulls to quarrel and separate, 
 that he might devour them seriatim ; and that of 
 the Three Councillors, wherein the astute Fox 
 alone escapes being eaten by the council-seeking 
 Lion, as either a fool like the Sheep, or a flatterer 
 like the Wolf. Lastly, there is the fable of the 
 Animals dying of the Plague, when the Lion 
 advises that the most guilty should be sacrificed 
 to appease the anger of heaven, and confesses, to 
 begin with — 
 
 " J'ai devore force moutons ; 
 Que m'avaient-ils fait ? nulle offense : 
 Meme il m'est arrive quelquefois de manger 
 Le Berger ! 
 
 Je me devouerai done, s'il le faut, mais je pense 
 Qu'il est bon que chacun s'accuse aussi que moi, 
 Car on doit souhaiter, selon toute justice 
 Que le plus coupable perisse." 
 
 The poor Ass confesses that on one occasion, in 
 passing a meadow, he had nibbled a tongue's 
 length of grass. All the other beasts cry " haro " 
 upon him : — 
 
 " Manger l'herbe d'autrui ! Quel crime abominable ! " 
 And the Ass is sacrificed on the spot. 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 21 
 
 Now it would seem, as already remarked, 
 that for some occult reason, this latter class of 
 disloyal fables have by no means made as much 
 impression "on the popular mind as those of the 
 former kind, in which he is represented as noble 
 and magnanimous. Whether it be that we Eng- 
 lish do not generally grudge our Lion, or Lioness, 
 his or her share (exception being made, of course, 
 of the case of the honourable member for Chel- 
 sea) ; or that we condone his voracity in favour 
 of his aesthetic merits, it is not necessary to 
 inquire. Certainly, an attempt to dethrone him 
 and establish a bestial Democracy, with a Presi- 
 dent at the head, would detract so immensely 
 from the dignity and eclat of the Animal King- 
 dom that we shudder to think of it. How much, 
 for example, does Art owe to the Lion, not 
 exactly as its royal patron, but as its theme ! 
 We can scarcely calculate what Sculpture would 
 have missed without him, from the gates of 
 Mycense, the halls of Nineveh and Thebes, the 
 Throne of Solomon and the Courts of the Alham- 
 bra, down to Canova's monument in Eome, 
 Thorwaldsen's at Lucerne, and the walls of 
 Burlington House every season, which latter 
 would become still more insufferably tame wero 
 " Daniel's Den 19 never to alternate with u Rocking 
 the Cradle/' nor " Androcles" with " Goody Two 
 
22 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 Shoes." Even when the Lion is represented, as 
 at the foot of the Trafalgar Square column, with 
 his forelegs (as shapeless as roly-poly puddings) 
 stretched out straight dog-fashion, instead of 
 cat's-elbowed, he is still a grand creature, albeit 
 plethoric in his dignity like the porter in a ducal 
 mansion, or a Beef-eater in the Tower. Phidias 
 (if we may value Flaxman's judgment) paid him 
 the highest honour of all, taking the mode of 
 growth of his mane off his lordly brow and its 
 splendid droop, as the model for the forehead of 
 Olympian Jove. Then, what have not the great 
 painters made of him ! What a grand and 
 kingly creature does he grow under Rubens' 
 brush ! How Landseer, who, with all his love 
 for dogs, could not refrpj'n from caricaturing 
 them in human disguise, reverenced the Lion 
 too much to make him play the part even of 
 Alexander the Great, and shows him to us only 
 prowling abroad in the wilderness and roaring 
 for his prey, or calmly watching us in " The Lion 
 and the Lamb ; " or, last and grandest of all, 
 mighty and majestic in death, as in u The 
 Desert 3) ! True, he has condescended so far to 
 truckle to the pride of humanity — akin to that of 
 the Lilliputians when they had chained Gulliver 
 • — as to show us in one picture the beast repressed 
 and tamed by Yan Amburgh, and, in another, 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 23 
 
 crying like a whipped child made to stand in the 
 corner. But these pictures, like his other court 
 scenes, do not merit to be counted among Land- 
 seer's works. Still less than Sculpture or Paint- 
 ing could Poetry and Heraldry dispense with the 
 emblem of the King of Beasts. The very name 
 " Lion/' like the word " gold/' is beautiful and 
 ennobling to the sentence of which it forms a 
 part ; and if Royal and noble Houses (and a vast 
 number of houses which are neither royal nor 
 noble) were to be compelled to abandon the use 
 of Lions as crests, supporters, and charges of 
 their shields, and lions "rampant," "couchant," 
 "passant," "regardant," and "rampant-regar- 
 dant ;" lions " sable," and "argent," and "or," 
 and "gules," and "azure;" lions "crowned 
 imperial," and lions " crined and unguled," lions 
 " collared" and lions quevee-foarchee/'* to be 
 al 1 abolished by Act of Parliament, the College 
 of Arms might close its portals, and the oblig- 
 ing gentlemen who advertise their readiness to 
 find anybody's armoria] bearings, be induced at 
 last to employ for some of their customers the 
 more appropriate emblems of a Bale of Cotton 
 Couchant, or a Pair of Scales (unduly weighted) 
 Brass. 
 
 But now for the real Lion, outside Fablo, Art, 
 
 * Fork-tailed— the badge of the De Montforts. 
 
 2 
 
24 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 and Heraldry. What is the truth regarding 
 his vaunted generosity, magnanimity, and su- 
 premacy of courage ? . Alas ! we fear that some 
 of these grand qualities belong to him no more 
 than similar attributes to the human kings to 
 ■whom they are officially credited, and that " His 
 Sacred Majesty " King Charles II., His " Celes- 
 tial Highness/' the Emperor of China, and even 
 that " most Eeligious and gracious King, ,J 
 George IV., probably deserved their laudatory 
 epithets quite as much as he. Of course, as he 
 is actually stronger than any creature with whom 
 he comes in contact, except the elephant, there 
 would be nothing remarkable in the fact that 
 he should generally be ready (very literally) to 
 " come to the scratch " with any of them. The 
 truth appears to be, however, that he is rather 
 indisposed for the " open wager of battle/' 
 especially with a man, and prefers, when con- 
 venient, to " tumble his landlord" from behind a 
 hedge. A tiger has been known (as Mr. Craw- 
 ford describes he witnessed in Cochin China) to 
 combat a Voutrance in regular field of fight with 
 forty-six elephants while the tiger was chained 
 to a stake by a rope thirty yards long, his claw 3 
 cut, and his mouth sewed up. Again and again 
 the brave brute flung himself on the foe till 
 many elephants slunk terrified away, and the 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 25 
 
 tiger was killed by sheer tossing from their 
 trunks. Bat no such tale as this is recorded of 
 the Lion. Of course the Gallic lion-killers, 
 Vaillant and Gerard, are disposed to vaunt his 
 prowess as that of a monster whom they have 
 heroically conquered, while meaner mortals 
 shrunk away terrified by the very echo of his 
 roar. But when they come to give a precise 
 account of his behaviour, there is generally some 
 such story as those in Mr. Cumming's " Five 
 Years of a Hunter's Life," when the Lion follows 
 Dogberry's advice, and " shows himself to be a 
 thief" by stealing away from his pursuer, "nob 
 liking his appearance ; w or, again, when €t ob- 
 serving me, the lions sprang to their feet, and, 
 growling, trotted sulkily up the mountain."* 
 Livingstone's accounts, which will be familiar to 
 all our readers, are to much the same purpose. 
 He prefers pouncing on a man like Cumming's 
 unfortunate servant, Hendrick, while asleep, and 
 carrying him off to devour under cover of dark- 
 ness. Such is not precisely what we were ac- 
 customed to describe as generosity and magna- 
 nimous bravery. f As to the Lioness, unless 
 * Vol. ii. pp. 155 and 347. 
 
 t Mr. Mostyn Owen, of Woodhouse, Shrewsbury, has 
 favoured me with the following personal reminiscence, which 
 corroborates the above remarks, though his final verdict is, that 
 lions have " plenty of courage when attacked." u From what 
 
26 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 Jules Gerard be a caitiff-slanderer of the sex 
 (such men have been known among his country- 
 men), the Queen of Beasts is a very Messalina, 
 at once faithless and cruel. In consequence of 
 the great mortality of female cubs during the 
 process of dentition, she possesses over European 
 ladies the advantage which, we fear, nothing 
 short of the introduction of the wholesome prac- 
 tice of female Infanticide could obtain for them, 
 ■ — that of not being " Redundant," as Mr. Greg 
 calls it, nay, of being, on the contrary, at a high 
 premium. Every third lion prowls about the 
 desert sands, roaring vainly for a mate ; and the 
 consequence is, of course, an immense exalta- 
 tion of value, and, perhaps, also some additional 
 
 I saw of lions when I was in Africa, I should say that they 
 will not attack a man unless he molest them. I have seen them 
 lie on a flat, bare plain and take no notice of a party of horsemen 
 passing at 500 yards distance. On one occasion I and a com- 
 panion were riding as fast as we could over an undulating 
 country, when we suddenly came upon a lot of lions, who were 
 ljing on some rushes near water. One of the largest male lions 
 sprang on his feet, Beeing us approach, and came out to meet us 
 with his tail erect and legs stiff— like a cat when it attacks an 
 intruding puppy. Our horses were blown, and the lion could 
 easily have come up with us ; but as soon as we pulled up, the 
 lion stopped, and we turned away and walked our nags up the 
 hill-side. When we got to a respectable distance we stopped to 
 look back, and saw no fewer than twelve lions, great and small, 
 walk slowly away towards some rocky hills half a mile off. I 
 cannot say what stopped the lion from charging home at us, but 
 should not suppose it was fear." 
 
ANTMALS IN FABLE! ANT) ART. 
 
 27 
 
 cruelty on the side of the lioness. She is beset 
 with suitors like Penelope. u Accord ingly," says 
 M. Gerard, " it is by no means rare to meet one 
 of the ladies accompanied by three or four young 
 lions, who engage in desperate combat, until the 
 lioness, annoyed that not one of her admirers 
 succeeds in strangling the others for her sake, 
 conducts them into the presence of an old lion 
 whose roar she has appreciated," and who quietly 
 disposes of them all. The lioness, while the 
 combat lasts, incessantly wags her tail in token 
 of gratification at the spectacle; and when her 
 first lovers are dead, licks the wounds which the 
 new one has received in her honour. Still worse 
 sometimes is the case later on, when (as a certain 
 Arab named Mohammed witnessed from a tree 
 where he had taken refuge) the spouse of a 
 powerful elderly lion responded to the distant 
 roar of a huge black lion in a manner which 
 obviously drove her husband wild with rage and 
 jealousy ; and persisted in the invitation till the 
 black lion appeared. The lioness immediately 
 rose to go towards him, but the lion, guessing 
 her intention, ran before her to meet his enemy. 
 They crouched at the same moment to take their 
 spring, leaped at the same time one against the 
 other, and rolled over in the grass, to rise no 
 more ! The struggle was long and terrible, but 
 
23 
 
 ANIMALS IN t^BLE AND AVJU. 
 
 from the beginning to the end of it the lioness 
 lay in an easy attitude close by, watching it, and 
 testifying, by the constant motion of her tail, to 
 the pleasure she experienced in beholding the 
 two lions destroying each other for her sake. 
 When they were both dead, she cautiously ap- 
 proached and examined the corpses. What her 
 sentiments may have been — of tenderness and 
 remorse, or of triumphant joy at being rid of an 
 old tyrant — ^who shall presume to speculate ? 
 
 If Jacques Bonhomme and his compeers all 
 over medieval Europe saw in the Lion the type 
 of Royalty in whose supposititious adventures 
 they could conveniently and safely satirize Kingly 
 greed and injustice, they found likewise in the 
 Wolf a no less appropriate emblem of their lesser 
 but more immediate tyrants the Barons. The 
 popularity of all these tales is of course amply 
 accounted for when we reflect how infinitely con- 
 soling to a race of tongue-tied serfs it must have 
 been to tell their children over the fireside, with 
 many a wink and nod at wife and comrade, some 
 story of a savage beast, in which the behaviour 
 of their dreaded Lord was livelily portrayed. Of 
 this kind the fable of the Wolf and the Lamb 
 is an admirable specimen. The poor lamb's 
 innocent pleas — " she could not trouble tho 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 29 
 
 water, for she was below the wolfs drinking 
 place/' — and she "had not called him ill names a 
 year ago, because she was not then born" — with 
 the wolfs conclusion ; " If it was not you who 
 called me names it was your father. There is 
 no use trying to argue me out of my supper ! }} 
 reads as if the story might really have been 
 framed upon an actual incident such as must, 
 alas ! have occurred every day when Lo droit du 
 plus fort was in the ascendant all over the world 
 Again, there is the fable of the Wolf who offered 
 to reward the Crane if he would take a bone out 
 of his throat, and when the Crane bad performed 
 the operation, sent him about his business, tell- 
 ing him he was lucky enough, after putting his 
 head in the Wolfs jaws, to draw it safe out again. 
 There is the Wolf who tried to persuade the 
 Goat to come down and browse on the plain 
 instead of on the inaccessible rocks, and who 
 received the reply that the goat begged to be 
 excused, as he knew it was not to his dinner the 
 Wolf invited him, but to that of the wolf. There 
 is the Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, who obtained 
 admission into the fold for evil purposes in dis- 
 guise. There is the Wolf who was carrying home 
 a sheep when the Lion came and took it from 
 him, replying to his remonstrance, " Did the 
 shepherd give it to you ? " There is the Wolf 
 
80 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AET. 
 
 who begged a Sheep to fetch him water, and to 
 whom the sheep answered that if he went near 
 enough to give it to him, he knew he would 
 eat him. There is the Wolf who, by long main- 
 tained hypocrisy, induced the Shepherd to leave 
 him in charge of his " Sheep," after which he 
 immediately devoured them, and left the shep- 
 herd to bewail that he had trusted a Wolf. 
 Lastly, there were the Wolves who persuaded 
 the Sheep that the Dogs were the only cause of 
 enmity between them ; and having brought them 
 to dismiss the dogs, ate them up without further 
 trouble : — the story by which Demosthenes saved 
 himself, when the Athenians were disposed to 
 deliver him over to Philip. Do not all these tales 
 in their multiplicity point to a popular meaning 
 attached to them beyond that of other fables ? 
 As to the real wolves, we fear it was as needless 
 for literature to blacken their character in general 
 by such legends, as in one solitary instance to 
 exalt it in the person of the Nurse of the great 
 Founders of Eome. The Romans jnight look 
 to their quaint old bronze Lupa with some affec- 
 tion (the only attempt we are aware of till 
 Rubens' day to represent the beast in Art), but 
 it was very little likely that a Wolf in the flesh 
 should become an object of human tenderness. 
 Nevertheless it would seem that the kind of 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART, 
 
 31 
 
 wickedness attributed to him in the fables afore- 
 said, and still more in that dreadful tragedy of 
 Little Red Riding Hood, which has chilled the 
 infantine blood of half the Aryan race, is not 
 precisely the real character of the wolf's de- 
 pravity. In allegorizing the detested Baron, the 
 legend-maker has proceeded after the very com- 
 mon fashion in which a celebrated statesman 
 compared his opponent to a " Crocodile standing 
 with his hands in his breeches pockets. " The 
 hypocrite's " Crocodile's tears " were the start- 
 ing-point of his simile — the " breeches pockets 91 
 outran, unfortunately, the capacities of the me- 
 taphor. The baron's oppressions were fairly 
 symbolized by the wolf's habit of devouring 
 weaker prey, but the craft and treachery of the 
 baron were further added to the wolf's enormi- 
 ties without any authority from natural history. 
 We do not precisely aspire to rehabilitate Sir 
 Isengrim, or set him as a maligned innocent 
 before the world ; but we protest that, though 
 bloodthirsty and cowardly, he is not perfidious. 
 Nothing on record lends a colour to that 'rightful 
 libel of the Grandmother's representative with 
 great eyes and great teeth, ' ' the better to eat 
 you, my dear !" which we shudder to recall. As 
 the advocate in a late celebrated trial thought it 
 his wisest course to admit that his client was a 
 
32 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 scoundrel and a fool, and therefore no perjurer, so 
 we concede at once that the wolf is voracious and 
 a dastard, and accordingly the allegations against 
 him fall to the ground. He is not only a fool, 
 but a superstitious one. Travellers whom they 
 are pursuing, and would soon overtake, have 
 again and again frightened packs of wolves away 
 by merely trailing a piece of rope behind their 
 carriages ; and when American hunters have 
 killed a bison, and want to prevent the wolves 
 eating it at night, they construct, Mr. Wood 
 tells us, a ridiculous sort of bogus trap with the 
 bison's inflated bladder tied by a loose string 
 to a stick, and left to flap about in the wind. 
 No wolf seeing this alarming object will approach 
 the tempting carcase. 
 
 Then as to his cowardice, the wolf displays 
 a quality we suspect to be extremely common 
 among a nobler class of animals on two legs. In 
 a crowd he is valiant and vociferous ; alone, and 
 unsupported by other canaille like himself, he 
 is a dastard. Audubon describes how he watched 
 while a farmer in Ohio quietly descended into a 
 pit where he had caught a couple of wolves over 
 night, and deliberately took up their hind-legs 
 and cut the tendons with his knife; the poor 
 beasts making no more resistance than one of 
 the lambs they had eaten might have done. 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 33 
 
 Similar stories are told by scores of the wolves of 
 Hungary and Russia. 
 
 And yet there is something in this brute, so 
 near akin to our best-beloved dogs (though he 
 drinks differently, and has his eyes less honestly 
 set in his head), which pleads for some little 
 sympathy for him, especially in confinement. 
 His howl, as he sits in dreary solitude in his 
 narrow cage — he, the Wild Hunter of the Forest 
 • — is indescribably, unutterably mournful; a long- 
 drawn wail in a minor key, like the Irish death- 
 song heard across the mountains ; or the music 
 (which that " keen 93 so strangely resembles) of 
 one of the three Misereres of the Sistine. The 
 mental sufferings of that wretched creature atone 
 in our eyes for half the murders of his race, even 
 though he be the Malay of the Brutes, addicted 
 to " running a muck." He is capable of pas- 
 sionate attachment to man, though few men have 
 cared to test the fact. It is still a moot question 
 whether the mother-wolf has not occasionally 
 nursed human babes, and there is an authentic 
 and affecting story of a wolf which had been 
 brought up by F. Cuvier, and which showed to 
 him all the affection and obedience of a dog. On 
 leaving home, Cuvier sent his wolf to the Jardin 
 des Plantes. Though kindly treated, it pined 
 for months for its master; and when it saw him, 
 
34 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AUT, 
 
 after a year and a half, sprang towards him at 
 he first sound of his voice, and displayed rap- 
 tures of joy. Again, his master left him for three 
 years, and again the wolf received him with 
 ecstasy, licking his face fondly, like a dog, and 
 refusing to obey his keepers and quit him. But 
 once again the master departed, and this time the 
 sorely-tried heart of the wolf turned to gall ! For 
 a month he pined so that it seemed he would die ; 
 and when he revived he was no longer the gentle, 
 affectionate creature he had hitherto proved, but 
 a wolf, wild and savage like the rest of his kind. 
 To our mind this fact speaks more for the intensity 
 of the wolf 's attachment than all the rest. 
 
 From a very interesting forthcoming work, 
 whose proof-sheets we have been privileged to 
 see — "A Treatise on the Kelation of the Pleisto- 
 cene Mammalia to those now living in Europe," 
 by Boyd Dawkins, Esq., F.R.S., — we learn that 
 the wolves proved such a scourge in Scotland, 
 in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as to be 
 mentioned in Litanies along with the caterans. 
 " A cateranis et latronibus, a lupis et omnia 
 mala bestia, libera nos Domine," says the Litany 
 of Dunkeld. In Ireland they were still alarming 
 so late as 1662, when Sir John Ponsonby re- 
 ported from the Committee of Grievances that 
 a bill should be brought in to encourage the 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 35 
 
 killing of hares and foxes. The reward for " a 
 bitch wolfe " was six pounds ; " for every dogg 
 wolfe, five pounds; and for every cubb which 
 prayeth (sic) for himself, forty shillings." * Still 
 more terrible than to Scotchmen or Irishmen the 
 Wolf must have appeared to the old Scandi- 
 navians, considering the part they assigned to 
 him in the great final catastrophe of the universe. 
 Of course, to the dwellers amid eternal snow, the 
 last horror was not a conflagration — • 
 
 " When shrivelling like a parched scroll, 
 The flaming heavens together roll," 
 
 but a deep, cold, tremendous gloom, — Kagnarok, 
 "the Twilight of the Gods." When this awful 
 age comes on, and the beneficent and evil powers 
 meet in a last Armageddon, then Odin himself 
 — Odin, the King and Father of the Gods-^will 
 be devoured by the Fenris-Wolf — Destruction ! 
 
 Space in these brief pages would not permit 
 us to discuss the vast theme of the veritable cha- 
 racter of that great bestial Ulysses, the Fox. We 
 can but raise our feeble voice in mild protest 
 against the cruel misrepresentations to which he 
 is exposed in that " tmholy Bible of the World," 
 
 * The last wolf was not killed in Ireland till 1710 ; the last 
 in Scotland was in 1686. The race had been exterminated in 
 England before the close of the fourteenth century. 
 
SG ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 Reineke Fachs, wherein he is credited with every 
 vice under the sun, and wins his final victory 
 over his enemy, Sir Isengrim, by the basest 
 perfidy on record. The Fox of natural history, 
 we venture to plead, is not so bad as all this. 
 He is simply a Eobber — at once a Highwayman, 
 Burglar, and Garotter — but he is not a Hypocrite 
 (at least, more than his profession requires) ; 
 and as to his private morals, he is an excellent 
 husband and pere de famille, taking unusual 
 pleasure in the sweets of domestic life and the 
 gambols of his infant offspring. As to the young 
 animal, as Col. Hamley says, " a little fox, with 
 his face full of a grave, sweet intelligence, which is 
 as yet undebased by the look of worldly astute- 
 ness conspicuous in after life, is one of the 
 prettiest sights in the world.""* The stories 
 about the race are mostly base fabrications. 
 Reineke Fuchs is, as already said, one long, un- 
 pardonable libel. The Fox of the fable, who 
 persuaded the Crow to drop her piece of cheese 
 by flattering her concerning her harmonious 
 voice ; the Fox which persuaded the Goat to come 
 down into the well into which he had fallen, 
 thereby enabling himself to climb out on the 
 Goat's horns, alike display duplicity unwarranted 
 by any recorded facts. The Fox who would not 
 * " Our Poor Kelations," p. 7. 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 37 
 
 allow tlio Hedgehog to eat Lis flies lest a 
 hungrier swarm should take their places (whom 
 Aristotle (Rhet. II. 20) says, ^Esop quoted to 
 prevent the Samians putting to death one who 
 had robbed their treasury) ; the Fox who had 
 lost his Tail, and tried to persuade the other 
 Foxes to drop the appendage; and lastly, the 
 ever -delightful Fox, who pronounced the unat- 
 tainable Grapes to be sour — these, perhaps, may 
 be held in a shadowy way to represent not un- 
 fairly the clearness of Sir Keynard's grasp of 
 probabilities, and the finesse of his wit. 
 
 The animal, however, who has been, perhaps, 
 more misrepresented in Fable than any other, is 
 the Hare. She is the type of senseless timidity, 
 and likewise of idle boastfulness. At one time 
 the Hares rush to drown themselves in a pond, 
 till seeing they have frightened the Frogs, they 
 think better of it, and agree to live, since they 
 have found creatures more faint-hearted than 
 themselves. At another time .the Hare makes a 
 wager with a Tortoise, and loses the race by lying 
 down and going to sleep. And lastly, there is 
 the piteous story of 
 
 " The Hare, who in a civil way 
 Complied with everything — like Gay ; 
 Her care was never to offend, 
 And every creature was her friend." 
 
88 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 And who yet in lier extremity implored in vain 
 the aid of the Horse, the Bull, the Goat and the 
 Sheep, and received from the Calf the polite 
 farewell :— < 
 
 " Excuse me, then, you know my heart ; 
 But dearest friends, alas ! must part ; 
 How shall we all lament ! Adieu ! 
 "For see ! the hounds are just in view.'' 
 
 Now the fact seems to be that the Hare is not a 
 helpless fool by any means, nor can it be said 
 that mere terror and misery would be likely to 
 drive her to suicide. On the contrary, she is a 
 remarkably playful little beast in her sunny 
 hours, both in freedom and when domesticated 
 (everyone remembers Cowper's hares), and in 
 her hour of adversity she displays marvellous 
 coolness and presence of mind, making her bolts, 
 and swervings, and doublings with consummate 
 skill, and hiding herself as cunningly as a Fox 
 under a wall, allowing the greyhounds to leap 
 over her. A gentleman in Lancashire having 
 tried in several cases to save hares, after a severe 
 run from the fate which sometimes overtakes 
 them, of perishing at night in their forms from 
 cold, and who left them in a warm room with 
 provision of food, invariable found that their 
 fright had by no means spoiled their appetites, 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 39 
 
 but that they had partaken of a good supper or 
 breakfast before the morning's release. 
 
 A creature, concerning whom Fable proper 
 has little to say (there are, we believe, only two 
 original fables about him), but of whom a per- 
 fectly fictitious ideal has somehow entered our 
 heads, is, the Camel. We have constructed him 
 out of somebody's consciousness, but who that 
 somebody was is not clear. In childhood, a 
 Camel, to each of us, was almost a brute Phil- 
 anthropist. His patience, his obedience, his 
 innumerable valuable qualities, rendered the 
 u Ship of the Desert 99 almost the greatest 
 treasure of the human race. A t that stage of 
 natural theology, when a celebrated engineer 
 gave it as his opinion before a Parliamentary 
 Committee that " Rivers were created to feed 
 navigable canals/' when everything had a final 
 cause, and the final cause of everything else was 
 the convenience of man, we entertained pleasantly 
 the idea that the camel's hump was made to hold 
 his rider's seat, and felt a vicarious gratitude for 
 the Arab, on account of the animal's provision of 
 water, which his master could always reach, in 
 case of necessity, by the simple process of even- 
 tration. Nothing which could possibly have been 
 said of the Camel's virtues would then have 
 
40 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 transcended our convictions, and poetry and 
 painting were always ready to confirm our views, 
 In fancy we pictured him in every Eastern scene, 
 from the idyll of Rebekah to that of the Queen of 
 Sheba — 
 
 " with her camels riding on, 
 Bearing spices and rich gifts for great King Solomon." 
 
 And now, where is he, that half-canonized beast 
 Alas ! (chiefly owing., we imagine, to having in- 
 curred the detestation of Miss Martineau), the 
 Camel has fallen from the zenith to the nadir in 
 public estimation. We have all been to Egypt 
 and Syria, and many of us have been bitten by 
 his long front teeth, trampled over by his noise- 
 less feet, deafened by his angry roar, and insulted 
 by the affected, not to say sanctimonious, tour- 
 nure of his head and neck, and the protrusion of 
 his contemptuous upper lip. No one who thus 
 €( knows him at home " retains a spark of belief 
 in the beast's patience, amiability, fidelity, or 
 any other virtue. The Camel must be reckoned 
 among the lost illusions of youth ! Perhaps, 
 after all, the old fabulists did not think much 
 more of him than we do. When the Camel, 
 they say, begged Jupiter to grant him horns like 
 other animals, Jupiter not only refused tho 
 horns, but cropped his ears for being a dissatis- 
 fied and troublesome beast. 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 41 
 
 A proof of how much more appearances weigh 
 in this foolish world than facts, may be found in 
 the relative traditional estimate of the Owl and 
 the Goose. The former bird, merely from look- 
 ing grave and solemn, and keeping himself a 
 little retired from public view, has been credited 
 with unlimited sagacity, and made the chosen 
 companion of the very Goddess of Wisdom. As 
 no Ministry, fifty years ago, would have dared 
 to give a bishopric to Sydney Smith, simply 
 because he was too witty, so no old Athenian 
 imagined that Pallas would have preferred in 
 her temple the society of a lively and satirical 
 bird, like the Goose, to the dull and gloomy- 
 minded Owl. But the goose is really a clever 
 creature, and proves it in a hundred ways, while 
 the owl, like Lord Burleigh, merely nods his head 
 in solemn sort, and is accepted as wise on his 
 own showing. The great difference between 
 masculine and feminine folly has been said to 
 be, that a stupid man generally retains enough 
 sense to conceal his stupidity under the cloak 
 of silence, while a stupid woman chatters the 
 more, the more ignorant she may be, and so 
 betrays her deficiencies to all the world. The 
 man sometimes inspires his neighbour (and 
 always his wife), with the conviction that there 
 is matchless wisdom hidden behind his reserve, 
 
42 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AET. 
 
 which, he buttons close round him as the shabby- 
 genteel do a great- coat to hide the absence of 
 a shirt. The woman invariably reveals her folly 
 to everybody, and gets no credit for the under- 
 current of practical sense which sometimes runs 
 beneath. The Owl is in this respect decidedly 
 of the masculine order of mind, while the Goose 
 goes about cackling and screeching with her 
 neck outstretched, so that she looks supremely 
 ridiculous and idiotic, while all the time she is 
 not only sensible enough, but has the rare merit 
 of a strong dash of humour in her composition. 
 Since she saved the Roman Capitol she has been 
 known to display all the domestic virtues, and 
 as many public ones as she has been permitted 
 to exercise. But no ! experience avails nothing 
 against prejudice. She has contrived to get her- 
 self classed among the " shrieking sisterhood," 
 and her claims are thrust aside with derision. 
 
 The position of the Goose in Fable is peculiar. 
 She is represented as a fat, unwieldy creature, 
 liable to all sorts of affronts and misfortunes, 
 but yet possessed of a certain degree of homely 
 mother- wit, sometimes approaching that of tho 
 immortal Mrs. Poyser. In a fable which dates 
 from classic times, the Cranes and Geese are re- 
 presented as feeding together in a field. The 
 fowlers arrive, and the cranes fly away, but the 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 43 
 
 geese are too fat to escape, and are taken and 
 killed. The story of the aged Lion who makes 
 a Fox his viceroy, while another .Fox sings his 
 virtues, terminates in Gay's version, with the 
 remarks aside, of the Goose to her brood : — 
 
 " Whene'er I hear a knave commend, 
 He bids me shnn his worthy friend." 
 
 In the Hitopadesa the Goose holds a much 
 more honourable position. The prime minister 
 of King Silver-sides (the Swan) is "a Brahminy 
 Goose named Know-all, and he does know every 
 possible science."* As to the delightful old 
 German tale, preserved by the Brothers Grimm, 
 of the u Goose with the Golden Eggs," which 
 has justly become proverbial, it does not much 
 affect the Goose's character either for good or 
 evil. 
 
 Art has of late years deigned to stoop to the 
 Goose, and a very good subject some of our 
 painters, especially Mason, have found her with 
 her brilliant whites and soft greys, and easy 
 curves of neck and body, blending, when a flock 
 is introduced, into a long graceful line, which 
 may be extended at pleasure. The inimitable 
 picture, by Biviere (now in South Kensington) , 
 of the Geese coming to see if the Fox, who is 
 * "The Book of Good Counsels," Trans. Edwin Arnold, p. 88. 
 
41 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AUT 8 
 
 shamming, be really dead, -mast have inspired 
 many a spectator with a high idea of a Goose's 
 ee thirst for useful knowledge/' if not precisely of 
 her caution. Strange to say, the depreciation of 
 the intellectual faculties of the Goose seems to be 
 exclusively a Teutonic mistake. The French 
 Bird of Folly is the Turkey, or as Scotch children 
 call him, the Bubbly- Jock. The Turkey has no 
 fun in him at all, but is a cross-grained, haughty 
 bird, who quite loses self-possession in his in- 
 dignation against real or imaginary insults, and 
 flames out like a vulgar termagant. The Goose, 
 ! on the contrary, has perhaps the keenest ap- 
 preciation of humour of any animal, unless it 
 be her own arch enemy the Fox. One lovely 
 summer evening last summer in Wales the writer 
 beheld the following illustration of a Goose's 
 idea of a joke : — In a little grassy paddock were 
 feeding amicably some eight or ten fat and 
 healthy pigs, and half a score of geese. From 
 this paddock a narrow open gate gave entrance 
 into the farmyard, and as evening drew on, the 
 geese ranged themselves in a row near this Ther- 
 mopylae. Obviously, supper-time was approach- 
 ing, and the pigs wished to return home to their 
 troughs. Equally clearly the geese had given 
 each other the word not to let them pass through 
 the gate which they guarded without paying toll. 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 45 
 
 First there came up a jolly, good-liumourcd little 
 pig, who trotted cheerfully along with a confi- 
 dence which ought to have disarmed criticism, 
 till he came among the geese. Then with a 
 cackle and a scream, every neck was stretched 
 out to get a bite at him, and, squalling and 
 yelling, the poor little porker ran the gauntlet. 
 The same fate befell six or seven more of his 
 brethren in succession, each betraying increasing 
 trepidation as he approached the fatal pass, and 
 made a bolt through the corps de garde of geese, 
 whose chattering and screeches of delight were 
 almost undistinguishable from human laughter. 
 At last the biggest pig of the party brought up 
 the rear. He was a pink-fleshed, clean young 
 fellow, with fat limbs and sides, and his ears were 
 cocked, and his tail sharply twisted in the in- 
 telligent wide-awake manner which so completely 
 distinguishes the intellectual pig from the mere 
 swinish multitude. With a loud grunt of de- 
 fiance, this brave beast charged through the flock 
 of geese, and had actually almost gained the gate 
 (beyond which the rules of the game apparently 
 forbade pursuit), when a krge grey goose, whose 
 post was nearest to it,, made one grab at his fat 
 ham, caught up the skin in a bunch, and gave 
 it a tremendous pinch with her red beak. Need- 
 less to say the air was rent with the squeals of 
 
46 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AET. 
 
 agony of the injured pig, and the ecstatic paeans 
 of the whole flock of geese in chorus. From the 
 order with which the transaction took place, we 
 derived the impression that a similar game of 
 Prisoner's Base probably formed the entertain- 
 ment of the geese every evening. To the human 
 spectator the familiar experiences of an author 
 running the gauntlet of the reviewers was irre- 
 sistibly suggested by the occurrence. 
 
 It is impossible not to feel admiration for 
 Miss Dunstable the rich heiress in one of the 
 great Trollopian novels (may we be pardoned for 
 forgetting the precise volume ?) who prefaces a 
 narrative by the remark, " When my grandfather 
 was an itinerant tinker." In like manner, we are 
 all beginning to feel a certain sense of pride in 
 referring as often as possible to the time "'when 
 our ancestors were Apes," and even to the 
 remoter ages when our forefathers were of yet 
 humbler order, when, 
 
 " In the day's high meridian, the hour of the fulness 
 of time, 
 
 Came forth the Elect, the Ascidian, from the conflict 
 of sea and of slime." 
 
 It tickles us to compare ourselves, mighty 
 and intelligent creatures such as we flatter our- 
 selves we are now, who direct the lightning and 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE ANT) ART. 
 
 47 
 
 ■weigh the suns, with these progenitors of ours. 
 We are satisfied that, if we have 
 
 u Made ourselves tailless and hairless, and multiplied 
 folds to our brain /' 
 
 we have yet, on the whole, decidedly risen in the 
 world since their time. In touching then the 
 specially interesting subject of the Monkey, as 
 among the Betes Incomprises, we are conscious 
 of approaching a matter of personal interest to 
 every reader, and anxious to avoid ruffling the 
 filial and fraternal sentiments which we are all 
 proud to entertain towards our Ancestral House. 
 
 It is difficult to guess what would have been 
 the treatment of Apes by the old fabulists had 
 they suspected the tender ties which unite the 
 Genus "Homo" and "Pithecus." Possibly they 
 would have represented a Gorilla as a guileless 
 and simple-hearted creature, like the Satyr in the 
 charming story of the Man who Blew Hot and 
 Cold with the same breath, and whom the Satyr 
 —unversed in the arts of courts and cities- 
 drove indignantly from his cave. Instead of 
 taking this view, however, of him, the meddle- 
 someness and impudence of our quadrumanous 
 cousin seem to have been the characteristics 
 which chiefly struck the antique mind. Wo find 
 accordingly, concerning him the very old, and 
 
48 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 not very pointed fable, of the Monkey who, 
 having seen some Fishermen laying their nets, 
 attempts to do the same on his own account, and 
 is entangled therein. Also, there is the much 
 more diverting fable of the Monkey who, being 
 shipwrecked off Sunium, is saved by a Dolphin, 
 who takes him for a man, and carries him on 
 his back towards the shore. The Dolphin asks 
 the Monkey if he knows the Piraeus, and the 
 Monkey replies that "he is one of his best 
 friends ; 39 whereupon the Dolphin turns round 
 to look at him, and seeing who he is carrying, 
 plunges into the depth of the sea and drowns the 
 poor boastful Ape. . Doubtless, this story is the 
 original of the modern legend of the British 
 family on the Rhine, afflicted with la maladie 
 Anglaise of boasting of grand acquaintances, and 
 who, being interrogated by a fellow tourist, 
 "Whether they knew. the Dardanelles?" re- 
 sponded promptly, " That they saw a good deal 
 of them, during the season, in London." In the 
 Hitopadcsa (the great Sanskrit collection of 
 Fables), the Monkey again appears in a con- 
 temptible point of view, in the same light as in 
 that of the Fisherman's Net. The particularity 
 of the adventure as detailed in this ancient book 
 is very droll. We quote from the literal trans- 
 lation of Mr. Francis Johnson; the charming 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLH AND AliT. 
 
 49 
 
 little volume of Mr. Edwin Arnold, the u Book 
 of Good Counsels/' giving it less oddly. 
 
 " In Magadha-desa, on a plot of ground adjoining 
 the forest of Dharma, a theatre was begun to be 
 built by one of the writer- caste, whose name was 
 Subha-Datta, where between two parts a little way 
 open of a beam of wood that was being cut with a 
 saw, a Wedge had been inserted by a carpenter. To 
 this spot a large herd of monkeys inhabiting the 
 forest came for pasture, when one of them, as if 
 directed by the wand of Death, sat down, grasping 
 the wedge with both paws, his lower parts dangling 
 enclosed between the two pieces of wood. Presently, 
 from the giddiness natural to him, he with great 
 effort drew out the wedge, so that, his lower parts 
 being crushed by the two pieces of wood, he perished. 
 Therefore, say I, the man who will meddle in matters 
 with which he has no business, may lie on the ground 
 repulsed, like the Ape that drew out the Wedge." — 
 (Hitopadesa, B. xi. Table 2.) 
 
 As to glorification by Art, the poor Monkey's 
 form is not precisely one which a Praxiteles was 
 likely to immortalize in marble, but he is pictured 
 fairly well in many Egyptian frescoes, and the 
 Hindoo Ape-god Hanuman, the King of the 
 Monkeys, and ally of the hero Eama in his war 
 against the Demon-king of Lanka (Ceylon), is 
 continually reproduced in such sculpture and 
 painting as usually illustrate the Brahminical 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 mythology. [May we venture parenthetically to 
 suggest that the " Monkeys/' of whom this 
 Hanuman was king, may very possibly have been 
 the Veddahs of Ceylon, the primeval dwarfish 
 and untameable human race who even now dwell- 
 in the trees in the central forests of the island ?] 
 
 " Vixere fortes ante Agamemnona." 
 
 There were Monkeys, as well as dogs, lions, 
 and stags, before those which Landseer drew, 
 but till that Homer of the Beasts told their tale 
 with his brush, they died and were forgotten ! 
 We shall not now forget those two little playful 
 apes which he has placed over his Arab Tent, — - 
 for all the world as an old Italian painter would 
 have drawn two cherubs hovering over a sacred 
 scene ; nor the Sick Monkey, one of whose 
 oranges (obviously left by a charitable visitor) 
 another Monkey is sucking ; nor the Travelled 
 Monkey ; nor the Monkey who is seizing the 
 "Intrusive Puppy" by the tail; nor the Monkey 
 who is munching the apple to the envy of the 
 badger-dog looking on ; nor last, not least, that 
 remorseless creature who is making the Cat pick 
 the chestnuts for him off the fire. 
 
 Even Landseer, however, who makes us weep 
 with his deer and his dogs, shudder with his 
 swans, and triumph with his foxes, only invites 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 51 
 
 us to laugh with his monkeys. Nothing has been 
 done yet by Literature or Art to help us to appre- 
 hend whatever there may be, or must be, in this 
 nearest subhuman race, of elements of character 
 which have developed in man into all the cardinal 
 virtues. Only Mr. Darwin has gathered a few 
 authentic anecdotes of courage and devotion ; and 
 there has been a lively correspondence in the 
 columns of " Nature " concerning the question, 
 what Monkeys feel about Death. Some families 
 of apes, it would appear, do actually display the 
 peculiarly human attribute of tenderness for the 
 corpses of their kind, while others (e.g tJ tie in- 
 telligent Gibbons) go just so far as to be very 
 kind to the sick, but perfectly indifferent so soon 
 as Death has taken place. "1 keep in my 
 garden," writes ec JE./ } " a number of Gibbon 
 apes. One of these, a young male, fell from a 
 tree, and dislocated his wrist. It received the 
 greatest attention from the others, especially 
 from an old female who was no relation. She 
 used, before eating her own plantains, to take 
 up the first and give them to the cripple. . . One 
 morning one was found dead in the fork of the 
 tree. His comrades took no notice of him, and 
 were playing and singing as usual close to 
 Him."* 
 
 * « Nature," January 29, 1874. 
 
52 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AKD ART. 
 
 M. Houzeau proposes that we should avail 
 ourselves of such disposition to nursing and 
 general intelligence in apes by substituting thern 
 for the Negro slaves, whose services are no longer 
 obtainable : — 
 
 " Le prochain probleme," he says, " dans les rap- 
 ports de rhomme avec les animaux, est done a nos 
 yeux de rendre les grands singes domestlques, et de 
 leurapprendre a parler. . . Les grands singes sont 
 si pres de nous par la structure physique et par les 
 attributs mentaux, qu'on s'etonne de l'oubli ou 
 rhomme les a laisses jusqu'ici. II a asservi son 
 semblable, tandis qu'il pouvait trouver hors de son 
 espece des serviteurs presque aussi utiles. Mais 
 maintenant que l'esclavage a pris fin, n'est-ce pas le 
 moment de songer a faire de nouveaux animaux 
 domestiques ?"* 
 
 Further on, M. Honzeau proceeds to cite 
 cases wherein monkeys have been employed to 
 gather tea-leaves, to keep up furnaces, to sweep 
 rooms, to fetch water, and pound in mortars. 
 But the profession for which he recommends 
 them as peculiarly fitted (like the Negresses), is 
 that of a Nurse, for which he considers they have 
 singular physical, as well as moral, adaptation. 
 We are checked in a profane inclination to smile 
 
 * Houzeau " Etudes sur les Facultcs Mentales des 
 Annnaux," Vol. ii., p. 2S9, Paris : 1873. 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 53 
 
 at the prospect of an English mother committing 
 her darling to the charge of the experienced Mrs. 
 Troglodytes Niger, or of that "exemplary young 
 person/' Miss Macacus Silenus, by the solemn 
 warning of the French savant, " II n'y a rien dans 
 ces previsions qui no soit fonde sur des notions 
 scientifiques ! " 
 
 Nothing is harder than to realize the inner life 
 of a monkey. It seems plain sailing in com- 
 parison to understand the consciousness of the 
 horse or the dog. We look into their clear, 
 honest eyes, which meet ours so calmly and 
 trustfully, and we seem to feel we know all they 
 would say if they could speak; and that a metem- 
 psychosis which should cause us to waken up 
 some day with four hoofs, or a propensity to 
 bark, would not entirely surpass the bounds of 
 imagination. But there is no fathoming the eye 
 of a monkey. It is neither an animal's pellucid 
 and innocent eye, nor yet the eye of a sane 
 human being, but rather that of a cunning, half 
 idiotic child. It never meets the gazer, but 
 restlessly and nervously turns away, looking 
 affectedly above or below him till he changes his 
 position, and then with inconceivable rapidity 
 glances into him with intense but unsympathetic 
 curiosity. Sometimes (like poor little blind 
 "Jenny/' who died at the Zoological Gardens 
 
54 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART* 
 
 two years ago, and many other pets in private 
 houses) monkeys become even touchingly affec- 
 tionate, and also sometimes audaciously fearless 
 and enterprising. But never do they lose this 
 sinister habit of avoiding the human eye, or 
 acquire the look of confidence and repose common 
 to domesticated creatures. Poor Joe shakes 
 hands with his firm paw so well and cordially, 
 that blindfolded, it would be difficult to guess 
 it was not the hand of a boy which we are press- 
 ing ; and to those whom he considers his friends 
 (the writer is proud to be accounted of the 
 number) he will spring forward in welcome, and 
 leap into their arms precisely like an affectionate 
 child. Doubtless, if permitted, he would proceed 
 to offer a kiss. Yet, in looking at this poor 
 little being, the resemblance to an idiot boy — 
 even to the sense that it would be murder to 
 kill him — impresses itself most forcibly on every 
 thoughtful spectator. The nearer the approach 
 to humanity the more we are sensible that some- 
 thing is lacking — that great " something )} which, 
 for want of a better word, we must needs call by 
 its old name, a " Soul ! " As Mr. Greg has 
 beautifully said, that in looking at a corpse we 
 irresistibly feel that that poor clay (almost in- 
 distinguishable though it be by any outward sign 
 from the man as we have often seen him asleep) 
 
ANTMALS TN FABLE ANT) ART. 
 
 55 
 
 is yet not our friend, not the being we have loved, 
 and with whom we have held communion — in 
 like manner, in watching even the most intelli- 
 gent and affectionate ape, we are borne down 
 by the sense of what is wanting, rather than of 
 what is present, of that likeness to humanity. It 
 would truly seem as if by some fatality the 
 Simious race, approaching to us the nearest in 
 outward form, and possibly (it might be found, 
 if avo knew them better in their natural state) 
 even in intelligence also, have yet less than 
 many other animals of the nobler attributes of 
 manhood. Charles Kingsley's myth of the nation 
 which, by idleness and vice, gradually lapsed 
 back to savagehood, and thence, in the course 
 of a few millenniums, into a tribe of Gorillas, 
 really represents the kind of impression which 
 the study of monkeys leaves on us — as if they 
 were a "Fallen Race/' undergoing the penalty 
 of past errors, and with a certain sense of shame, 
 as of pauvres honteux who have seen better 
 days," and been made for something better; 
 even while they waste all their shining hours in 
 gambols, squabbles, and the pursuit of their tails. 
 
 Our space is exhausted, and we have not half 
 named the beasts and birds whose characters 
 seem to us to deserve reconsideration or reha- 
 bilitation. The Cat, foully slandered by the 
 
53 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 charge of treachery ; the persecuted Bat, that 
 "Gutter-child," in whom are lodged a thousand 
 estimable and amiable qualities, were he but 
 raised to a higher level of society ; the Serpent, 
 once adored, as Mr. Ferguson shows us, in every 
 corner of the globe, as the very Giver of Health 
 and Life, and now cursed and abhorred, even 
 when (as in the poor Slowworm and Green 
 Snake) he is utterly guiltless of guile or venom 
 — but where shall we stop? Is it to be at the 
 frontier of the Vertebrate Kingdom ? Who that 
 has stood transfixed in astonishment, rapture, and 
 amusement before the watery palaces of the 
 Lobsters, the Hermit Crabs, and the Octopus, at 
 Brighton or Sydenham, will ever again limit his 
 sympathies to the mere accident of the possession 
 of a backbone, or consider eyes set upon stalks 
 as necessarily devoid of sentiment ? Nay, more, 
 though ever since the day of Solomon and of 
 Virgil men have marked the wondrous instincts 
 of the Ant and the Bee, it would appear as if 
 modern researches were revealing in those tiny 
 insects not merely unsuspected developments of 
 intelligence (which we may, if we choose, cover 
 by the almost meaningless term of " Instinct"), 
 but evidences far beyond these of qualities for 
 which we have no name but " moral;" helpful 
 sympathies which have scarcely yet been ex- 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND AUT. 
 
 57 
 
 liibited so perfectly even by the lordly race of 
 man. We have long known of the Ants' won- 
 drous u Polity }y and perfect " Organization of 
 Labour ; " their Kinder-garten plan of Public 
 Nurture of the Young; their Cattle- farming of 
 aphides, and other insects, whose honey-dew they 
 milk ; the mild form of Negro Slavery prevailing 
 among several nations of red ants over black \ 
 and finally the huge Model Lodging Houses 
 erected by many species, nearly double, in pro- 
 portion to the size of the builders, that of the 
 Great Pyramid to the height of man.* All these 
 facts have for some time been known amongst 
 us ; and Hiiber taught us the additional and very 
 startling one, that ants retain both distinct 
 memory and warm friendliness for one another 
 for a period equivalent to. a third of their lives 
 — half a nestful of them which he had im- 
 prisoned for eight months in his house, returning 
 to their home under a tree, with every demon- 
 stration of joy on their side, and of affectionate 
 welcome on that of their long-parted companions, 
 who expelled strangers of the same species, 
 similarly introduced by Hiiber, with fury and 
 slaughter. But these indications of calculating 
 wisdom, industry, and friendliness pale before 
 
 * The Great Pyramid is 4G0 feet high. In proportion to 
 a nest of termites it BlicuJd be 720. 
 
ANIMALS m FABLE AND AKT. 
 
 the revelations of such qualities among the ants 
 of Nicaragua, just published by Mr. Belt. Here 
 we have nomad ants (Encitons), wandering 
 Bedouins of the forest, for ever on the tramp, 
 devouring all the dead and living insects they 
 can find; and other ants (OH cod am a), who pursue, 
 on the contrary, the stationary and peaceful pro- 
 fession and vegetarian habits of Mushroom - 
 growers. These latter keep huge cellars, as 
 large as a man's head, beneath their houses, 
 wherein they form hot-beds of countless millions 
 of circular pieces of leaves, of the size of six- 
 pences, cut from the trees, which they strip all 
 around them. As the leaves decay away, care- 
 fully guarded against drying up too soon, a 
 minute fungus grows throughout the hot-bed, 
 and on this the little gardeners subsist. And 
 lastly, and most wonderful of all, we find these 
 atoms of creatures, of whom that guide of our 
 infancy, Dr. Watts, so complacently observed 
 
 " We tread them to dust, and a troop of them dies 
 Without our regard or concern 
 
 displaying kindly affections and helpfulness, such 
 as only the elephant and the dog among animals 
 are recorded (and that in a very limited number 
 of cases) ever to have displayed. Mr. Belt says 
 of the Enciton ant, that he one day placed a little 
 
ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART, 
 
 59 
 
 stone on one to secure it. The next ant, on dis- 
 covering its friend's situation, ran about in an 
 agitated manner, and communicated the intelli- 
 gence to others, who rushed to the rescue. Some 
 bit at the stone, and tried to move it; others 
 tugged at the prisoner's legs, till at length they 
 set him free. The same thing happened when 
 Mr. Belt covered up ants with morsels of clay, 
 leaving only the antennse projecting. The other 
 ants immediately summoned assistance, and 
 never relinquished their efforts till the prisoner 
 was released. Well may he say, " I do not see 
 how such actions can be instinctive. It was 
 sympathetic help such as man only, among the 
 higher mammalia, displays' 1 The Naturalist 
 in Nicaragua," p. 26). What, then, shall we 
 say of these poor little insects who, if they were 
 rational and moral beings, could not possibly 
 afford us other or greater evidence of the fact 
 than they actually supply ? Were we able, by 
 aid of the telescope, to trace in the moon similar 
 actions of a race as large, or ten times as large, 
 as ourselves, should we hesitate to regard them 
 with approximate certainty as our fellows of tho 
 sky? Who, then, shall determine how far Ra- 
 tionality be dependent on Bulk; and how we 
 ought to look upon those moving atoms beneath 
 our feet, who have actually realized all, and more 
 
60 
 
 ANIMALS IN FABLE AND ART. 
 
 than all, the triumphs of Co-operation, Patriotism, 
 and Friendship, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, 
 which ancient or modern Communists and Uto- 
 pists — Lycurgus, Plato, More, Fourrier, or Owen 
 —ever hoped for in their dreams f 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 Of all human faculties tlie worst entreated has 
 surely been Fancy. There was a time when 
 nearly the whole earth, air, and waters formed 
 her royal pleasaunce, wherein she disported 
 herself like her own fairy child Puck, leaping, 
 frisking, and gambolling at her own sweet will. 
 But as the ages have grown old, the domain left 
 for imagination has been narrowed by her arch 
 enemy Science, till in these latter days he has 
 had the insolence to propose to find a " scientific 
 use " even for herself ! We have been wont, 
 after the manner of mobs, to cry Vce victis ! and 
 to glory in each defeat which Fancy has suffered 
 from the astronomers, and geographers, and 
 chemists, and every cohort under the banner of 
 her foe, and we have cheered them on to every 
 victory, as if, forsooth ! we should be mightily 
 the gainers when they had successively overrun 
 
62 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 each rich province of thought. Now we may sit 
 down to congratulate ourselves, and sum up the 
 results. We have won Knowledge and lost 
 Fancy. 
 
 (i Our hills, and vales, and streams, 
 
 are 
 
 "Dispeopled of their dreams." 
 
 Great Pan is dead, and Mr. Gradgrind reigns 
 in his room. Like the Iron Shroud in the dismal 
 story, the final closing-in has come somewhat 
 suddenly, though it has been long in preparation. 
 In what wide world of freedom levelled, for 
 example, the genius of Shakespeare only three 
 hundred years ago ? In his felicitous days, a 
 poet, to suit his own purposes, might freely give 
 Bohemia a sea-coast, and no carping critic say 
 him nay ; while kings of Naples, and dukes of 
 Milan, unnoticed by historians, might be cast at 
 pleasure on islands unremarked by geographers, 
 and peopled by inhabitants as little familiar to 
 ethnologists as Ariel and Caliban. Even in the 
 last century the ponderous imagination of Dr. 
 Samuel Johnson (somewhat resembling a stone 
 cherub on a Georgian tombstone) could fly to a 
 " Happy Valley '* — in " Abissinia," of all places 
 in the world — where in lieu of the shocking 
 Golgotha which Lord Napier found outside Mag- 
 dala, the great lexicographer, quite deliberately 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 63 
 
 and secure from correction, planted a Paradise 
 in the taste of the eighteenth century, u wherein 
 all diversities of the world were brought toge- 
 ther, the blessings of Nature were collected, and 
 its evils abstracted and excluded/' 
 
 There are no more " Abissinias n left for 
 any future Easselas. We have surveyed the 
 world from China to Peru, and if Dr. Schliemann 
 and Mr. Gladstone are to be trusted, have even 
 brought old Homer to book for dealing too 
 freely with the topography of Troy. Surely 
 now that we have clipped the wings of Fancy as 
 close as if she were an apteryx, it is time to cast 
 one glance backward and track her whilom flight 
 when she wheeled like an eagle amid the clouds 
 and sunlight, or flitted like a butterfly from 
 flower to flower. What was the world to the 
 Fancy of our forefathers ? When they con- 
 structed it so freely out of their consciousness, 
 what sort of a world did they make of it ? We 
 all know the little Mundus it was, astronomically 
 speaking, the sphere with the earth as a plane in 
 the middle, and the Sun driving his chariot 
 across the solid firmament, or else (according to 
 one view of the matter) blown on his way by the 
 winds, coming out of the twelve " wooden recep- 
 tacles" which the author of the Book of Enoch 
 had the privilege personally to inspect. Geo- 
 
64 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 graphy also, we know, was included in a circle 
 with u Ocean " running round it. India in tlie 
 extremest East, and " Ultima Thule," the 
 u boundary of the lands," on the West. Most 
 of us are also aware that in the sky in those days 
 were wont to appear all sorts of terrible por- 
 tents : blood-red moons, armies engaged in 
 battle, and Comets, which from their horrid hair 
 shook pestilence and war ; while the showers 
 of milk, blood, flesh, wool, stones, and burnt 
 bricks,* left it impossible to foresee what might 
 not come down unannounced at any moment; 
 and (as the Roman augurs not unjustly warned 
 the people officially when a rain of iron had hap- 
 pened to descend), "things which came from 
 heaven were exceedingly dangerous." . But the 
 astronomy, geography, and meteorology of our 
 ancestors were very small matters, and occupied 
 very little of their thoughts compared to their 
 Zoology; the wonderful company, bestial and 
 human, wherewith they peopled their little 
 stage. As their philosophers held that "Nature 
 abhors a vacuum," so did their own natural ima- 
 ginations. Hudibras mocked at the fC geogra- 
 phers" who 
 
 " For want of towns, 
 Placed Elephants on Africk's downs." 
 
 * All chronicled by Pliny, Hist. Nat. L. 11, 57. 
 
THE FAUNA OP FANCY. 
 
 C5 
 
 But it was by no means only geographers, 
 for the sake of the neatness of their maps, who 
 did such things. It may be doubted if anybody 
 in those days would have been contented with a 
 heath without Witches, a desert without Satyrs, 
 a mountain without Dwarfs, or a sea-shore with- 
 out a Mermaid. 
 
 In the following pages I shall endeavour to 
 pass in hasty review that portion of the creation 
 of imagination which may be properly termed 
 the Zoology of Fancy — the fishes, beasts, birds, 
 reptiles, and semi-human monsters, in whose 
 existence our fathers believed, but which either 
 hold no longer a place in our Natural History, or 
 are stripped of their most remarkable character- 
 istics. To accomplish this task with anything 
 like completeness, to play Ouvier or Decandolle 
 in the realm of Fancy, would require erudition 
 to which I can make no pretence, and occupy 
 years, to which it is not my ambition to devote 
 the brief remains of mortal span. It will suffice 
 if, without even attempting to trace the creatures 
 to their proper birthplaces in Aryan or Semitic 
 imagination, or to distinguish accurately between 
 classic and ruediseval monsters, I yet succeed 
 in placing before the reader's mind such a gene- 
 ral notion of the Fauna of Fiction, as may be 
 obtained of the Fauna of Reality by a stroll 
 
GO 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 round the gardens in the Regent's Park. Some 
 rather curious results will, if I mistake not, 
 emerge at the conclusion of our review. One 
 preliminary remark only need be made. Were 
 a similar E7?i-natural History to aspire to the 
 rank of a scientific treatise, it would be neces- 
 sary to follow the steps of the modern ex- 
 pounders of mythology, and show how every 
 creature and incident in ancient fable means the 
 Sun, except a few which were intended for the 
 Moon, and a good many which signified the 
 Dawn and the Clouds. Not for a moment can 
 I presume to call in question the learning of 
 the gentlemen who have demonstrated these 
 identifications, even though in my secret soul I 
 cannot but think the ancients must have been 
 sufficiently like ourselves to have interested them- 
 selves in their own tyrants and heroes, and not 
 exclusively in the concerns of the Solar System, 
 When Professor de Gubernatis tells me that the 
 golden key wherewith Mrs. Bluebeard opened 
 the fatal chamber was "perhaps the Moon/'* 
 that 
 
 "Perrette sur la tete ayant un pot au lait," 
 should refer us also back to u that little pipkin 
 the moonj^f that the Bean-stalk was planted 
 by Jack's mother, the "Blind Cow, the Night 
 * Zoological Mythology, p. 168. f Ibid , p. 125. 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 C7 
 
 and that tlie Bean meant the Moon, because " the 
 dead are as eaten vegetables, lunar symbols of 
 resurrection and abundance; and further that 
 the ears of Midas signified the two Auroras of 
 Morning and Evening, ' c whose changeableness 
 must have served very well to express the mobi- 
 lity of the ears of an ass ; M f — I &m simply 
 bewildered, and inclined to ask whether the 
 method which leads to such conclusions has not 
 been, as usual, ridden a little too far at first 
 starting ? As in the days of Evhemerism every 
 fable was traced to some supposed historical 
 origin, and even Saturn and Jupiter were iden- 
 tified as Kings of Crete, so now that another Key 
 to all Mythologies has been picked up (though 
 not by Mr. Casaubon), I cannot but think it is 
 sometimes put into wrong locks when perfectly 
 vraiscmblablc stories are expounded, with equally 
 tiresome uniformity, as solar allegories, There 
 ought to be, surely, room for a third school of 
 critics who will discriminate a little ; and while 
 recognizing with gratitude the fresh light which 
 the mythicists have thrown on the obscurest part 
 of the subject, may yet authorize us to retain a 
 modified and provisional belief in the quasi- 
 historical veracity of events which at least might 
 have been true in their principal features. Nei- 
 * Zoological Mythology, p. 243, t Ibid., p. 386. 
 
68 
 
 THE FAUNA OP FANCY. 
 
 tlier the fact that a little supernatural machinery 
 has been introduced into such tales,, nor yet that 
 the proper names of the heroes may be translated 
 to signify the Sun or the Clouds, seem to be 
 decisive proofs of their mythical origin. Ghost 
 stories are told of many families which yet exist 
 in flesh and blood ; and Walter Scott scarcely 
 intended his " Diana Vernon " for an allegory of 
 the " Moon in Spring," nor Miss Braddon her 
 "Aurora Floyd" for the "Grey Dawn," (Floyd, 
 or Lloyd, signifying "grey" in Welsh). 
 
 Where did the work of Fancy begin in 
 Zoology ? Very much where the priest told his 
 disciple that persecution ought v to commence : 
 " Just as soon as it is possible, my dear young 
 friend." Anyone who will take the trouble to 
 recall what Englishmen in DibdhVs age thought 
 of their next neighbours, the " Parley voos," and 
 how sincerely they believed them to live exclu- 
 sively on frogs (and therefore called them Johnny 
 Crapauds), and also ascertain what the Christians 
 of Eastern Europe now think about the annual 
 Passover of their Jewish fellow-countrymen upon 
 murdered babies — will be able to realize the kind, 
 though not the degree, of the delusions of our 
 ancestors about other nations. A little further 
 than next door, or, let us say in the nearest sea 
 or river, began the wilder monsters and the 
 
THE FAUNA OF. FANCY. 
 
 GO 
 
 natural beings endowed with unnatural charac- 
 teristics.* 
 
 Beginning at the bottom of the scale of marine 
 creatures of Fancy, we have the Kraken, Kraxen, 
 or Krabben, often confounded with the great Sea 
 Serpent, but carefully distinguished therefrom by 
 Pontoppidan, who justly condemns the "ignorant" 
 persons who did not know that the Kraken 
 appeared, not elongated as a serpent, but round 
 like an island, for which it was commonly 
 mistaken. Many Norwegian fishermen had 
 assured the Bishop (as those of Burntisland 
 assured little Mary Fairfax) that they had fre- 
 quently met with the Kraken, Horven, Soo 
 Horven, or Anker Trold, in warm weather in the 
 * We may remark, in passing, that there were in those times 
 several singular minerals, now but slightly known, such as the 
 Philosopher's Stone, the Aurum Potabile, the Bezoar Stone, the 
 Rock of Adamant, etc. Also many valuable vegetable produc- 
 tions : the Tree of Life, the Moly (so useful against the enchant- 
 ments of Circe !) ; the Mandrake, which has given up its habit 
 of shrieking when plucked at midnight ; and the Pesony, 
 which is no longer employed as Pliny recommends (L. xxv. 
 10) as a preservative " against the illusions caused by fauns," 
 possibly because no one has now illusions caused by fauns, or 
 by anybody else. The last survivor in the vegetable realm of 
 Fancy is the Upas, who till quite recently supplied all orators 
 who needed them with entirely false similes, and enabled the 
 painter Danby to misinstruct an indefinite number of awe- struck 
 visitors to the South Kensington Museum by his picture of 
 the " Valley of Death in Java." Having been at last detected 
 as a vegetable impostor, a juvenile Upas now stands penitentially 
 in the Conservatory at Kew. 
 
70 
 
 THE FAUNA 01' FANCY. 
 
 open sea, and ascertained its presence by the 
 water shallowing from one hundred fathoms to 
 twenty. When that phenomenon occurs, the 
 fishermen are always well aware that beneath 
 them lies the Kraken ! When he rises they row 
 hastily away, and behold the monster slowly 
 come above the surface and display his back, a 
 mile and a-half in circumference, with arms long 
 and large as the masts of a man-of-war. 
 
 The Sea Serpent, Sog Or men, A ale Tust, or 
 Serpens Marinus Magnus, is, however, in his own 
 way, an equally respectable creation with the 
 Kraken, and as Pontoppidan justly observes, is 
 a u wonderful and terrible sea-monster, which 
 extremely deserves notice." We should think 
 that he not only deserved, but obtained it when- 
 ever he pleased to exhibit himself, since, accord- 
 ing to Commander de Ferry, Governor Benstrup, 
 Eev. Hans Strom, Rev. Missionary Egede, and 
 many other most honourable persons well 
 acquainted with him, he is at least six hundred 
 feet long. " His body is as thick as two hogs- 
 heads, and his eyes are large and blue, like a 
 couple of pewter plates." (Pontoppidan, Nat. 
 Hist. Norway, in fol., p. 200.) No wonder the 
 Danes called the Great Orme's (Worm's) Head 
 after him, and no wonder so many worthy 
 persons refuse to give up so large an article of 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 71 
 
 faith, which would leave an unpleasant vacuum 
 after its dismissal from the brain.* 
 
 Scarcely less awful are sundry creatures 
 faithfully depicted (from hearsay) by the draughts- 
 man of Aldrovandus (De Monst. Hist.), one of 
 which resembled a Bishop with a mitre and cope, 
 and another, labelled Monstrum Marinum effigie 
 Monachum, who had the cowled and tonsured head 
 of a monk, the tail of a fish, and two little fishy, 
 swishy arms. This dreadful being was caught 
 off the coast of Norway, according to Rondeletius 
 and Bellonius, so late as 1503, and lived three 
 days after his capture, uttering (we are solemnly 
 informed) no sound but groans. Surely, if ever 
 there was the obvious handiwork of the Father of 
 Lies, it was in these '^diabolical parodies on holy 
 prelates and men of the cloister ! There were 
 also formerly known to exist in the ocean the Sea 
 Sow, a fearful fish, with four claws, a pig's 
 snout, and half-a-dozen eyes about its body; a 
 Sea Hoese, faithfully copied from Neptune's 
 steeds ; a Sea Devil, with horns and arms ; a Sea 
 Lton, a veritable quadruped in scales ; and scores 
 of other monsters whose frightful portraits in 
 
 * The celebrated living violinist, Olle Bull, told a friend of 
 the writer that he had himself seen a gigantic serpent beneath 
 his boat in a Norwegian fiord. The terrified boatmen rowed 
 ) away, but saw the serpent climb up an island, where next day 
 Olle Bull traced a huge broad trail of slime and broken grass. 
 
71 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 Aldrovandus seem due to an honest misconception 
 of the accounts given by mariners of the various 
 species of seals, and walruses.* The Lamprey 
 was a queer marine beast, which was quite 
 certain not to be allowed to pass without a fable 
 attached to it. u Whether it hath nine eyes/ J 
 quoth Sir Thomas Browne (ii. 477), "as is 
 received, we durst refer it unto Polyphemus, who 
 had but one, to judge it." 
 
 Much more charming are the pretty Dolphins 
 which sport through the bright waters of the 
 Grecian seas, and which from very ancient times 
 were credited with all manners of supercetaceous 
 good qualities. They loved music, especially of 
 the " hydraulic sort 99 (whatever that sort may 
 have been) , and they were easily tamed and fondly 
 attached to men. Pliny says he should never 
 end all the stories he knows of the obliging 
 behaviour of Dolphins, who allowed children to 
 
 * See the truly blood-chilling woodcuts in Aldrovandus 
 Monstrorum Historia, Bologna, 1612. It must be borne in 
 mind that down to our own generation such illustrations were 
 very literally " illustrations," and nothing more. Nobody 
 dreamed of expecting that they should be reproductions of 
 sketches taken on the spot, or even of the recollections of an 
 eye-witness. They stood exactly for the idea in the author's 
 mind as nearly as he could make his draughtsman take it in, 
 and which he mistrusted his power to convey to his readers 
 merely by words. For this reason such pictures are precisely 
 what we need for our present purpose of studying, not the 
 world of reality, but the world of imagination. 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 73 
 
 ride on their backs. One of them — as attested 
 by Maecenas and Fabianus — in the reign of 
 Augustus, carried a boy every morning to school, 
 and when the lad died the Dolphin pined away 
 waiting for him on the shore, and at last expired 
 of grief. (Nat. Hist, l.'ix. 8.) 
 
 Among the other marine creatures of Fancy 
 must not be forgotten the Barnacles, who begin 
 life as worms and end it as Barnacle Geese ; and 
 the last survivor of the whole realm — M. Victor 
 Hugo's Pieuvre, of whom we were happy to 
 receive intelligence this spring from the coast of 
 Galle, where he has managed to swallow a whole 
 ship, leaving only one survivor to tell the tale to 
 the Homeward Mail, and who signs himself, 
 " James Floyd, late Master of the schooner 
 Pearl." 
 
 Supreme over all the creatures of the sea, and 
 among the most charming of the offspring of 
 Fancy, were the Meemen and Mermaids — we do 
 not remember ever to have heard of Mer-married 
 women. The wonder would have been if, while 
 evervthing else 
 
 " Suffered a sea change 
 Into something rich and strange,' * 
 
 human beings should have undergone no marine 
 transformation. And a beautiful dream indeed 
 our fathers made of them, as anybody may satisfy 
 
74 
 
 THE FAUNA OP FANCY. 
 
 himself by gazing on that undulating living 
 garland of joy, Kaphael's " Triumph of Galatea" 
 in the Farnesina Palace. As to the complaints 
 sometimes murmured that her fish-tail forms a 
 drawback to the charms of a Mermaid, we scorn 
 the suggestion. Ladies who live on land have 
 very carefully hidden from mankind the fact that 
 their nether limbs are duplicate and terminate in 
 feet, and have assumed as the permanent outline 
 of their sex, the form of a dinner-bell. It is 
 really impossible to say why the elegant and 
 convenient shape of a Dolphin's tail should, be 
 deemed less graceful, or even less fashionable and 
 "in good form," for the conclusion of a lady of 
 the sea. If the unfavourable criticism had been 
 levelled at the Mermaid's cousin the Si ft en, who 
 is reported by Aldrovandns to be womanly only 
 to the waist, and <<r gallinaceous " in her lower 
 extremities, a la bonne heure ! there would be 
 room for objection. Unpleasant associations 
 attach to the idea of feminine scratching. For 
 once the joyous Greek Fancy was as strictly 
 Puritan as old Bunyan himself could have desired, 
 making an allegory of Pleasure, and representing 
 her as beginning with sweetness and smiles, and 
 ending with a claw. As to the Mermen, who 
 seem to have been much the same as the classic 
 Tritons or Sea Satyks, it is satisfactory to know 
 
TIT ft FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 7r> 
 
 how very often they have been observed and 
 even captured all over the world. iElian knew 
 of one in Taprobana; Menas, Prefect of Egypt, 
 wrote a letter to the Emperor Maurice, describing 
 one found in the Nile; Pliny, Apollonius, and 
 many others, mention Tritons off the coasts of 
 Boeotia and Dalmatia ; and in later times Ludo- 
 tdcus Vives heard of one taken in Holland, and 
 of another, the most satisfactory of all, appre- 
 hended on the coast of Portugal in the very act 
 of blowing his conch. 
 
 Leaving the waters and their riches of Fancy, 
 we climb up the shore to find a still wealthier 
 Fauna. Beginning with the lowest Vertebrata, 
 we meet at once that dreadful creature, the 
 Dragon, which, whether he was or was not sug- 
 gested to human imagination by fossil Ichthyosauri 
 and Plesiosauri, must be counted among the most 
 prominent among the Fauna of Fancy. The 
 most ancient depiction of Dragon in existence is 
 probably that which has just been disinterred by 
 Mr. George Smith, on the lintel of the hall door 
 of Sennacherib. The following is the description 
 of the beast (Daily Telegraph July 17th, 1874): — 
 " The Dragons are winged, collared and eared, 
 their necks are long and serpentine, and their 
 lizard-like feet terminate in claws." 
 
 An Anglo-Norman poem, probably about the 
 
7o 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 date of Henry III., quoted in Ellis's Early English 
 Metrical Romances (p. 188), gives a rather 
 different anatomical description of a beast of this 
 kind, the identical Dragon which Guy Earl of 
 Warwick slew : — 
 
 (t He is as black as any coal, 
 Rugged as a rough foal ; 
 
 His neck is great as any sommere (sumpter horse) 
 
 He runneth swift as any de3trere. 
 
 Paws he hath as a lion ; 
 
 All that he toucheth he slayeth dead down. 
 
 Great wings he hath to flight, 
 
 There is no man that bear him might."* 
 
 Sir Bevis of Hampton, St. Michael, St. George, 
 and many other knights and saints,, each distin- 
 guished himself by killing a Dragon, which by 
 the time of the composition of the " Seven 
 Champions of Christendom 19 in the Elizabethan 
 age, had grown to be a creature " fifty feet long 
 from shoulders to tail, with glittering scales 
 bright as silver, but harder than brass/' except 
 just under the wing, where happily St. George 
 struck him, and " sent his good sword Ascalon 
 to the hilt through the dragon's heart, liver, 
 bones, and blood/' (Percy's Reliques, III. 269.) 
 
 It is very satisfactory to know that so ancient 
 
 * I owe this quotation, with several others from mediaeval 
 authorities, to my brother, Thomas Cobbe, of the Inner Temple, 
 author of " A History of the Norman Kings" (Longmans, 1869). 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 77 
 
 and respectable a beast, of whom Assyrians and 
 Chinese thought so highly, honoured our country 
 with his visits several times quite within the 
 historic period. The Annals of Winchester 
 record of the year a.d. 1177, that, " In this 
 yeare Dragons were sene of many in England/', 
 a fact corroborated by the Annals of Worcester 
 (p. 383), which attach the farther information 
 that the sun also suffered eclipse. The same 
 Annals for the year 1274, record that there was 
 an earthquake on the Vigil of St. Nicholas, with 
 " a fiery Dragon which frightened the English/' 
 To follow out the fables extant concerning 
 Dragons, and their near relatives Serpents, 
 single-headed, Amphisbaenas, five-headed and 
 hundred-headed, it would be needful to go over 
 the whole of Mr. Fergusson's magnificent volume 
 on Tree and Serpent Worship. On no theme did 
 human Fancy play more frequently or with greater 
 variety than on this very suggestive reptile; 
 emblem alike of Evil and Good, of Health and 
 Death, of Destruction and Eternity, of Royalty 
 and Abjection. One of the minor wonders about 
 the Serpent was that he occasionally developed 
 into enormous size like his brother of the sea. 
 Livy (29th Dec), and Valerius Maximus (Lib. 1), 
 tell of a famous one in Africa which checked the 
 advance of the whole Roman army ; and Diodorus 
 
73 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 describes the capture of another sixty feet long, 
 taken to Alexandria, as a pleasing offering (some- 
 what worse, We should imagine, than even a 
 White Elephant) to Ptolemy I [. 
 
 The Wyvern of the Middle Ages, still dear to 
 heralds, was "a, flying serpent, the fore-part as 
 a dragon with wings, and the latter part as a 
 snake/' but differing from the Dragon in having 
 only two legs. 
 
 The Hydea of Lerna again was a terrific 
 serpent, son of Typhon and Echidna (according 
 to Hesiod), with seven, nine, or fifty heads, 
 according to the pleasure of historians. When 
 one head was cnt off, another sprouted, dis« 
 proving the Hudibrastic axiom that, 
 
 " This truth is maintained by philosophers still, 
 That the hair grows again, but the head never will. " 
 
 Hercules, of course, got the better of the 
 Hydra, which has been uncomfortably resolved, 
 on Paulus' principle of exegesis, into a number 
 of (watery) torrents which inundated the marshes 
 of Lerna and made them pestiferous, till canals 
 were cut through them. Once for all, we reject 
 and refuse all such attempts to resolve the Fauna 
 of Fancy into metaphors, and in the present case 
 we beg to quote, in confirmation of the Hydra's 
 material reality, the further assurance of historians 
 
THE FAUNA OP FANCY. 
 
 70 
 
 that he had a brother, Chimera by name, who was 
 born in Lycia, and " educated " by King Amiso- 
 dorus; and who might be described as a goat 
 with a lion's head, a dragon's tail, and an un- 
 pleasant habit of vomiting fire and flames till 
 Bellerophon quenched him. There is an antique 
 bronze in the Pitti corroborative of this veracious 
 view of Chimsera's appearance and behaviour, and 
 calculated to confound the ancient critics who 
 alleged he was a volcano with goats, lions, and 
 serpents browsing on the sides ; and not less the 
 modern ones who, of course, prove him easily to 
 be the Sun concerned in some way with Leo 
 and Capricorn. The serpent Echidna, the mother 
 of these two pretty creatures, and also of Cerberus, 
 was (as the wife of a late noble poet is said to 
 have signed herself in an hotel book) " Moglia 
 del Diavolo" Her partner was Typhon, the Evil 
 Power — a personage whose importance in the 
 world was somehow never thoroughly recognized 
 by the joyous Greeks or by anybody else in pre- 
 Christian times. 
 
 Half-way between the Eeptiles and Birds (a 
 missing link which we commend to the geolo- 
 gists), comes the Cockatrice, or Basilisk, a 
 creature which was quite recently believed by 
 our Scotch fellow subjects to come forth from an 
 egg laid by a cock permitted to attain his seventh 
 
S3 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 year. It is superfluous to remark that no better 
 reason was needed why sentence of death should 
 always be passed on old cocks before the dreadful 
 incubation took place. In the shape of Cock-a- 
 leeky broth, no further transformation was appre- 
 hended. The Cockatrice of Aldrovandus and of 
 heraldry was a creature with a cock's head and 
 wings, a lizard's body and tail, and a kingly 
 crown instead of a cock's comb, and just possibly 
 might have been suggested to some vivid imagi- 
 nation by a fossil Pterodactyle. Pliny describes 
 it moderately (Lib. viii. 32), under its alias of 
 j3aai\i(7fcos [regulus, little king), as a small serpent 
 with a mark resembling a diadem on its head, 
 endowed with dreadfully alarming properties. 
 Even other serpents fly from the basilisk, which 
 kills them by its mere odour, and its very glance 
 is mortal to man and all animals (Lib. xxix. 19). 
 Leigh, quoted by Lower (" Curiosities of He- 
 raldry/' p. 91), while corroborating all these 
 terrible things about the Cockatrice, adds the 
 consolatory information that " though he be 
 venom without remedye whilst he liveth, yet 
 when he is dead and burnt to ashes, he loseth 
 all his malice, and the ashes of him are good for 
 alchemists, and namely in turning and changing 
 of mettall." It is obvious that if we could only 
 " catch our cockatrice," we should be able to 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 81 
 
 transmute as much lead to gold as we might 
 desire. 
 
 Before leaving the Reptiles of Fancy we must 
 not omit to mention the Chameleon's peculiar 
 dietary of "light and air," or the Salamander's 
 well-known habit of living par preference in the 
 fire, which is less remarkable if, as iElian says, 
 it is itself born of the flames (De Nat. Animal, 
 lib. ii. c. 31). 
 
 The Birds of Fancy were more remarkable 
 than numerous. There was first the great Roc 
 (Rukh), Simukg, or Anka, beloved by us all since 
 the happy days when first we read the enchanting 
 history of Sindbad the Sailor. Marco Polo heard 
 of the Roc, of course, in Madagascar. He says 
 it is like an eagle, and that it measures sixteen 
 paces between the tips of the wings. Mr. Lane 
 quotes an Arabic authority, Ibn el War dee, to say 
 that rukhs live in an island in the Chinese Sea, 
 and that the length of one of their wings is just 
 ten thousand fathoms. An authentic portrait of 
 the Simurg, from a Persian drawing, represents 
 him as ingeniously carrying one elephant in his 
 beak, and another in each of his talons. The 
 reliable El Wardee also knew of a Roc's egg 
 which was found on an island, and seemed like 
 an enormous white dome more than a hundred 
 cubits high, and as firm as a mountain. 
 
82 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 Another interesting bird whose memory is 
 cherished by heralds, of which Godfrey de Bouillon 
 was lucky enough to shoot three specimens in 
 Palestine, is the Allerion, an eagle rather unfor- 
 tunately circumstanced for gaining his livelihood, 
 as he possessed neither legs, claws, nor beak. 
 The Pelican was in the realms of Fancy altogether 
 a different bird from the absurd, hopping, and 
 waddling creature, with a double chin like 
 Benjamin Franklin, whom we actually behold. 
 It was a slender bird with a crane-like neck and 
 eagle's beak, wherewith it was always (as the 
 heralds describe it) vulning its own breast to feed 
 its young with its blood — a practice which gave 
 it a high and honoured place in early Christian 
 symbolism, alongside of the Phcenix. This last 
 bird of Fancy is one of the brightest of all her 
 creations, and the passionate insistance on the 
 lovely myth, and its reappearance in Semitic and 
 Aryan literature age after age, is a somewhat 
 affecting evidence of human yearning for some 
 such visible emblem of the resurrection from the 
 dust of the grave. " God knew men's unbelief," 
 says St. Cyril (Lect. 18), "and provided for this 
 purpose " (that of evidence of the resurrection), 
 " a bird called a Phcenix. This bird, as Clement 
 writes,* and as many more relate, the only ono 
 * Clement Roiiiaiiua, Ep. i. 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 83 
 
 of its race, going to the land of Egypt at revolu- 
 tions of 500 years, shows forth the resurrection ; 
 and this not in desert places, lest the mystery 
 which comes to pass should remain unknown, but 
 in a notable city" (Heliopolis). Lactantius, Ter- 
 tullian, Gregory Nazianzen, and (needless to add) 
 Epiphanius, the " Father of Tales," believed 
 firmly in the Phoenix. St. Ambrose (Hex. 1. v. 
 123) says that " the bird of Arabia teaches us by 
 its example to believe in the resurrection."* 
 Herodotus was more sceptical, and observes, after 
 telling the tale, "It appears to me incredible." 
 Pliny says it is "the most celebrated of birds, 
 but admits that it has not been €S often" seen, 
 and even suggests that its existence may possibly 
 be a fable. He gives, however, a splendid de- 
 scription of it, quite as accurate as if a specimen 
 were stuffed in a glass case before his eyes. The 
 Phoenix is as large as an eagle, he has a plumage 
 which shines like gold round his neck, a purple 
 body, and a tail of rose-coloured and azure 
 plumes, a cockscomb under his neck, and a 
 magnificent crest. The learned senator Manilius 
 had told the Romans all about him, how he lived 
 
 * It appears that the word which our Biblical translators 
 render "sand" ( U I snail die in my nest, and multiply my days 
 as the sand," Job xxix. 18), is in Hebrew Hoi or Khol, 
 signifying both sand and Phoenix, and rendered in the 
 Septuagint $oti'Se. 
 
84 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY© 
 
 509 years, and then built a nest of cinnamon and 
 incense, on which he died (it is not said that he 
 burnt himself), and a worm which turned into a 
 young Phoenix sprung from his bones and marrow 
 and performed his funeral rites by depositing his 
 nest on an altar in the city of the Sun. Manilius 
 did not teach that the Phoenix was an astrono- 
 mical hieroglyph indicative of a solar period, but 
 quite the contrary, that the solar period was itself 
 determined by the life of the Phoenix, which, in 
 his day, was just at its 215th year (a.c. 657). 
 Cornelius Valerianus related that a Phoenix visited 
 Egypt in the consulate of 0. Plautius, and Sex. 
 Papinius (a.c. 789). But a soi-disant Phoenix 
 brought to Rome in the reign of Claudius, was 
 recognized by everybody at once with indigna- 
 tion as a gross impostor. 
 
 V'ery terrible, according to the old Scandi- 
 navian and Teutonic ideas, were even those flesh 
 and blood birds, the Eagle and the Raven. Can 
 anything be more gruesome than tins account of 
 an eagle in Giraldus Cambrensis ? — " In these 
 mountains of Ereri (the Snowdon range), an 
 eagle perches on a certain fatal stone on every 
 Friday, hoping to satiate its hunger on the slain. 
 It is said to look for war on that same day of 
 the week, and in the meantime to have almost 
 perforated the stone by cleansing and whetting 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 85 
 
 its beak thereon." (G. Camb. Itin. Camb. ii. 9, 
 136). " Delectable mountains/' indeed, those must 
 have been of Ereri, only a few hours' march from 
 that old Harlech which " led th' embattled war.''' 
 
 Reaching at last upward to the Mammalia 
 of Fancy (a classification which we suspect its 
 creators would have utterly ignored) , we come 
 to a few interesting quadrupeds, and to a mixed 
 society of animals, half human and half brutish. 
 Of the first kind we have that supporter of the 
 British crown and constitution, the Unicoen, or 
 Monoceeos, to whom Cuvier has dedicated a very 
 learned inquiry. Pliny says it had a horse's 
 body, a stag's head, a boar's tail, an elephant's 
 feet, an indomitable temper, and a single horn 
 two cubits long in the middle of its forehead. 
 Tedious critics have urged that the Unicorn is 
 only a jumble of the descriptions of the Rhino- 
 ceros and the Oryx (a species of antelope), and 
 if Fancy had never made anything wilder than 
 the Unicorn, we might lend an ear to such a 
 suggestion. Considering, however, what she has 
 done in the way of inventing dragons and 
 krakens, it seems quite superfluous to question 
 her entire readiness and ability to make this 
 comparatively modest contribution to Natural 
 History.* A pleasant creature, living in the 
 
 * Upton and Leigh give much useful information about the 
 
8G 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 same regions (Ethiopia) as the Unicorn, was the 
 Mantichorus, who had three rows of teeth, the 
 face and ears of a man, the colour of blood, the 
 body of a lion, the tail and sting of a serpent, 
 and a quite particular taste for human flesh 
 (Pliny, L. viii. 30). The hei^alds have added to 
 his pleasing portrait the horns of an ox. The 
 Catoblepas was not quite so dreadful. She lived 
 near the sources of the Nile, and her mere glance 
 was certain death ; but, fortunately, she was 
 troubled with an extremely heavy head, and 
 general inertion, and could do no more than just 
 lift herself (Ibid. L. viii. 32). This beast is sus- 
 pected by Cuvier of being nothing more won- 
 derful than the Gnu, who, however, chances to 
 be a particularly lively quadruped. A worse 
 brute by far was the Flying Pig, mentioned by 
 iElian (de Nat. Animal, xii. c. 38), who ravaged 
 all the fields of Clazomena?, and must have been, 
 in every sense, a very great boar. 
 
 In touching the G-rypeons, or Griffins, we 
 
 Unicorn. Hia horn is the best possible test of water. The 
 other beasts do not dare to taste of any fountain till he has 
 stirred it with hi3 horn to ascertain if any wily dragon hare 
 deposited his venom therein. A Unicorn, it is well to know, 
 may be caught quite easily (like Samson) if the proper precau- 
 tions be employed. "A mayd is set where lie haunteth, and 
 she opencth her lappe, to whom the Unicorn as keeking rescue 
 from the hunter yieldeth his head, and leaveth all his fierceness, 
 and sleapeth untyll ho be taken and slayn.' 7 
 
THE FAUNA OP FANCY. 
 
 87 
 
 reach the disagreeable order of allegorical crea- 
 tures, to which the Sphinx and the human head 
 bulls of Nineveh are supposed to belong. Hero- 
 dotus had indeed heard that there were real 
 Griffins who guarded the gold mines of tLo 
 Arimaspi, and that it was common to sacrifice 
 them in hecatombs on important occasions, a 
 statement almost as startling as that which ap- 
 peared two years ago in an American journal, 
 that u lions and tigers are now sold wholesale in 
 London." The Griffin was a quadruped with the 
 front of an eagle, the hind^ parts of a lion, and a 
 pair of enormous ears. These things, of course, 
 are an allegory ; the Griffin being the symbol of 
 a faithful Guardian, with eagle-eyes, leonine cou- 
 rage, and very sharp sense of hearing. Sir John 
 Mandeville, we are happy to say, gives a much 
 more satisfactory account of the beast (c. xxvi.), 
 as we must needs consider one obtained on the 
 very spot where Griffins most do congregate. 
 " In that countrie (Bokhara) bene many griffoons 
 more plentie than in any other countrie. Somo 
 men say that they have the body upward as au 
 egle and beneath as a lyon, and truly they say 
 sooth. But. a griffoon has a body more gret and 
 strong than eight lions, and more gret ani 
 strong than one hundred egles. For a griffoon 
 will bere flying to his neat great hors, or two 
 
 4 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 oxen yoked together." The Opinicus (the crest 
 of the Barber Surgeons) differs from the Griffin 
 in having only two legs. The Hippogriff was 
 half horse half griffin, and flourished at a later 
 period — on Darwinian principles of development. 
 His remains are to be found thickly embedded in 
 the pages of Ariosto. 
 
 After the Griffin, perhaps, we ought to place 
 the winged horse, Pegasus, who, it is almost 
 needless to say, is, according to De Gubernatis, 
 the offspring of the Evening Aurora (Medusa, of 
 all persons in the world!) and a very drowsy 
 metaphorical steed indeed. In bona fide mytho- 
 logy he is a beautiful brute, who, with a single 
 blow of his hoofs, opened the fountain of Hippo- 
 crene (oh that he would give it another kick now 
 that it is so sadly dammed up !), and who lives 
 evermore in the celestial mews of Olympus, 
 attended by three stable-maids, who bathe, and 
 comb, and caress the noble beast as he deserves. 
 
 Cerberus is a cruel and wicked satire upon 
 Dogs. He is not, indeed, a well-born dog at all, 
 but another brother of the same disreputable 
 family as Hydra and Chimaora, born of Typhon 
 and Echidna. He had three heads, or fifty, 
 according to pleasure, with a collar of serpents 
 round his neck, and he was chained up like a 
 mubtilf to guard the shores of Styx. There is 
 
THE tfAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 89 
 
 obviously some confusion between Cerberus and 
 another dog, Orthros, wlio had two heads ; and 
 again between them both and Orthros' master, 
 Geryon, a king of Spain, who enjoyed the advan- 
 tage of three heads — the better, we hope (as lied 
 Riding Hood's Wolf would say) to think about 
 the politics of that unfortunate country. 
 
 Entering the realm of creatures half brutish 
 half human, we must begin with the Harpies, 
 who had the bodies of birds, and heads of women, 
 and who were addicted to making a dreadful 
 mess of dinner tables. But we turn from them 
 with relief, to the much more important and 
 dignified Sphinx, who may strictly be reckoned 
 among the " allegories on the banks of the Nile," 
 and who is a personage of whom it is impossible 
 to speak without respect. She (for like Solo- 
 mon's Sophia, and Pallas -Athenee, and every 
 other genuine representative of Wisdom, the 
 Sphinx is feminine, and the androsphinxes are 
 comparatively nowhere) is assuredly, in her 
 Egyptian guise, a noble image of calm, Kef and 
 contemplation. That sweet, still face of stone 
 which meets us across the sands of solemn Ghiza, 
 blasted by the storms and burned red by the 
 suns of sixty centuries, what a rebuke for our 
 miserable restlessness and fussiness to be "up 
 and doing/' comes from that solemn gaze 
 
90 
 
 THE PAUNA OS FANCY. 
 
 out of the depths of the age 3 before History 
 began ! 
 
 Every one must revere the Egyptian Sphinx. 
 But how different was the lively Grecian mon- 
 ster! We have heard of elderly English spinsters, 
 whose chief occupation in life is " to propound 
 conundrums in country houses ; " and just such 
 an old maid must have been the Sphinx of 
 Thebes, except that she ate up the people who 
 failed to guess her riddles, which was perhaps 
 worse than even the mortal boredom of plaguing 
 them with double acrostics. 
 
 Considering how exceedingly dull was the 
 only recorded enigma of the Sphinx (" Which 
 is the creature who goes on four legs in the 
 morning, two at noon, and three at night ? ") the 
 other Greeks were certainly justified in taunting 
 the Boeotians as a stupid nation, since they 
 waited for OEdipus to solve it. The Evhe- 
 m eristic hypothesis of Pausanias that she was a 
 real woman, d aught er of Laius, will be rejected 
 by everybody in these days, for the obvious 
 theory that she must have been the " Sun in 
 Virgo ; ' when the inundation of the Nile occurs 
 — which river the Sphinx also typifies. It is an 
 "aid to faith" to learn from Diodorus (lib. 4) 
 that there were plenty of real Sphinxes among 
 the Troglodytes in Ethiopia, and that they were 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 91 
 
 very docile and affable animals ; as Pliny adds, 
 "of a red complexion." If it be gratifying to 
 find a metaphor turned into marble, like the 
 Temple of Apteral Victory at Athens, how 
 doubly satisfactory is it to find one transformed 
 into a living beast ! 
 
 After the Sphinx, among the half human 
 animals, we have the Centaur and the Centauress 
 (half man or woman, and half horse), and the 
 Onoskelos (half man, half ass) ; the latter was 
 an insignificant being, but the Centaurs whom 
 Phidias condescended to sculpture, and the 
 Centauresses whom Xeuxis painted, were indeed 
 noble creations of Fancy. In those days when 
 men knew nothing about physiology, and heathen 
 Celsus took it for granted that nobody could 
 be cruel enough to cut up living animals to see 
 how they were made, but when, for all their 
 ignorance, men could build, and paint, and 
 sculpture after a fashion which all the labours of 
 South Kensington, it is to be feared, will never 
 teach ; in those blessed days it was possible to 
 make beings who might have some such singular 
 inward apparatus as two stomachs, but who were 
 likewise lovely and grand and graceful beyond 
 anything we can make with all our boasted 
 anatomical studies. Two Centauresses depicted 
 on the walls of Herculaneum, a bay lady and a 
 
D2 TIIJE FAtJNA OF ftANCt. 
 
 grey, are,, as the Morning Post would describe 
 them, " among the most affecting representations 
 which Art has produced in ancient times." As 
 to the male Centaurs or Hippocentaurs, of whom 
 about forty are described by name in Pozzoli's 
 learned Dizionario d'ogni Mitologia, they were 
 evidently nothing more than the squirearchy of 
 Thessaly, as described by the cockney scribblers 
 of Athens — men, as Lord George Bentinck would 
 have said, " of a stable mind y 9 capital shots ; apt 
 to be hot-tempered ; and fond of a little music of 
 an evening. Their horsy propensities (which, 
 after all, extended only over half their natures) 
 would never have called forth remark, except from 
 stupid city people, ignorant of the share which 
 a horse inevitably takes in the life of every man 
 who really knows how to ride. 
 
 In the middle ages, the fact that Centaurs 
 were such excellent archers, seems to have been 
 their chief attraction. The great seal of King 
 Stephen bears a " Sagittaky/' half man, half 
 horse, with a bent bow ready to shoot. Of course 
 Sir John Mandeville came across them in Bacharia, 
 where there " ben many Ipotaynes." They added 
 (it is interesting to know), amphibious habits to 
 the sporting and musical characteristics of 
 Hercules' s tutor. They "dwellen sometime in 
 the watre and sometime on the londe, and they 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 93 
 
 ben half men half hors." The Hippopods, depicted 
 faithfully by Aldrovandus, were not to be con- 
 founded with Centaurs or Sagittaries. They 
 were merely men with the feet (not the bodies) 
 of horses, and they live (it is well known) in 
 certain islands three days' sail north of Scythia. 
 The Ass-men, on the contrary, live quite in an 
 opposite direction, and are found on navigating 
 the Lusitanian coasts, half way to Calecuthum. 
 
 The most dreadful of half human creatures, 
 and also the most terribly true of ancient alle- 
 gories, was the Minotaur, half bull, half man, to 
 whose Labyrinth the fourteen virgins of Athens 
 were sent every year in hellish tribute. Alas, 
 alas ! where is the Theseus who will slay that 
 monster passion to which more than fourteen 
 thousand hapless victims are offered annually in 
 Christian England ? 
 
 Cynocephalt, according to Licosthenes, as 
 quoted by Aldrovandus, have an " elegant " 
 human form, except about the head, which has 
 the jaws of a dog. Vincentio says they are a 
 nation which inhabits Tartary, and Marco Polo 
 saw them in the island of Angaman (Aldrovandus, 
 de Monst. Hist. p. 22). 
 
 Satyrs again (in Hebrew Seirim) are most 
 important personages among the Bimana of 
 Fancy. They are horned, hairy men^ with human 
 
9i 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY, 
 
 faces, legs of goats, and wholly without thoso 
 good manners which, according to William of 
 Wykeham, " makyth manne." Pliny says they 
 live in India; Pomponius Mela places them 
 among the Atlas Mountains; St. Anthony re- 
 ceived a visit from one in the Thebais ; Albertus 
 Magnus saw another in the woods of Saxony ; 
 and the corpse of a third, after being exhibited 
 at Alexandria, was salted, and sent to Antioch, 
 where it was presented to the Emperor Con- 
 stantine. These three last Satyrs appeared in the 
 world against all rule, for, as Aldrovandus 
 explains, " in early times the Devil took such 
 forms to deceive Mankind, but since the Incar- 
 nation, such evil spirits have vanished." Persons 
 who have seen the peasants of the Roman 
 Campagna with their goatskin breeches, are 
 seldom at a loss to guess whence the Satyrs had 
 their origin, without any diabolical interference. 
 
 The Fauns, with small pointed ears, form the 
 last link blending the human with the animal 
 form, and a lovely missing link it was ! After 
 all, if Mr. Darwin be right, our ears were origi- 
 nally faun-shaped, and still bear the trace of tho 
 crease. Blessed, any way, be the Fancy to which 
 we owe the Faun of Praxiteles and the Marblo 
 Faun of Nathaniel Hawthorne, — nearly the most 
 exquisite statue in art [and romance in literature, 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 95 
 
 Next to tlic animals which were corporeally 
 semi-human, should be reckoned the men and 
 women who at pleasure became animals. In 
 ancient classic days people were continually 
 changed into wolves, dogs, or cows — their destiny 
 was spoken of by the Greeks as Lycanthropy, 
 Kuanthropy, or Boanthropy accordingly. The 
 Lycanthropists, Wolf-men, Were-wolves, or 
 Loups-garous, played so important a part all over 
 Europe, both in ancient and mediaeval times, that 
 Mr. Baring Gould has dedicated to them an entire 
 and most entertaining little volume, from whose 
 learned pages I should have wished to quote 
 largely had space permitted. Herodotus, it seems, 
 observes with his usual caution, that if one is to 
 believe the Scythians, the whole nation of Neuri 
 are sorcerers, and change themselves once a 
 year into wolves (Lib. iv., c. 105). Pomponius 
 Mela corroborates this interesting feet of ethno- 
 logy; Pliny and Petronius tell several personal 
 anecdotes of were-wolves ; and St. Augustine 
 positively knew — what was much more wonderful 
 — an old lady who turned men into asses by her 
 enchantments. This last is really a culminating 
 miracle, worthy of its place in the " Civitate Dei." 
 Of course young ladies have done the same thing 
 by scores in all ages. Norse literature is full of 
 were-wolves, and Mr. Baring Gould quotes endless 
 
96 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 stories from all parts of Europe, during the 
 Middle Ages and down to tlie sixteenth century, 
 showing how men and women changed at their 
 own will or that of the devil into wolves. The 
 horrible part of the business is, that this deeply- 
 rooted and wide-spread superstition has obviously 
 affected the brains of many wretched semi-idiotic 
 or lunatic men and boys, who under the impression 
 that they were wolves, have gone out (like Jean 
 Roulet, of Caude, near Angers, in 1598, and Jean 
 Grenier, of St. Antoine de Pizou), ravening for 
 human flesh, and killing children to satisfy their 
 hunger for it. 
 
 Respecting Monsters proper, some curious 
 differences exist between the creations of Fancy 
 and of Nature. The sad science of Teratology, as 
 elucidated by so learned a student as M. Isidore 
 Geoffroi de St. Hilaire, in his " Histoire General e 
 des Anomalies" (4 vols., Paris, 1832), proves 
 that there is scarcely any conceivable variation 
 of excess or defect which has nob, amid all the 
 millions of births in the animal creation, at some 
 time or other taken place. There have been 
 single monsters with all such malformations ; and 
 still stranger double monsters, of which the 
 Siamese Twins and the Two-headed Nightingale 
 were among the least painful specimens. But 
 Nature creates these singly ; the anomaly is 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 9? 
 
 rarely, and only in some slight measure (as in an 
 excess of the number of fingers) , hereditarily 
 reproduced ; whereas Fancy has revelled in the 
 creation of whole nations of Monoculi or Cyclops, 
 of Unipedes with one leg, and of headless men 
 with eyes and mouths in their chests ; all to be 
 seen duly located in the maps of Africa attached 
 to Ptolemy's Geography. 
 
 And again, no monster of Nature (beyond 
 the narrow limits of hybridism) ever exhibits 
 the characters of another species beside its own. 
 Those characters, as we have said, may be 
 hideously or grotesquely marred or diversified, 
 but they never give place to the characters of a 
 different race. Here at once we find a sure line 
 of demarcation between such monsters as those 
 which M. de St. Hilaire has classified and those 
 which Aldrovandus has placed alongside of such 
 genuine distortions as equally authentic. There 
 have never been, and never, while the present 
 order of Nature lasts, can there be, such monsters 
 as those which he observes, " proculdubio," por- 
 tended calamity to the world ; like the following : 
 (Ulysis Aldrovandi Monstrorum Historia; in Pol. 
 Bologna, 1642, p. 363, et seq.) 
 
 1. A horned and winged monster who 
 appeared to Brutus in his tent (a version of the 
 story of the ghost of Caesar), 
 
93 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 2. Twins, half dog, half boy, born in Epirus 
 in a.d. 1232. 
 
 3. A monster who came up out of the Tiber 
 in 1496, with the body of a man, the head of an 
 ass, one foot that of a bird, and the other that of 
 an elephant. 
 
 4. A woman born in Eavenna, in 1612 (only 
 thirty years before Aldrovandus wrote), with horns 
 on her head, and a single foot resembling that of 
 a bird of prey, with an eye in the knee joint ! 
 
 5. An infant born of parents non infimice 
 sortis in Belgium (authenticated by Jacob Rufus 
 and Cardan), with a tail and a proboscis. 
 
 6. A horrid monster, half boy, half calf, with 
 the cowl of a monk, which was born in Germany 
 just in time to presage the " nefarious deeds of 
 the infamous Luther." 
 
 7. A creature born near Buda in Hungary, 
 with human head and body, four arms, and the 
 legs of an ox. 
 
 8. An €€ execrable monster," who appeared in 
 Egypt with three heads respectively of a wolf, 
 an eagle, and a dragon, and whose habits were 
 amphibious. 
 
 9. The offspring of a woman born at Byzan- 
 tium, at the time of the Turkish conquest, who 
 exhibited horns, hoofs, tail, and all the character* 
 istics of the devil, 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 99 
 
 We have now passed in hasty review the 
 chief products of Fancy in the purely Animal 
 realm. Beyond and above these a semi-spiritual 
 region opens, into which we can but peep for an 
 instant to recall to memory that there, even more 
 than among her corporeal creations, Fancy dis- 
 played her inexhaustible riches. Let us for a 
 moment conceive what it took of keen sympathy 
 with Nature, of intense sense of the spiritual 
 element underlying all phenomenal things, to 
 have created the Oreads of the mountains, the 
 Dryads of the woods, the Naiads and Nereids of 
 the seas and fountains, the Oceanides, and the 
 sweet nymph Echo. What deep and vivid sense 
 of the truly horrible is revealed in the creation of 
 those hollow masks the Empusae and Lamias, the 
 death-chill stare of the Gorgons, the stony Fates, 
 the weird Graiee, the arch-dreadful Erinnyes of 
 Remorse ! Scarcely less was the fertility of 
 Semitic fancy, with its awful Afreets, and Ghouls, 
 and Vampires, and Devas of every sort, its Angels 
 of the Sepulchre, and its sweet Peris who lived 
 on odours, and to whom, perhaps, we Westerns 
 owe our sweetest Midsummer Night's Dream of 
 the Fairies. Those same Fairies, with Oberon 
 and Titania for King and Queen, and Puck (the 
 Irish Phuca, whose leap (Poulaphuca) is a famous 
 waterfall in Wicklow) ; and Robin Goodfellow. 
 
100 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 and the Elves and Dwarfs, and Wood Trolds and 
 Hill Trolds, and Lob-lie-by-the-Fire (of whom 
 Mrs. Ewing has written so charming a story); the 
 Nixies, and Kobbolds, and Hobgoblins (house 
 spirits) ; the Brownies, the Necks and Strom 
 Karl (water and river spirits) ; the Dracs, the 
 Kelpies, the Wichtlein (little wights of the mines); 
 the Wilde Frauen, or Elle Maids ; the Clurichaun, 
 or Leprachaun of Ireland, the Urisk and Daiom 
 Shi of Scotland, the Manx Phynnoderee, the 
 French Follet, or Gobelin, and Melusina, not to 
 mention a score of other beings not properly 
 included in Fairy Mythology, the Banshee, the 
 Doppelganger, and the Ogre, sufficiently vindi- 
 cate the wealth of mediaeval Fancy. Beyond them 
 all, among shapes which it is impossible to classify, 
 come the Wild Huntsman, the Flying Dutchman, 
 the Army of Spectres which beleaguered Prague; 
 and, for a last example, the Green Children of 
 that respectable historian, William of Newburgh.* 
 
 # u Nor should I pass by that prodigy, the like whereof had 
 not been heard of, which is known to have happened in King 
 Stephen's time. For a long while, indeed, I hesitated to believe 
 a story with little or no reasonableness, in it, and which to mo 
 seemed absurd, till overborne by pressure of so many and great 
 witnesses, I gave in to believe and wonder, where by no strength 
 of mind I could understand. There is a village in East Anglia, 
 four or five miles from the noble monastery of blessed Edmund, 
 King and Martyr, hard by which may be seen some very ancient 
 diggings, which, in the English tongue, are called Wolf-pits. 
 Out of these pits, then, in harvest time came two children, male 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 101 
 
 The motley throng has passed before us, and 
 we are perhaps better able, after such refreshment 
 of our memory of half-forgotten fables, to answer 
 the question, What relation does the Fancy-work 
 of Man bear to the genuine Zoology of Nature ? 
 It would seem as if herein the characteristic like- 
 nesses and differences between the human and 
 the divine come singularly into relief. We, too, 
 would fain be creators, and people the waste with 
 life. But Nature is original ; we are poor servile 
 plagiarists. No limb or hair of any living animal 
 is copied from that of another species; but our 
 dragons, and griffins, and centaurs, and mermen 
 are wearisome repetitions of so many heads and 
 tails, and bodies and legs of lions, serpents, 
 eagles, and fishes incongruously put together, 
 like ill-fitting fragments in a Chinese puzzle. 
 Beyond such childish work, and magnifying 
 
 and female, their bodies wholly green, their clothes in colour 
 and material different from all others. And when amazed these 
 children had wandered through the field they were led into the 
 village, many gathering to the sight of so great a novelty. Food 
 was offered to them, but for some davs they would not eat. At 
 last one brought some beans from the field, and these they 
 snatched on the instant. After this, the nature of our food 
 prevailing, they changed their own colour a little and got 
 accustomed to speech. Then did it seem fit that these children 
 should receive the sacrament of holy baptism ; but the boy lived 
 only a short time after baptism, leaving his sister in health, 
 and not in the least differing from women of our race. It ia 
 said that she married at Lynn, and within a few years left issue.'' 
 (Hist. Angl. i. 27.) 
 
102 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 one creature to a giant or minifying another to 
 a pigmy, we accomplish absolutely nothing. Not 
 only do we lack the plastic power to realize our 
 conception, but we cannot form an original con- 
 ception at all. An archetypal idea, a " Feroiier" 
 of Zoroastian philosophy, is as much out of our 
 reach as actual creation. Again, as Man is apart 
 of Nature, it was inevitable that, when he played 
 the Demiurge, he too should make things grim 
 and grotesque, like many of her own creations. 
 If birds and beasts are, as a rule, beautiful, 
 there are exceptions to the rule, causing to the 
 thoughtful observer no small difficulty to har- 
 monize his view of the origin and meaning of 
 creation. What sin is in the moral world, ugliness 
 is in the aesthetic aspect of things, and it seems 
 far from impossible that the dread problem of 
 the existence of evil might be more profitably, or 
 at least freshly considered, were we to endeavour 
 to apprehend somewhat of the significance of its 
 parallel. Be this as it may, the different and 
 contrasted proportion between the grotesque and 
 the ugly in Nature and in the productions of 
 human Fancy is a very noticeable fact. Nature 
 makes nine hundred and ninety-nine creatures 
 beautiful, agile, graceful, for one hideous Hippo- 
 potamus or clumsy Toucan. Man has invented 
 a score of Chimeras, Dragons, Krakens, Ogres, 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 103 
 
 and Gorgons for a single Faun or Fairy. In 
 truth, the share which shapes not merely of ugli- 
 ness, but of sheer horror occupy among his crea- 
 tions, goes far to show how prevalent among the 
 stimulants of his imagination must have been the 
 passions of fear and awe. In the daylight he 
 dreamed rarely, and then it was such Midsummer 
 day-dreams as the Dryads, the Naiads, and the 
 Fauns. With the night fell on him a great 
 horror of darkness, and he was visited by such 
 nightmares as the Empusas, the white-sheeted 
 Spectre of the Dead, the Fury, and the Vampire. 
 
 But more marked than all else is the Moral 
 difference between the creatures of human Fancy 
 and the beasts, and birds, and reptiles of Nature. 
 The instincts which man has lent to the off- 
 spring of his imagination are infinitely worse and 
 lower than those which are to be found in real 
 eagles and tigers, which slay and eat their natural 
 prey to satisfy their hunger ; and there make an 
 end. But the perfidious and cruel Sphinxes and 
 Harpies and Gorgons and Vampires and Gnomes 
 and Dragons do mischief for mischief sake, and 
 are altogther merciless. Here and there we find 
 relief from the gloomy picture in a pure and 
 harmless Phoenix or a beneficent Fairy god- 
 mother (the latter very obviously a Christian 
 conception). But even the gifts of Genii and the 
 
104 
 
 THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 Gnomes are treacherous and their love is selfish 
 and fickle. The brutes of Fancy are merely 
 brutish with a spice of human malignity super- 
 added. Man has created filthy Harpies, and 
 relentless Hydras, and subtle and vindictive 
 Sphinxes ; but he has never, even in thought, 
 created such an animal as the sagacious and 
 friendly elephant, the kindly-natured horse, or 
 the affectionate dog. Seeking for the records of 
 the Fauna of Fancy in the pages of Pliny, I 
 fell upon one little story which touched a very 
 different note from that of any of his human- 
 invented fables. It is very simply told, just as 
 follows (Nat. Hist., lib. viii. 61) : — 
 
 " Above all instances of the fidelity of dogs 
 was one which occurred in our time, and which 
 is attested in the Acts of the Roman People, 
 Appius Junius and P. Silius being consuls (a.c. 
 781). Titius Sabinus and his slaves were put to 
 death on account of Nero the son of Germanicus. 
 A dog belonging to one of these slaves could 
 neither be driven away from the prison, nor made 
 to leave the corpse of his master which had been 
 thrown down the Gemonian steps. Standing 
 over it, he uttered such sad cries that a crowd of 
 Roman citizens collected round, and some one 
 offered him food. The dog took the meat, but 
 laid it .down beside his dead master's mouth. 
 
THE FAUNA OF FANCY. 
 
 Even wlien the body was thrown into the Tiber, 
 he swam out after it, and was seen endeavouring 
 to support it as it wa3 carried away by the 
 stream." 
 
 In all the rich Fauna of Fancy we may seek 
 in vain, I think, for a creature to compare with 
 this poor dog — such as the Author of Nature 
 made him — faithful to the dead slave on the 
 Gemonian stairs. 
 
LIBRARY 
 OF THE 
 UNIVERSiTV OF ILLINOIS 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 1. Researches into the History of the British Bog. By George 
 
 E. Jes&e. 2 Yols. 8fo. London, 1866. 
 
 2. Our Poor Relations. By Col. E. B. Hamley. 12mo. 
 
 Edinburgh and London, 1872. 
 
 3. The Reasoning Power in Animals. By the Rev. John 
 
 Selby Watson. 8™, pp. 466. London, 1867. 
 
 4. Anecdotes of Dogs. By Edward Jesse. 12mo. London, 
 
 1858. 
 
 5. The Naturalist's Library. Vol. XIX. The Bog. By 
 
 Lieut.-Col. Charles Hamilton Smith. 12mo. London, 
 1865. 
 
 6. Canine Pathology, By Delabere Blaine. 870. London, 
 
 1841. 
 
 7. Bog Breaking. By Col. W. N. Hutchinson, 12rno. Lon- 
 
 don, 1856. 
 
 8. The History of the Bog. By W. C. L. Martin, 8vo, 
 
 London, 1845. 
 
 9. The Bogs of the British Islands. By Stonehenge. 8\ r o. 
 
 London, 1872. 
 
 10. Bogs and their Management. By Edward May hew, 
 
 M.R.C.Y.S. 12mo. London, 1869. 
 
 11. The Animal World. A Monthly Advocate of Humanity. 
 
 Yol. III. Published by the Society for the Prevention 
 of Cruelty- 
 
 12. The Bog. By " Idstone." 12mo. London, 1872. 
 
 Scores of books, of which the above are samples, 
 offer us materials for estimating the capabilities 
 
108 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 and characteristics of dogs. With such wealth 
 of experience, and aided by the sympathetic 
 attention which many of us personally give to 
 our favourites, it ought not to be impossible to 
 construct something like an outline of Canine 
 Psychology. We ought to be able to work out 
 the problem, " How a Dog Thinks and Feels/ ; 
 if not with certainty, yet with what must approve 
 itself as a near approach to truth. In the case 
 of an Intelligence above our own, the attempt to 
 realize its consciousness and conditions of being 
 by any effort of thought — wherever it surpasses 
 us — must obviously be futile, or, at best, can 
 only supply us with such a " representative 
 truth 99 as the idea which a man born blind may 
 obtain of the nature of colour. But the indolent 
 assumption that the same inability attends us in 
 the case of the lower animals, whose natures our 
 own seem to comprise and overlap on all sides, 
 is far from justified by any inherent difficulty in 
 the matter. Extreme patience in working out 
 details; caution in refraining from leaping to 
 the conclusion that the possession of any single 
 manlike faculty implies that of another; and 
 above all, the "scientific use of the Imagina- 
 tion/' warmed by sympathy with " Our Poor 
 Relations," appear sufficient to supply the full 
 equipment for our task. Proceeding step by 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 109 
 
 step, and carefully distinguishing everything 
 noteworthy which dogs have been observed to 
 do, from that which experience proves to be 
 beyond their powers, we may map out a line 
 which shall approximately represent the cir- 
 cumference of their natures. Within this circle 
 — as Thought is still Thought, in whatsoever 
 brain it be carried on, and Love is Love in every 
 breast which beats with its emotion — we are 
 justified in assuming that there is a real corre- 
 spondence and similarity between the mental 
 processes and feelings of the animal and our own. 
 When we endeavour in such manner to realize 
 the consciousness of a dog by fancying ourselves 
 circumscribed by his limitations, we are using no 
 idle play of imagination, but pursuing our in- 
 quiry by a method almost as exact as that, so 
 favoured by modern mathematicians, of applying 
 one figure to another. How far the special 
 attributes which distinguish us from all the 
 lower animals, must modify each perception and 
 feeling; how Self- Consciousness must bring a 
 new factor into every thought, and Moral Free 
 Agency a new element into every passion, it 
 should be part of our work to endeavour to trace. 
 But, as above remarked, though it would be 
 impossible for the lower being to add by imagi- 
 nation any such gifts to his consciousness^ it is 
 
110 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OV DOGS. 
 
 by no means an impossible task, albeit a delicate 
 one, for the higher to imagine himself divested 
 of them. The combination of the unconscious- 
 ness of infancy with the eager feelings and irre- 
 sponsibility of childhood would not indeed ac- 
 curately represent the state required, for (after 
 the stage of strange physical similarity before 
 birth between man and the dog, discovered by 
 Professor Haekel) there is no epoch in the life 
 of the human child when a perfect parallel 
 between it and the animal, either as regards 
 body or mind, can be justly instituted. But 
 picking out the points in our own experience 
 which we share with the brute, and cautiously 
 eliminating those which the brute does not 
 share with us, wo must needs be on the right 
 track for constructing — as the well-worn joke 
 would describe it — his consciousness out of our 
 own. Our business, then, is neither like the old 
 fabulists and modem writers of children's story- 
 books, to talk of dogs as if they were men who 
 had undergone metempsychosis and brought 
 human thought and feeling into canine forms ; 
 nor yet to rest solemnly satisfied, like the old 
 Egyptians, to treat our familiar companions as 
 if they were so many four-footed Mysteries 
 altogether beyond our comprehension. Modern 
 Science is bound to show, both what the beast 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 is in his for intericur, and whore and how he at 
 present falls short of a man ; — even if Mr. Dar- 
 win may hold oat hopes that a million years to 
 come the dog's posterity may develope into a 
 race of saints and sages, of a loftier type than 
 those whom we have known descended from tho 
 far less amiable and heroic Simian stock ! 
 
 Before attempting to delineate the first out- 
 lines of a Dog's Consciousness, it will be desir- 
 able to recapitulate, as briefly as possible, the 
 principal circumstances which determine his 
 physical condition relatively to our own, and 
 thence work upward to the study of his emo- 
 tional and mental characteristics. For conve- 
 nience we shall take for our type a middle-sized 
 and middle-aged dog of one of the more intelli- 
 gent breeds personally attached to a master; a 
 retriever, colley, terrier, Pomeranian, spaniel, or 
 poodle. These races of dogs have their prevail- 
 ing characteristics, much as have Englishmen and 
 Frenchmen, Germans and Italians; nor are the 
 idiosyncrasies of individual men much more 
 marked — the philosopher from the fool, the bene- 
 volent Howard from the surly Timon — than are 
 the dispositions of individual dogs, even when 
 born of the same family. For the purpose of the 
 present inquiry, however, it will suffice to keep 
 before our minds an average dog of one of the 
 
112 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 breeds above-mentioned. Hounds kept in packs 
 are necessarily debarred (like the poor children 
 in workhouses, till boarding-out shall become 
 universal) from the humanizing influences of 
 affectionate association with their betters ; and, 
 on the other hand, the lap-dog is unsuitable for 
 our study, because, although it is a vulgar error 
 to undervalue the intelligence of toy-terriers, we 
 are compelled to recognize that the sphere of 
 observation of an animal who habitually travels 
 in a muff is almost as circumscribed as that of 
 the original Tom Thumb after being swallowed 
 by the cow in the wisp of hay. Very young dogs 
 also must be dismissed, as bearing to the adult, 
 benevolent, and serious-minded dog very much 
 the relation which an unmanageable and unfeel- 
 ing schoolboy does to a man. Not till a dog is 
 about six or eight months old does he seem to 
 develop the strong power of personal attachment 
 which forms thenceforth the leading principle of 
 his existence ; and to the end of his short life he 
 goes on obviously growing in depth of feeling 
 and in acuteness of intelligence, till the failure 
 of eyesight and hearing closes the scene. Finally, 
 we must assume that the dog whose mind we desire 
 to study is the property and companion of some 
 one man or woman who affords it a fair share of 
 the human guidance and affection. The master- 
 
me consciousness of dogs. 
 
 113 
 
 less dogs of Constantinople and Cairo are to an 
 English mastiff what a nomad Tartar is to a law- 
 abiding Anglo-Saxon. The typical dog, then, 
 middle-sized, middle-aged, of an intelligent breed, 
 and owned by an affectionate master, if we com- 
 pare him with man, has against him the following 
 physical defects : — ■ 
 
 1st. Inferiority of size, keeping him always 
 beside his master like a dwarf with a giant. 
 The legs of men, rather than their faces, must 
 form the prominent objects of his view ; and the 
 agreeable sense of looking down with condescen- 
 sion on something smaller than ourselves, so 
 obviously enjoyed by a big dog over a little 
 one, must be reversed into a deep sense of 
 humiliation as regards the lordly race who tower 
 over him. 
 
 2nd. The lack of hands, which forbids to the 
 cleverest dog the use of the most rudimentary 
 mechanical contrivance, even such as crushing a 
 bone with a stone. A dog trying to roll himself 
 in a blanket, or to leap up a tree, reveals the 
 vast difference between his instruments and 
 those of a cat, whose claws will aid her to climb ; 
 or of a bird, whose beak answers the purpose of 
 a single finger and opposable thumb. 
 
 3rd. The dog's vocal organs, though seem- 
 ingly more like ours than the hard black tongues 
 
114 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 and beaks of parrots, are yet incapable of being 
 vised for the formation of sounds more articulate 
 than belong to speechless human beings. He 
 is emphatically what the Irish expressively call 
 him, a " poor dumb beast," though he is able to 
 understand human language to an extent which 
 only those who carefully watch him can credit. 
 
 4th. Of the inferiority of the dog's brain to 
 that of a man it is needless to speak, seeing that 
 it is the point which doubtless determines most 
 of the other conditions of the animal's being. 
 A quadruped of the size of a dog, possessed of 
 a brain of human dimensions, would, even if 
 dumb, be assuredly something very different 
 from a dog. 
 
 5th. Lastly, among the great disadvantages 
 of the dog, one which most effectually bars his 
 advance, is the shortness of his term of life. The 
 oldest dog only attains the age when a boy 
 begins to acquire his higher powers; and dies 
 before reason and conscience, or even the stronger 
 affections, are fairly developed in his human 
 contemporary. We blame our " stupid old dog" 
 at ten years of age, when we should excuse our 
 son's folly, with the observation, " Poor little 
 child ! " What wisdom a dog would attain who 
 should live to the length of our span, and could 
 celebrate a " Golden" anniversary of devotion 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF LOGS. 
 
 115 
 
 to his master, it is almost painful to think. The 
 creature would have arrived at a point of intelli- 
 gence whereat his physical defects would press 
 on him as on a dumb or maimed human being ; 
 and, for ourselves, the pain of separation would 
 be intolerable. The death of the fond companion 
 of a dozen years is quite sad enough ; that of a 
 dog who had followed our steps from the cradle 
 to old age would trespass too closely on the 
 sacred borders of human bereavement. 
 
 These various physical disadvantages result, 
 in the case of the dog, as in that of all the lower 
 animals, in the supreme deficiency which cuts off 
 the entail of progress at each generation. The 
 brute has no tradition, oral or written, and, 
 though he inherits propensities from his pro- 
 genitors, and copies his parents when brought 
 up with them, he receives so little direct guid- 
 ance from them, that he is not perceptibly less 
 intelligent when kept entirely apart from his 
 own kind in such isolation as makes of a human 
 child almost an idiot. Like our own, the " set " 
 of the dog's brain is determined by the habits of 
 preceding generations, and the facility for re- 
 ceiving education is inherited from an educated 
 ancestry. But the positive information which a 
 human being receives from the hour he begins 
 to understand language to the last moment of 
 
110 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 life, from nurse, mother, companions, teachers, 
 preachers, and books, is utterly denied to the 
 dog, who must acquire every item of his know- 
 ledge directly through his own senses. When 
 we think of all that this implies, and what infini- 
 tesimally small store of facts or reflections the 
 most intelligent man could acquire on such terms 
 in seventy years, the wonder becomes rather how 
 much, than how little, is known by a dog who 
 has but ten or twelve years in which to learn 
 everything. 
 
 Against all these disadvantages — diminutive 
 size, lack of hands, lack of language, small brain, 
 short life, total want of traditional experience — a 
 dog, so far as we can see, can only set one single 
 special physical advantage which he possesses 
 over us. With us the sense of smelling is but 
 slightly developed, and though it is an inlet of 
 pleasureable or disagreeable emotions, and pos- 
 sesses a singular power of awakening associations 
 of memory, it is of extremely little use to us as 
 an organ of mental information. Even when we 
 do obtain an idea by way of the nose, we com- 
 monly treat it with distrust as more uncertain 
 than one derived from eyesight or hearing, and 
 hesitate to swear in a court of justice that we 
 have positively smelled even such highly odorous 
 things as brandy or gunpowder. But in the case 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 117 
 
 of our canine friend all this is altered. He learns 
 from smell quite as much as from his sight or his 
 hearing ; and it is clear that he is even more dis- 
 posed to rely on this sense than on any other. 
 All day long that curious little black organ at 
 the tip of his nose is inquiring actively whatever 
 it can sniff out about people and things ; and when 
 his owner returns after an absence, though the 
 dog partially recognizes his aspect and voice at a 
 distance, he never gives himself up to rapture till 
 he has smelt him, and so placed his identity bey ond 
 the hazards of a Tichborne suit. 
 
 But the dog's sense of smell differs from our 
 own not only in superior acuteness, but also in 
 another way which is not equally a subject of 
 congratulation. The pleasures and pains he de- 
 rives from odours seem to be nearly exactly the 
 reverse of our own, and he loves what we hate, 
 and hates what we love. The explanation of this 
 sad dereliction from the human standard of taste 
 is not difficult; to find. As the retired tallow- 
 chandler desired to return to his work on melt- 
 ing days, and the homeward-turning citizen of 
 Edinburgh exclaimed with ecstasy, " Ah ! I smell 
 ye again, dear auld Eeekie ! " so the dog has all 
 his cherished associations of business and sport 
 with animal odours to us more or less disagree- 
 able. He is entirely of the opinion of the hunts- 
 
118 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 man who swore at " those stinking violets " for 
 spoiling the scent of the fox. In his various pro- 
 fessions as sentinel, sheepguard, hunter and 
 scavenger, he and his forbears have cultivated a 
 taste very similar to that which we find among 
 Esquimaux, Earthmen, and other humble human 
 races, who never turn up their noses, except in 
 ecstasy, at blubber or decomposed flesh. The 
 intelligent Zulus, as their celebrated Bishop told us 
 some years ago, in a letter to the " Times," are 
 endowed with such a penchant for Ubomi (namely, 
 as one of them defined it, " carrion, with worms in 
 it, but not too many of them that no other 
 word excites in them such stirring emotions.- 
 The phrase " to eat Ubomi 99 has thus become the 
 synonym in Zulu for the loftiest imaginable feli- 
 city ; and, in translating the Bible into that 
 language, it was found unavoidable to employ it 
 as alone suited to convey an adequate idea of the 
 happiness of the Blessed in heaven. Very much 
 the same ingenuous notion of where true joys are 
 to be found pervaded the mind of poor " Flush," 
 whose fond owner promised as a special favour : 
 
 u Stoppered bottle keep from thee, 
 Cologne distillations. ,, 
 
 Had Mrs. Browning taken him out walking, 
 Flush would probably have endeavoured to ren- 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 119 
 
 der himself delightful to her, by rolling over and 
 over in the unspeakably noisome relics of a long- 
 departed field-mouse. As no prospect yet appears 
 of converting dogs to our views in these matters, 
 it is to be feared that the love of objectionablo 
 odours must long cause a breach in the continuity 
 of sympathy between us and our humble com- 
 panions ; just, as Mr. Euskin remarks, the passion 
 for eating onions, unfortunately distinguishing 
 the working classes, debars them cruelly from 
 closer relationship with ladies and gentlemen. 
 The subject is a painful one, and we must be 
 excused for dropping it with a sigh. To confess 
 the bad taste of a friend is perhaps more humilia- 
 ting than to confess his crimes. 
 
 Whether we ought to consider the marvellous 
 faculty possessed by dogs, cats, and many other 
 animals, of finding their way for long distances 
 by unknown roads, as an exhibition of their im- 
 mense acuteness of olfactory perception, or rather 
 as evidence of the possession of a specific sense 
 different from any which we have yet recognized, 
 is a question of great interest to which it would 
 be impossible here to do justice. In all collections 
 of anecdotes of dogs instances of the display of 
 this faculty are put forward as evidences of tho 
 sagacity of the animal : but it is certain that no 
 
 sagacity, in the ordinary meaning of the terWy 
 
 5 
 
120 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 without the aid of a sense different from any 
 known to us, would enable the creature to per- 
 form some of the feats so recorded. As cases 
 guaranteed by living witnesses are more satisfac- 
 tory than those of older date, we shall here cite 
 two such illustrations. The Dowager Lady 
 Stanley of Alderley, some years ago, took her 
 Skye-terrier with her in a close barouche from 
 Grosvenor Crescent to London Bridge. At 
 London Bridge Lady Stanley embarked in a 
 steamer for Gravesend, where she left Smeroch 
 with her children, and returned to town. Next 
 day the governess wrote to say the dog had 
 escaped from her charge at Gravesend; and the 
 same night the animal appeared in Grosvenor 
 Crescent, alone, footsore, and covered with mud. 
 An equally remarkable case was that of a hound, 
 which was sent by Mr. Oobbe, from Newbridge, 
 near Swords, county Dublin, to Moynalty, county 
 Meath, and thence, long afterwards, was con- 
 veyed to Dublin. The hound broke loose in Dublin, 
 and the same morning made his way back to his 
 old kennel at Newbridge; thus completing the 
 third side of a triangle by a road he had never tra- 
 velled in his life. Mr. George Jesse (vol. i. p. 136 et 
 sec/.) gives a series of similar stories : a butcher's 
 dog, slipping his chain and running home 120 
 miles, which he had been taken by railway ; an 
 
The consciousness or dogs. 
 
 121 
 
 officer's dog returning 180 miles, also originally 
 traversed by rail, etc. Strangest of all is the 
 account given by Sir John Harington, in a letter 
 to Prince Henry, dated 1608, of his dog Bungey, 
 who, he affirms, often carried letters for him from 
 his house in Bath (Somersetshire) to the Court at 
 Greenwich. 
 
 It does not appear that this singular faculty 
 is peculiar to dogs, or a mark of their superior 
 intelligence. Cats, ducks, and many other crea- 
 tures, have made similar journeys ; and, in truth, 
 the annual migrations of so many tribes of birds 
 and fishes can hardly be explained but as exhi- 
 bitions of the same power. The only situation 
 in which animals seem to lose themselves is 
 in the streets of a great city, where the very 
 cleverest of dogs, even notably retrievers (as the 
 keepers of the Home for Lost Dogs at Batter- 
 sea testify), fail to find their way for very short 
 distances. In the opinion of the writer, the 
 theory which best explains the ascertained facts 
 is, that the creatures in question have a certain 
 sense of the magnetic currents, sufficient to 
 afford them a sort of internal Mariner's Compass, 
 marking the direction in which they travel. We 
 know that the magnetic currents affect the needle, 
 and the hypothesis that they may also affect 
 living frames, with special organizations, seems 
 
122 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OV DOGS. 
 
 no way incredible; while the fact that a dog, 
 who can find his way for a hundred miles in the 
 open country, may lose it in five hundred yards 
 in a town, seems to point to the multitude of 
 streets turning at right angles as the cause of 
 confusion to a sense which simply indicates a 
 straight direction. * 
 
 To realize, then, the physical conditions of a 
 dog, we must imagine ourselves inhabiting a 
 diminutive and prostrate form, without hands, 
 without speech, and destined to die of old age 
 as a boy enters his teens ; also, as having for 
 our special endowments a remarkable power of 
 finding our way, and a preternaturally acute 
 nose, accompanied by an unconquerable propen- 
 sity for Ubomij and all Ubominable things. It 
 may be added that we should conceive our bodies 
 covered with hair ; and that, beside the posses- 
 
 * We are indebted to Francis Galton, Esq., F.R.S., for two 
 interesting facts corroborative of the above hypothesis. " Rein- 
 deer kids/' says Dr. Ray, "when very young indeed, having been 
 deprived of their mothers and left quite alone, will, in spring, 
 always turn towards the north, however much you may try to 
 drive them the other way.' 1 " Buffaloes," (as stated by James 
 Mackay, a noted Iludson's Bay Company's guide), " whenever 
 they are alarmed, always run southward. This habit is so 
 constant and so well known, that, in making buffalo pounds, 
 the entrance must always face the north, for, if it is not so 
 placed, it is impossible to drive the animals into them." 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 123 
 
 sion of great swiftness and agility, we are gifted 
 with a peculiar caudal appendage, serving, so 
 effectually, as a " vehicle for the emotions/' that 
 instead of availing, like language, " to conceal 
 our thoughts/' it should constantly and involun- 
 tarily betray our joy, sorrow, alarm, or rage. 
 
 Some of the immediate consequences of these 
 physical conditions of the dog should be noted 
 before we go further. In the first place, his 
 inability to speak, forces him to devise ingenious 
 ways of making his wants understood; such as 
 the artifice of a dog belonging to the writer, who, 
 finding her bowl of water frozen in a frost, esta- 
 blished herself in a corner where another bowl 
 had been kept two years previously, and sat 
 there looking mournfully at her owner till her 
 sad case was perceived. When a brute lives 
 with people too busy or too obtuse to attend to 
 such signals, he becomes sad and depressed, and 
 loses all originality, like afemme incomprise. The 
 pantomime of dogs, their scratching at doors 
 for admittance, their beseeching entreaties to be 
 taken out walking, their ardent invitations to 
 visit their puppies, are all somewhat affecting 
 instances of the painful efforts of the creatures 
 to express what we should say in two words. 
 
 Again, another consequence of the dog's lack 
 of language, which curiously differentiates his 
 
124 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOG.^ 
 
 life from ours, is that he can be told nothing 
 beforehand, so that all his sorrows remain 
 uncheered by hope, and all his pleasures have 
 the keen charm of the irnjprevu. Few things are 
 more pitiable than to see an animal after his 
 master's departure going about miserably seeking 
 him, unable to receive the consolation of the 
 assurance that the being in whom his whole heart 
 is centred will by-and-by return. After one 
 such period of anxiety, terminated by the joy 
 of restoration, he does not give w r ay to equal 
 despair; being supported by hope born of expe- 
 rience, but he knows perfectly well evermore 
 how to interpret the signs of an approaching 
 journey, and scores of times has been known to 
 hide himself in his master's trunk, hoping to be 
 carried with him. On the other hand, a dog's 
 delights are never chilled or forestalled by 
 expectation. It was not he who discovered the 
 mournful truth that "nothing ever proves so 
 good or bad as we anticipate." As kings never 
 know an unexpected pleasure, so, at the opposite 
 end of the scale, dogs never lose the edge of their 
 enjoyments by over-raised hopes. Eapture bursts 
 on the brute out of the midst of despair, and the 
 result is often as with Ulysses' Argus, and the 
 spaniel whose story is told by Jesse,* that the 
 * Yol. i. p. 3. 
 
TITE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOCS. 
 
 125 
 
 dog expires in the hour of his unendurable joy. 
 Strange is it to reflect that this uncertainty 
 belongs to the destiny of a creature who possesses 
 a singular taste for regularity, and cherishes the 
 " Rites 33 almost as religiously as a Chinese. 
 Every dog desires to do to-day what he did 
 yesterday at the same hour, and claims, with 
 the air of a man demanding simple justice, that 
 he shall be allowed always to exercise every 
 privilege once granted, and enjoy in full the 
 boasted advantage of the British Constitution — 
 a freedom " slowly broadening down from prece- 
 dent to precedent." 
 
 Passing beyond the physical conditions of 
 the dog and their immediate results, we now 
 proceed a step further towards constructing an 
 idea of his Consciousness, by studying his Emo- 
 tions, and comparing them with our own. A 
 little reflection shows that a dog approaches a 
 man much more nearly in the matter of feeling 
 than either of physical or mental characteristics. 
 It is a startling fact, well brought out by Jesse 
 in a synopsis of the dog's attributes (" Re- 
 searches," chap, v.), that there are very few 
 human passions which a dog does not share. 
 
 A dog feels anger precisely as we do, and 
 after provocation is sometimes vindictive and 
 sometimes placable, according to his individual 
 
126 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS* 
 
 character. He is susceptible of hatred of the 
 bitterest kind. He is so excruciatingly jealous, 
 that his life becomes a burden in the presence of 
 a favoured rival. His envy continually leads him 
 to eat what he does not want, lest another animal 
 should take it, and to illustrate the fable of 
 " The Dog in the Manger." Gluttony holds out 
 to him temptations under which even his honesty 
 sometimes succumbs; but, on the other hand, 
 from drunkenness he is nobly emancipated. A 
 dog mentioned by the Kev. Thomas Jackson 
 (" Oar Dumb Companions," p. 48) having been 
 once made so drunk by malt liquor that he was 
 unable to walk upstairs, ever after declined to 
 taste the pernicious beverage, and growled and 
 snarled at the sight of a pewter pot. Again, as 
 to love, Don Juan was a cold and unenterprising 
 character compared to a dog ; and as to maternal 
 affection, the mother- dog feels it with heroic 
 passion, starving herself to death rather than 
 forsake her offspring. Gratitude may be almost 
 said to be a dog's leading principle, supplying 
 first the spring of allegiance to his master, and 
 ever after reconciling him with true magnanimity 
 to take evil from the hand from which he has 
 accepted good. Regret and grief ho feels so 
 deeply that they often break his heart. Fear is 
 a passion which dogs exhibit with singular varia- 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 127 
 
 tion, some breeds and individuals being very 
 timorous, and others perfect models of courage; 
 the latter characteristic, and fortitude seeming to 
 be more characteristically canine. A greyhound 
 has been known, after breaking his thigh, to run 
 on till the course was concluded ; and in the 
 excellent new volume " On the Dog," by Idstono 
 (p. 39) is a frightful story of a foxhound whom 
 its ferocious master flogged so savagely for 
 " babbling," as to cut out its eye with his whip. 
 The animal continued to hunt with the pack to 
 the end of the chase, whereupon the human, 
 brute, a certain Colonel Thornton, " took out his 
 scissors and severed the skin by which the dog's 
 eye had hung pendent during the entire run." 
 As to Hope, no one can observe the dog watching 
 for his master's step, as in Landseer's picture of 
 " Expectation," without admitting that he knows 
 the sentiment as well as we. Pride in a successful 
 chase may be witnessed in every dog, and even 
 felt in the quickened heartbeats of a greyhound 
 when caressed and praised. That dogs have 
 personal vanity appears from the fact that, they 
 are so manifestly dejected and demoralized when 
 dirty and ragged by long exposure, and recover 
 their self-respect immediately on being washed 
 and combed. Chivalry and magnanimity may 
 nearly always be calculated upon in dogs, and 
 
128 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF BOGS. 
 
 wife-beating is an offence to which the four-footed 
 beast never descends. The stories are endless 
 of big dogs generously overlooking the insults of 
 small curs, or taking them into water and giving 
 them a good ducking as a punishment for their 
 impertinence, and then helping them mercifully- 
 back to land. Sense of property, bifurcating 
 into both covetousness and avarice, is common to 
 all dogs. The kennel, rug, collar, water-basin, 
 or bone once devoted to his use, no dog can see 
 transferred to another without indignation. Fre- 
 quently he ct covets his neighbour's house/' and 
 attempts to ensconce himself in it surreptitiously; 
 and almost universally he covets his neighbour's 
 bone, and purloins it, if he dare. Even from 
 avarice he cannot be wholly exonerated, observ- 
 ing his propensity to bury his treasures. Shame, 
 after transgressing any of the arbitrary rules 
 imposed on him, a dog displays with ludicrous 
 simplicity ; but of the deeper sense of violated 
 modesty which in human beings accompanies 
 the commission of sin, the dog evidently knows 
 nothing whatever. Humour, so far as it can 
 proceed without language, the dog catches readily 
 from a humorous master, and also the enjoyment 
 of such games as he can understand. As a baby 
 crows with glee at "Bo-peep/' so a dog barks 
 with delight at " Go fetch." Make-believe runs 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 129 
 
 and false starts, romps and ticklings, rolling him 
 up in a rug and letting him find his way out, 
 throwing a ball for him to catch on the grass, or 
 a stick to fish out of a lake, all supply him with 
 pleasures perfectly analogous in their nature to 
 that which boys and men find in Blind Man's 
 Buff and Prisoner's Base, lordly cricket, and 
 ladylike croquet. Lastly, faith in a beloved 
 superior is perhaps the most beautiful and affect- 
 ing of all the attributes of a dog. Whose heart 
 does not grow sick at the reflection that this 
 sacred trust of the dog in man should be so 
 often betrayed — that dull boors should lure him 
 by mock words of encouragement to the death 
 (to him so slow and agonizing) of the halter; 
 and that far worse wretches, in the guise of 
 cultivated gentlemen, to whom he goes with 
 confidence as to assured friends, should piti- 
 lessly dissect him alive, while even in death he 
 strives to show his confidence, and to lick their 
 hands ? To treat a creature capable of display, 
 ing the highest sentiments of our own nature, 
 fidelity and devotion , as if it were a mere block 
 of stone or wood which we might saw and chisel 
 at discretion, is surely to sin against Love and 
 Faith themselves, and to add a fresh offence to 
 the cruelty involved in the torture of any sen- 
 tient being. It is surely time for the world to 
 
130 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 recognize that Science may be the Moloch of one 
 age as Superstition was of another; and that 
 even the noble thirst of knowledge may prompt 
 deeds, heinous and hateful as ever sprung from 
 the lust of power or of gold. 
 
 "We have now recapitulated, as shared by the 
 dog with ourselves, the following long list of pas- 
 sions and emotions : Anger, Hatred, Jealousy, 
 Envy, Gluttony, Love, Fear, Pride, Vanity, Mag- 
 nanimity, Chivalry, Covetousness, Avarice, Shame, 
 Humour, Gratitude, Eegret, Grief, Maternal Love, 
 Courage, Fortitude, Hope, and Faith. The line de- 
 lineating the circumference of the dog's nature 
 must include all these ; and many of them in a 
 highly developed form. We must leave outside, 
 as passions of which the dog does not partake, 
 1st, the love of intoxicants (a passion having only 
 its peculiar significance in a moral free agent) ; 
 2nd, modesty (also pertaining exclusively to 
 beings possessed of self-control) ; and, 3rdly and 
 finally, the whole lofty range of feelings which 
 have abstract ideas for their objects, to which 
 his intellectual status forbids him to ascend. 
 The dog obviously cannot love Art, Science, or 
 Literature, simply because his mental faculties fall 
 short of apprehending the topics concerned. That 
 he has any ^Esthetic sense, any notion of the 
 Beautiful or of the Sublime in nature, is more 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 131 
 
 than doubtful; and his insatiable Curiosity which, 
 if allied to higher powers, would form the spring 
 of scientific research, ends, in his case, with the 
 accumulation of practically useful facts. Thus we 
 arrive at the conclusion that the line which shall 
 delineate the circumference of the dog's emotional 
 nature must exclude all those passions of humanity 
 which are directed to abstract objects^ and in- 
 clude nearly the entire range of those which con- 
 cern the gratification of the physical desires and 
 personal affections. 
 
 To these cardinal passions, shared by all men 
 and dogs, should next be added certain special 
 propensities partaken by certain dogs with cer- 
 tain men. Foremost of these is the passion for 
 the Chase— a sentiment which the gentlemen of 
 England, at all events, cannot find it difficult to 
 imagine as pertaining to their own consciousness. 
 To describe the share it holds in the life of the 
 majority of dogs, and the degree to which their 
 intelligence unfolds in the congenial pursuit, 
 would swell this paper to a volume. Another 
 propensity which the dog partially shares with 
 men is the Histrionic, Nobody who has watched 
 a dog closely can doubt that he frequently amuses 
 himself by performing an imaginary scene and 
 representing an unreal passion. At one moment 
 be acts a dog in a rage, and pretends to bo 
 
132 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS* * 
 
 savage, and the next he acts a dog in terror, and 
 runs round barking wildly at a Mrs. Harris, 
 Playing with a puppy half his size, he pretends 
 to fly with tail down and ears laid back, scamper- 
 ing as if for his life. With his companion dog 
 or cat he constantly performs an impromptu 
 drama of the sensational kind, whose "motif" 
 is generally an imaginary quarrel. After a fear- 
 ful amount of struggling, biting, and growling, 
 in which excellent care is taken that neither of 
 the performers receive the smallest hurt, he 
 finally pretends to throttle his victim, and enacts 
 the closing scene with a tragic furore equal to 
 Salvini in " Othello/' After the piece, like other 
 great actors, he is wont to take a drink behind 
 the scenes. When he has got his master to play 
 with him, he generally allots to him the part of 
 a robber seizing his ball, while he himself comes 
 out in that of an animal indignant at the heinous 
 injustice, and resolved to part with life — not to 
 speak of all his front teeth — rather than give 
 way to such tyranny. When it is all over, and 
 the ball has been dropped, he coaxiugly deposits 
 it under his master's nose, with the entreaty in 
 his eyes, " Do let us act it all over again ! ,J To 
 deny that these ever-repeated tricks of dogs par- 
 take, like the very similar games of children, 
 acting " School," " Judge," etc., of the original 
 
me Consciousness of bogs. 
 
 133 
 
 element of the drama, would seem to be gra- 
 tuitous scepticism. 
 
 There remain now to be considered only cer- 
 tain higher feelings — the sympathetic, the re- 
 ligious, and the moral — whose possession by dogs 
 are all commonly denied. It has been asserted 
 over and over again, that one of the chief dis- 
 tinctions between man and the races below him 
 lies in his Sympathy ; that brutes kill or forsake 
 their disabled companions, and man alone pities 
 and assists his brother. That the power to feel 
 such sympathy is the divinest thing in man we 
 are prepared to admit. Measured by the true 
 standard of things, intellectual progress is of 
 small account compared to advance in the power 
 of unselfish love. The lowest of human beings 
 i^, not the dullest and most ignorant, but the 
 most unfeeling ; and the highest is, not the 
 cleverest or most learned, but he who has 
 warmest sympathies. If, indeed, the lower 
 tribes of earth and air partake in no degree of 
 such feelings, then is the gulf between them and 
 our race far wider than is opened by their lack 
 of power to follow the philosopher through his 
 inductions, or the poet through his flights of 
 imagination. 
 
 It is clear at first sight that animals have, as 
 a rule, far less power of sympathy than civilized 
 
134 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS O* 1 DOGS. 
 
 man, and that there exists in many of their 
 tribes an instinct of a contrary sort (called 
 elsewhere by the writer Heteropathy) to de- 
 stroy the wounded and decrepit. Never- 
 theless, it appears that the higher animals 
 occasionally exhibit pain at the sight of the pain 
 of others. Elephants, in particular, positively 
 refuse to drag a sick comrade against his will, 
 and show their pity by every means in their 
 power. To keep, however, to our special theme 
 of canine character the following anecdotes 
 seem to dispose of the more obscure part of the 
 question — that of the sympathy of dogs with 
 other dogs. The first is vouched for by Mrs. 
 Montague Blackett, daughter of the Dean of 
 Bristol : — 
 
 " The scene of "Waifs adventures is Whitfield 
 Hall, Northumberland, belonging to Mrs. Blackett 
 Ord. He was first seen in the spring of 1871 : one 
 of the girls noticed him near one of the lodges, and 
 a little time afterwards a groom found him in a dis- 
 used horse-box in the stables, and turned him out. 
 After this he seen occasionally about the woods, 
 which are full of game, and so became 1 suspect,' to 
 the keepers, who tried to get near enough to shoot 
 him, but never succeeded in catching the little wary 
 beast off his guard. The children sometimes saw 
 what one of them called a ' ghost-dog,' near the 
 house, but could never get a good sight of it. I 
 first saw him in November. It was cold, frosty 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF BOGS. 
 
 135 
 
 weather, with snow lying on the ground ; and look- 
 ing out of my bedroom window, I saw the poor 
 creature, with miserable, ragged, and matted coat, 
 and a half-starved wolfish look, prowling abont the 
 shrubbery, looking for old bones left by the well-fed 
 dogs of the house. I saw him attempt to speak to a 
 Pomeranian lady, but she rejected his feeble attempts 
 at sociability with contempt, and he fled back into 
 the woods. I offered a reward to any one who would 
 bring him unhurt to me ; but though he visibly grew 
 weaker and weaker, and could not run very fast, he 
 always escaped from his would-be captors. One day, 
 about a fortnight after I first saw him, my cousin 
 went downstairs rather early in the morning. It 
 was bright and sunny, and the housemaid had left 
 open the glass door opening on some steps leading to 
 the lawn. My cousin was going to shut it, when she 
 saw the 6 wild dog ' approaching, looking up wist- 
 fully at a fine young dog, half St. Bernard half mastiff, 
 who was answering the appealing glance by a friendly 
 wagging of the tail. E kept very quiet, half- 
 hidden behind the curtain, and watched what went on. 
 Bernard marched a little way towards the steps, 
 glancing round now and then encouragingly at his 
 humble friend, who followed timidly, and occasionally 
 stopped with a 1 don't betray me ' expression, quite 
 pitiful to see. On this, Bernard would stop too, and 
 cock his ears in a lively manner, and wag his tail, and 
 altogether look so engaging that, by slow degrees, 
 he coaxed the frightened creature right up the steps, 
 and even induced him to go into the drawing-room, 
 though he did not go in himself, only being allowed 
 
136 
 
 'THE CONSCIOUSNESS OV DOGS. 
 
 to do so on rare occasions. E judiciously re- 
 mained hid and quiet, and the governess, who had 
 also watched the proceedings, cleverly darted out 
 of doors from another door, and shut the glass 
 door from the outside, and so there was our friend 
 fairly entrapped, and Bernard coolly walked away, 
 
 after looking at E , as much as to say, 6 Now 
 
 you look after the poor fellow — my part is done.' 
 Poor "Waif, when he found himself shut into the 
 drawing-room, was beside himself with fright, and 
 was so like a wild beast, we were rather alarmed. 
 We put down food, but he would not eat, and sat 
 glaring and panting and growling savagely in a 
 corner, a melancholy object. At last a valiant foot- 
 man put on a pair of housemaid's gloves, and sud- 
 denly seizing him by his neck, carried him off to the 
 gamekeeper, who waited outside, and who ' gentled 9 
 him most cleverly. In ten minutes the dog was per- 
 fectly tame and quiet, let himself be clipped and 
 washed, and carried off to the keeper's own house, 
 where he still abides in great peace and amity, much 
 beloved by the keeper's children.' ' 
 
 The friendly St. Bernard, who here acted as 
 "guide, philosopher, and friend" to the poor 
 little poodle, certainly proved himself capable of 
 sympathy with his kind. So also did another 
 large dog, whose mistress, *Lady Eden, has 
 favoured us with the following details of his 
 kindly actions : — 
 
 " Rover was a Labrador dog, and much attached 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 137 
 
 to a small dog named Aline. On one occasion Aline 
 was missing for several days, and at last it was die- 
 covered that she had a little family of puppies, 
 which she had hidden in a hole in a bank on Ascott 
 Heath, and thither for many days Rover had carried 
 her some of his dinner. Eover also fonght with 
 another dog, and wounded him severely, after which 
 he persisted for a long time in bringing his enemy a 
 portion of his own food till he had recovered,' ' 
 
 Another anecdote is equally good 
 
 <l A large well-fed dog was observed, on a very 
 rainy day, sitting under shelter in his own den in the 
 yard of a country house, and watching a strange dog 
 who was standing drenched through, in miserable 
 plight. After thinking about it for some time, the 
 big dog suddenly sprang up, crossed the yard, jumped 
 as he was accustomed at the latch of a wood-house till 
 it opened, and then, leaving the door open for the wet 
 dog to enter, returned to his own abode, and rolled 
 himself up in the peace of a mens conscia recti" 
 
 Again, a very pretty story is vouched for by 
 the lady to whom the dog belonged, the wife of 
 Archdeacon Bland : — 
 
 " The dog belonged to us at "Whitburn. It was 
 half Danish, and had a great attachment to my pony, 
 which on one occasion was severely hurt. When the 
 pony was well enough to be turned into a field, we 
 constantly brought it carrots and other good things ; 
 and as constantly saw Traveller rush off into the 
 
138 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 garden, return with two or three fallen apples in his 
 month, lay them on the grass before the pony, and 
 then watch him eating them with the greatest demon- 
 stration of pleasure." 
 
 Colonel Hamilton Smith (" Naturalist's Li- 
 brary/' vol. x. p. 86) says that he himself saw a 
 water- spaniel plunge into the current of a roaring 
 sluice to save a little cur, maliciously thrown 
 into it. A still prettier story has been sent to 
 me of a large dog kept in Algiers by Miss Emily 
 Napier, daughter of Sir William Napier. 
 
 "The dog was sent every morning to fetch 
 bread from the baker's, and regularly brought home 
 twelve rolls in a basket. At last it was observed 
 that for several mornings there were only eleven rolls 
 in the basket ; and, on watching the dog, he was 
 found to stop on his way and bestow one roll on a 
 poor sick and starving lady-dog, hidden, with her 
 puppies, in a corner, on the road from the shop. The 
 baker was then instructed to put thirteen rolls in the 
 basket, after which the dog delivered the twelve, 
 faithfully, for a few days, and then left all thirteen 
 in the basket — the token, as it proved, that his sick 
 friend was convalescent, and able to dispense with his 
 charity." 
 
 These incidents are certainly sufficient to prove 
 the most difficult part of our problem, namely, the 
 capacity of dogs to sympathize with their own 
 kind. As to their power of sympathizing with 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 139 
 
 man, it is a matter concerning which no one 
 possessed of an attached dog ever entertained 
 a doubt. The dejection of the dog when his 
 master is in affliction, his feverish anxiety when 
 he is ill, Ins fury when he is struck by a foe or 
 operated on by a surgeon, his fond efforts at con- 
 solation at sight of his tears, and his demonstra- 
 tions of ecstasy at his restoration to health and 
 cheerfulness, are all facts equally familiar and 
 affecting. How many lonely, deceived, and em- 
 bittered hearts have been saved from breaking or 
 turning to stone by the humble sympathy of a 
 dog, God who saw them alone can tell. The fact 
 that an attached dog, almost like a fond mother, 
 loves us, irrespective of our opinions, our worldly 
 standing, our beauty, or our abilities; that he 
 does not want to argue with us about our politics 
 or our theology ; that he will revere us none the 
 less if we should become bankrupt in fame and 
 fortune, and admire us as much as ever when we 
 grow old, ugly, and stupid; nay, further, that he 
 shows his humble love and beseeches for ours, in 
 those caresses for which many of us hunger in 
 heart, though reserve and habit forbid us to ask 
 or give them freely to our fellows ; — in a word, 
 that a dog should be so much, and yet, so fortun- 
 ately, no more, like a human being, might surely 
 prove a subject for curious speculation to those 
 
140 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 who believe that the faculty for developing such 
 instincts came from no Divine foresight and that 
 Jocelyn was all wrong to think 
 
 " Et par quelle pitie pour nos coeurs II vous donne, 
 Pour aimer celui que n'aime plus personnel ' 
 
 In his awful description of the death of Mary 
 Queen of Scots, Mr. Froude tells us how her little 
 dog was found to have followed her to the scaf- 
 fold, hidden under her flowing robes, and that 
 when her head had fallen, the poor creature, in 
 the agony of its grief, lay down precisely in the 
 severed place of the neck. Is it imaginable how 
 the sympathy of a dumb mourner could be more 
 forcibly expressed ? Another story of a lighter 
 sort was recently published in the entertaining 
 pages of "Animal World," and illustrates the 
 same sentiment in a less tragic way. We quote 
 from memory :— 
 
 " A lady was seriously ill, and confined to her 
 bedroom, to which her favourite dog was rarely 
 granted entrance. The servants of the lady daily 
 made beef-tea for her, and threw the meat, after the 
 juice had been extracted, to the dog. Apparently the 
 brute came to the conclusion that his dear mistress 
 was being starved, or at all events that his piece of 
 meat would do her good. Waiting a favourable oppor- 
 tunity, in the evening he stole into her room with the 
 beef in his mouth, and when she awoke she found it 
 deposited as an offering of affection on her pillow ! " 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS Otf DOGS. 141 
 
 Besides our active sympathy with our kind, 
 we human beings have all a certain passive sympa- 
 thy, causing us to take pleasure in their approval 
 and pain in their contempt. If they were only 
 to us so many useful or hurtful machines, like 
 steam-engines, this sentiment would be impos- 
 sible ; whereas, as we are actually constituted, we 
 can no more help feeling a reflex of their feelings 
 towards us than the earth and moon can help re- 
 flecting each other's light. We all live, like Don 
 Quixote, if not exactly expecting a Sage to be 
 engaged in writing our memoirs, yet with the 
 consciousness that there are relations, friends, a 
 great or a little world, taking note of our doings. 
 A proof of the close alliance between dogs and 
 men is that in this way dogs feel like ourselves. 
 The dog who lives under a sense of public disap- 
 proval in the household to which he belongs, nay, 
 towards whom some one person habitually looks 
 reprovingly, obviously suffers misery under the 
 cloud. His spirits droop, he moves about in a 
 humble and sneaking manner, and often, like an 
 ill-treated child, adopts deceitful ways foreign to 
 his original character. Only when some member 
 of the circle caresses him and leads him far 
 away from the ill-omened house, does his spirit 
 revive and his tail reassume its normal elevation. 
 Praised and petted dogs, on the contrary, mani- 
 
142 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 festly develope all their finest qualities in a con- 
 tinual interchange of sympathy with their masters, 
 whose characters react on theirs in the most sin- 
 gular manner. The creature " grows like the 
 being he worships" in all respects in which his 
 nature permits of likeness. The dog of a brave 
 man is brave, or of a coward, cowardly : ill-tem- 
 per and suspiciousness in the master are reflected 
 in his hargneux spaniel or terrier; and good- 
 humour, sociability, activity, indolence, cheerful- 
 ness, melancholy, generosity, dignity, impudence, 
 cringing, with a score of other human character- 
 istics, are reflected in dogs even after a few months 
 of association. 
 
 Further, beside the feeling of sympathy with 
 man, a dog entertains towards his owner a sen- 
 timent of loyal allegiance, which may properly 
 be considered as his own master-passion — the 
 one which overrides his love of his own species, 
 his desire for pleasure, or even, in many cases, 
 his care for self-preservation. Like Eousseau, he 
 thinks " etre avec celui qu'on aime cela suffit." 
 The princely motto, u Ich dien," might justly be 
 his, for he lives but to serve and obey to the 
 utmost of his strength and intelligence. He 
 grudges nothing for his master, resents nothing 
 that he does to him, and trusts him even when, 
 like the miserable French vivisector, he tries on 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 143 
 
 him an u experience morale," and tests how much 
 torture he will bear before his love turns to fear 
 and hate. 
 
 There is nothing in ordinary human affections 
 directed towards mortal superiors parallel to this 
 passion of allegiance of the dog for his master. 
 The loyalty of the old knight to King Arthur, of 
 a Brahmin to his Guroo, of the Assassins to the 
 Old Man of the Mountain, of his favoured slaves 
 to Nero, of Boswell to Johnson, of a Jacobite of 
 1745 to the Chevalier— these are, in their various 
 ways, the nearest parallels history offers of the 
 exceptional development in man of dog- like 
 allegiance towards a fellow-man. But there is 
 another form of the same sentiment, wfdely dif- 
 fused among mankind, namely, Man's allegiance 
 to God. When we endeavour to picture to our- 
 selves how a dog feels towards a just and kind 
 master, we find the nearest parallel and illustra- 
 tion of his humble devotion in our own Reli- 
 gion. Nay, had one of the Hebrew prophets 
 devised an acted allegory to illustrate to dull 
 mortals the elementary feelings of religion, it 
 would have been scarcely possible for him to 
 have thought of one closer than the parable 
 which is shown to us every day at our firesides 
 by our humble dependants. There is, indeed, 
 the touching 1 change of characters in the scene 
 
144 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS, 
 
 which, makes us lords in one case as we are 
 servants in the other, and so allows our own 
 mercifulness to become the measure of the 
 mercy we have a claim to expect. But, beside 
 this, how wonderful is the parallel ! The obe- 
 dience which hastens to follow joyfully every 
 call j the gratitude which accepts every pleasure 
 as a gift ; the patient trust which, having taken 
 good, is ready also to take evil ; the loyalty 
 which never swerves or questions whether it will 
 pay best to serve one master or another ; the 
 love which is the lode-star of the w T hole life, and 
 which gradually assimilates in a faint and far-off 
 way the lower nature to the higher — have not all 
 these things a real analogy with human piety ? 
 Even the terms on which we hold our faith have 
 their counterpart in that of a dog. The animal 
 knows his master only as his master — as the 
 superior being who directs him, and allots his 
 pains and pleasures. Of what he is in the higher 
 region of his thoughts and purposes, as poet, 
 philosopher, or statesman, the dog knows no- 
 thing, though he may be dimly conscious that 
 he is powerful, and that he works for ends in- 
 comprehensible to his humble dependant. A 
 the dog rises in capacity, and does useful service 
 in field or on hillside, he begins to understand 
 the hunter or the shepherd's intentions. But to 
 
•frflE CONSCIOUSNESS OI 1 I>OGl3. 
 
 145 
 
 the last there is a world in the man's nature 
 hidden from the sight of the brute. In all this, 
 is there not singular analogy between the ani- 
 mal's knowledge of us and our knowledge of our 
 great Master ? — a knowledge true, so far as it 
 goes ; and even it may be to the faithful soul, in 
 a certain sense, intimate ; but yet so limited, 
 that the insect, whose universe is an oak-leaf, 
 knows as much of the tree. For us, too, is there 
 not the possibility, through obedient toil and 
 development through this life, and all lives to 
 come, to learn somewhat more of Him of whom 
 old Hooker said well, that " though to know 
 Him be life, and joy to make mention of his 
 name, yet our soundest knowledge is to know 
 that we know Him not as indeed He is, neither 
 can know Him, and that our safest eloquence 
 conceiming Him is our silence, whereby we 
 confess without confession that his glory is inex- 
 plicable, his greatness beyond our capacity and 
 reach ? " 
 
 Thus, in endeavouring to construct an idea 
 of the Consciousness of a dog, we seem bound 
 to include in it a sentiment corresponding singu- 
 larly with that which in ourselves we name the 
 Religious, but which differs from ours by two 
 sad distinctions. First, the dog worships a being 
 always imperfect, and often cruel ; and, secondly, 
 
146 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 lie worships him with a blind homage which 
 never ascends to that rational moral allegiance of 
 a free human soul, which adores supreme Power 
 only when identified with supreme Goodness. 
 
 Superstition, or the awe of the Unknown, 
 has been treated by some thinkers as the primary 
 germ of religion, and by others, far more justly, 
 as its shadow. This shadow certainly falls on 
 the dog no less than on man. The bravest dog 
 will continually show signs of terror at the sight 
 of an object which he does not understand, such 
 as the skin of a dead animal, the snake of an 
 hookah, a pair of bellow T s, or a rattle. That the 
 brute fancies there is something more than 
 merely dangerous, something " uncanny" and 
 preternatural about such things, is apparent from 
 his behaviour, which in a case of real danger is 
 aggressively daring, and in that of imaginary 
 peril abjectly timorous. All the stories of the 
 alarm of dogs in the presence of apparitions 
 prove, not, indeed, that the dog sees the ghost, 
 but that he is able fully to sympathize with 
 human fear of spectres; while if he only caughi" 
 scent of a burglar (the worst real foe which 
 could well be in question), he would fly at his 
 throat without a minute's hesitation. Dogs also 
 frequently establish Fetishes for themselves in 
 the shape of any odd-looking block or stone, in 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 a manner singularly analogous to that still prac- 
 tised by the rural Hindoos, as described in Mr. 
 LyalPs remarkable article ("Fortnightly Review/' 
 January, 1872), "The Religion of an Indian 
 Province." The 'writer's own dog has several 
 times thus selected a stump in the woods as her 
 fetish, and performed round it (at a respectful 
 distance) a vocal and saltatory cultus extremely 
 resembling that of a Howling Dervish. Inter- 
 rupted in her devotions by her owner striking 
 the fetish with an umbrella, the dog's shrieks of 
 fear were instantly changed for the joyous bark 
 of a triumphant iconoclast ; and having been 
 encouraged to approach her nose to the idol, its 
 claims to reverence were always instantly and per- 
 manently dissipated, — a result perhaps - not quite 
 unparalleled in the history of human superstition. 
 
 The Moral nature of dogs, which must now 
 be discussed, offers the most difficult of the pro- 
 blems concerning them. In treating of it we 
 must carefully keep in mind the often forgotten 
 distinction between the possession of the most 
 generous and beautiful impulses, and the power 
 to exert a choice between following them, or 
 others of a lower nature. That the dog possesses 
 the noblest impulses is beyond a doubt. Even 
 the loftiest achievements of human virtue, the 
 sacrifice of life for the welfare of another, has 
 
148 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS 0^ DOGa. 
 
 probably been more often attained by a dog th?,n 
 by a man ; and a canine Curt his might be found in 
 every street. But a dog has many low impulse s, 
 as well as many high ones ; and before we pro- 
 perly recognize him as a moral agent, it would 
 be needful to show that he can exercise dis- 
 crimination between the two. 
 
 That a dog has a Will and choice of action 
 in the vulgar sense, it would be idle to deny. 
 Nothing, indeed, is more wilful than the animal 
 thus understood, insomuch that " bull-dog tena- 
 city " has become a proverb. Obviously, too, 
 he is often " of two ruinds," whether he will 
 follow one person or another, obey his master 
 or enjoy an escapade ; and his final decision is 
 made on the balance of his likings and dislikings, 
 fears and hopes. Does this Wilfulness, then, 
 constitute the dog a Moral Free Agent, and must 
 responsibility accompany such exercise of volition? 
 Certainly not. But to find ground on which 
 to deny his responsibility while admitting his 
 wilfulness, we must go far below the superficial 
 idea of moral freedom commonly in vogue, and 
 fall back on some such theory as that of Kant. 
 Were man himself only determined by motives 
 of liking and disliking, hope and fear, Necessarian 
 philosophers would be perfectly justified in hold- 
 ing him to be nothing but a link in the unbroken 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 149 
 
 chain of causes and effects. The freedom of the 
 human will can only be logically maintained by 
 those who believe that, besides his lower nature, 
 blindly guided by such motives, man has also a 
 higher will whose choice is independent of them, 
 and is determined not by the agreeability but 
 the rightfulness of the action proposed to it. By 
 this real freedom alone, man is enabled, as Kant 
 says (Grundlegung der Sitten), to cc originate 
 events independently of foreign determining 
 causes/' being himself (as a " Homo Noumenon") 
 a cause in the supersensible world wherein lie the 
 ultimate grounds of all phenomena. Only when 
 man exerts this higher will is he truly free, no 
 longer passive under his <c passions/' but an 
 inheritor of " the glorious liberty of the sons of 
 God." • At other times, and when he yields 
 either to the desire of pleasure or fear of pain, 
 present or future, though he appears wilful in 
 the common sense, his actions are really as much 
 locked up in the necessary sequence of cause and 
 effect, as the development of a plant or the course 
 of the stars. They are determined by the balanco 
 of his inclinations, and of the solicitations pre- 
 sented to them, and these are regulated by ante- 
 cedent circumstances ascending back from tho 
 beginning of things. 
 
 That the dog has any Moral Freedom of tho 
 
150 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 real sort is more than doubtful. Even in a deaf, 
 dumb, and blind human being the possession of 
 such freedom makes itself felt through the silence 
 and darkness which encompass the soul ; and, 
 wherever it exists, the whole range of intelligence 
 and character of behaviour must, it should seem, 
 differ widely from anything we recognize in the 
 animal. If dogs possessed any inner law com- 
 pelling them to place moral good before the 
 gratification of desire, we must have perceived 
 such a fact manifested on a thousand, occasions 
 in their conduct; and that we never observe 
 such manifestation justifies our presumption that 
 they are not responsible when they commit 
 actions which would involve guilt in a man ; 
 nor, strictly speaking, virtuous, even when they 
 perform heroic deeds of self-sacrifice. Only half 
 the factors of the moral life are theirs. They have 
 the passions and desires which form the warp 
 of our own. But the woof of free choice, deter- 
 mined by lovo of Eight for its own sake, they 
 never throw ; or if they do so, it is so rarely and 
 obscurely as to elude our ken. And here we 
 find ethical explanation of the fact that man may 
 justly appropriate to himself the whole exist- 
 ence of an animal ; whereas to reduce a fellow- 
 man to similar slavery is a portentous crime. 
 The dog, having no true moral freedom, is none 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OV DOGS. 
 
 151 
 
 the worse, nor arc the ends of his "being defeated 
 by his will becoming absorbed in the will of his 
 master. If he be made happy, his highest end 
 is attained, and no wrong whatever is done 
 him. Bab for the man, who possesses moral 
 freedom, and whose proper end is the virtue to 
 be worked out thereby, enslavement, whether 
 physical like that of the negro, or spiritual like 
 that of the Jesuit, is the most grievous of all 
 wrongs and injuries; and even the master who 
 secures his absolute felicity in such a state of 
 degradation, has still been guilty towards him of 
 " the sum of all villainies." 
 
 To imagine, then, the moral state of the dog, 
 we have only to conceive ourselves with nearly all 
 our present passions and emotions, to each of 
 which we should passively yield in turn as temp- 
 tation offered, without either thought of resist- 
 ance or sense of guilt in so yielding. We should 
 often balance in our minds which line of conduct 
 would be most Pleasant, or most Prudent, but 
 never which would be Right. We should live in 
 much such a Golden Age, as the old poets sung, 
 when there was no antithesis between Virtue and 
 Pleasure, and no remorse for self-indulgence ; 
 but wherein, likewise, the sublime joy of triumph 
 and the sacred hope of growing better and holier 
 must be equally unknown, q 
 
152 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF BOGS. 
 
 Added to liis possession of passions and lack 
 of moral freedom, we must, in our estimate of 
 the dog's consciousness, take into account the 
 fact that he is the docile companion of a being 
 who is morally free, and who is constantly teach- 
 ing him some of the rules, though he cannot 
 apprehend the principles of human morality. The 
 dog is frotte with morality, though never moral. 
 The influence of this reflex morality is very singular 
 to notice, and would deserve more investigation 
 than can here be given to it. There are regions 
 of his nature wherein our culture and the in- 
 tense sympathy he feels with us, almost seem to 
 make the dog feel like ourselves. The external 
 virtues of honesty and fidelity (always, histori- 
 cally, the earliest recognized, and implying the 
 lesser ethical development) he appears to learn. 
 The more inward, personal virtues of temperance, 
 chastity, etc., seem as much outside his compre- 
 hension at his loftiest elevation, as the friend of 
 a Newton, as at his lowest degradation, as the 
 slave of an Australian cannibal. 
 
 In view of these facts, we are inclined to pro- 
 pound the hypothesis that a dog's nature will 
 best be understood by reverting to the analogy 
 drawn a few pages back between his devotion to 
 his master and human religious feelings towards 
 God. The dog's virtues and vices are all those 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 153 
 
 of a faithful worshipper who has no other law 
 beside the arbitrary will of his Deity. If Ock- 
 ham's heresy were true philosophy, if Eight and 
 Wrong existed only in the arbitrary will of God, 
 if He could make good evil, and evil good ; and, 
 finally, if this God were as weak and changeful 
 as the human master whom the dog adores, then 
 we should have almost a perfect analogue of the 
 dog's moral state. He has no faculty for discern- 
 ing what is good or evil in itself, or for loving the 
 good independently, so as to prefer, like Mr. Mill, 
 to " go to hell " rather than flatter an evil master. 
 Such as it is, however, we should do injustice to 
 this religion of the dog if we omitted to remark 
 that" the reflected morality to which it leads him 
 is something very different from the Utilitarian- 
 ism of Paley and Rutherford. If the dog can 
 neither soar to the intuitive conception of a sub- 
 lime " categoric imperative," demanding obe- 
 dience to c ' the law fit for law universal," nor yet 
 follow the teachers now in fashion by seeking a 
 rule of action which shall tend to secure the 
 Ci greatest happiness of the greatest number," he 
 is nevertheless far above the level of a mere pup- 
 pet, pulled only by the strings of hope and fear, 
 reward and punishment. He acts continually 
 from pure love and sympathy, with perfect dis- 
 interestedness. Nobody ever taught, or could 
 
154 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 teach, a dog to attack a burglar, to rouse liis 
 master in case of fire (like a poor spaniel not long 
 ago described in the "Times/' who was burnt to 
 death in the achievement), or to spend long years, 
 like Grey-Friar's Bobby, mourning on his grave. 
 
 Those distinguished modern philosophers who 
 tell us that the human moral sense is nothing 
 more than a " mystic extension 33 of the sense of 
 Utility graven on our brains by the experience 
 of a thousand generations, may perhaps be will- 
 ing to concede the existence of a similar " set 33 
 of the canine brain towards Fidelity, going on 
 since the remote era when the wolf was domesti- 
 cated, and became ennobled into the dog, while 
 the descendants of the gorilla rose into the man. 
 But however this may be, it is certain that no 
 self-interest, such as the dog can possibly under- 
 stand, can account for a multitude of actions he 
 has been proved to perform in behalf of his idol. 
 
 That the dog loves to bo ruled and 
 guided by his master, and to be made sensible 
 at every moment of the higher nature above 
 him, is extremely clear. As a writer in the 
 " Revue des Deux Mondes " blamed the English 
 nation for not perceiving that Ireland would be 
 more contented if she were "much more go- 
 verned/' and made to feel the strong hand 
 extended from Downing Street every time a 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 155 
 
 pump was wanted in Connemara; so the dog, 
 like the Gaul and the Celt, decidedly enjoys 
 being "very much governed/' and directed 
 what to do and to leave undone. His political 
 views, in short (should we ever enjoy an oppor- 
 tunity of learning them by a really universal 
 suffrage), will manifestly incline in favour of a 
 Cassarism "mitigated" by panem et Gircenses, 
 which he will interpret to signify " bones and 
 the chase." 
 
 In addition, then, to what has been said 
 above regarding the consciousness of the dog on 
 the side of morality, we may, in our endeavour 
 to picture it, conceive ourselves attached to a 
 superior being in such an absolute manner that 
 his will should be our only law. " All human 
 virtue," says Suabedissen, "is a lawgiving to 
 ourselves. Where the lawgiving ceases sin 
 begins." Of such self-lawgiving our humble 
 friend knows nothing. It is to be feared that 
 the task of imagining what human life would be 
 without it is one which experience renders only 
 too easy to most of us; while few have ever 
 intensely loved a fellow-mortal without being 
 able at least to guess what it may mean to cast 
 to the winds every other sentiment, and make 
 his will our law, his love our heaven, and himself 
 our god. Perhaps this study of canine psycho- 
 
156 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 logy may not prove useless if it throw into relief 
 the solemn truth, that all such idolatry addressed 
 to a man, and even such adoration of an invisible 
 God as disregards his righteousness and is con- 
 tent to believe Him less than perfectly Good and 
 Holy, are alike beneath the level of true human 
 religion, and belong only to the order of feelings 
 proper to the brute. 
 
 We now touch on the second problem. We 
 have seen how a dog Feels ; we must endeavour 
 to form an idea how he Thinks. Recurring to 
 our postulate that Thought is Thought in what- 
 soever brain it be carried on, and dismissing the 
 vain attempt to distinguish between Instinct and 
 Reason as probably arbitrary and certainly beside 
 the purpose of our investigation, we may pro- 
 ceed to trace, so far as our materials permit, the 
 circumference of the dog's mental powers. The 
 following facts may serve as points to guide our 
 outline. In the first place, the mechanism of a 
 dog's mind obviously includes several of the 
 same wheels and pulleys as our own. He has 
 Memory of persons, places, and events, extend- 
 ing. backward to his early youth, and it is stirred, 
 precisely like ours, according to the same law of 
 association of ideas. When his master has de- 
 serted him, and in his despair the dog takes 
 some cast-off garment, and lies on it for days 
 
£HE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 15? 
 
 together, growling at every one who tries to 
 lure him away, what can we suppose he is doing ? 
 Obviously he is using the old coat or shoe to 
 bring him nearer to his lost friend; just as many 
 of us have treasured a flower or a lock of hair ; 
 or as a hagiolater kneels beside the relics of his 
 saint. Further, Association of Ideas enables him 
 often in default of language to understand what 
 men are doing about him. Having once seen 
 guns elaborately cleaned preparatory to the 12th 
 of August, the sight of the process next year 
 fills him with rapturous anticipation of sport. 
 The little differences of Sunday hours and cos- 
 tumes prove to him the hopelessness of an invi- 
 tation to the walk which is to end at church. 
 On other days the taking up of a hat, or stick, 
 is enough to make him leap for joy ; the exhi- 
 bition of a whip, to cringe; and the sight of 
 a trunk, to enter into paroxysms of anxiety. 
 Beside Memory and Association of Ideas — both 
 working in his narrow sphere, probably, as per- 
 fectly as they act in our wider one— the dog 
 may be proved to possess a certain share of 
 Fancy or Imagination. The remarks made re- 
 garding his propensity to act little dramas showed 
 thus much, at all events; as also his habit of 
 fancying something terrible in odd-looking ob- 
 jects. By his dreams it is manifest that he 
 
158 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 either exactly reproduces by involuntary cere- 
 bration the precise events impressed on his 
 memory, or, as is much more probable, that his 
 brain, like ours, weaves them into fresh com- 
 binations. In the latter case, and supposing 
 the dog to have a real dream of an imaginary 
 chase after a hare, or battle with a cat, it almost 
 necessarily follows that he can exercise the same 
 faculty of pure Imagination awake, and that 
 when he lies blinking in the sun or on the rug, 
 he follows out, in his own little way, a reverie 
 much like our cwn, combining what has been 
 and what might be in a visionary scene, of which 
 either hope or fear acts as the scene-shifter. 
 Judgment, or an intelligent decision between 
 probabilities, is unquestionably one of the faculties 
 of a dog. A clever dog is one of the best dis- 
 criminators of character in the world.* He dis- 
 tinguishes at a glance a tramp or swell- mobs man 
 from a gentleman, even in the most soiled attire. 
 He has also a keen sense of the relative im- 
 portance of persons, and never fails to know who 
 is the master of the house. 
 
 By the help of these faculties, Memory, Asso- 
 
 * Sometimes, however, he lacks this faculty. One poor 
 starving dog in Paris actually followed a physiologist into his 
 laboratory, and there (as Dr. Hoggan witnesses) was thrown 
 with a laugh on the torture trough. 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 159 
 
 ciation of Ideas, Fancy, and Judgment, a dog 
 can make plans and deliberately arrange Low to 
 compass his ends. His memory, for example, 
 supplies him with a picture of a delightful chase ; 
 his imagination suggests the surreptitious enjoy- 
 ment of another. Thereupon ho contrives to 
 steal away unperceived on a poaching expedition, 
 whereto he probably invites a serviceable com- 
 panion, and the two truants do the work of 
 finding and catching game quite as cleverly as if 
 under the guidance of their master. When the 
 stolen sweets have been tasted, fear of punish- 
 ment spurs the dog's imagination to the trick of 
 getting back into his kennel, perhaps over a 
 high wall, or (as has several times happened) of 
 wriggling his head back into his collar. One of 
 the cleverest devices of a dog in this line was 
 the artifice of a poodle, recorded in Martin's 
 "History of the Dog" (p. 185), who, observing 
 her master drop a gold coin on the floor in an 
 hotel, sat for the whole day with the money in 
 her mouth, refusing to eat, lest she should drop 
 it, till her owner returned, when she instantly 
 laid it at his feet. Numberless other stories are 
 recorded of dogs obviously acting with deli- 
 berate design to draw attention to facts, such 
 as the murder of their masters, etc. A story of 
 this kind, which it is probable few " general 
 
160 . THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 readers " Have perused, is to be found in the 
 " Life of St. Hugh, of Lincoln/' prefaced by the 
 observation that Hugh was not ec apt in trifling 
 talk/' but " serious as became a bishop/' Never- 
 theless he guaranteed the veracity of the 
 following narrative which (translated from the 
 monkish Latin) runs as follows: — 
 
 a Instigated by the Enemy the wife of a certain 
 merchant, tenant of his father and known to himself, 
 killed her husband and buried him in a fallow field. 
 Now, on bringing home his wares, this merchant had 
 been wont to wait upon his lord. But on a time 
 when all knew he had arrived, the lord began to 
 marvel that he had not seen him. Wishing, there- 
 fore, to know what had happened, the lord went with 
 his knights to the merchant's house. There the 
 faithless woman, blandly saluting him, deplored her 
 husband's going away so speedily: 'Nay, after so 
 long absence, he would lodge with me scarcely one 
 night. He started at dawn. I know not when he 
 will come back/ All this while the house-dog 
 (canis domesticus) , by pawings, howlings, and ges- 
 tures, was seeking to make known what he knew of 
 the matter. Nor would he quit the lord at all, 
 going on in front of him, leaping up as if to clasp 
 him, or grovelling on the ground, moaning con- 
 tinually. The knights watched him, and presently 
 he set off for the field. By sign and voice, as if he 
 were pleading with the lord, he led on till he had 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF BOGS. 
 
 161 
 
 brought them to the spot. Then, at the very 
 furrow, which, as if by the plough, had been cun- 
 ningly turned over, he set about tearing the clods 
 with his teeth, scratching the earth with his paws. 
 The men also digging, with their hands, at length 
 drew forth the corpse, and recognized it as that of 
 the merchant.' ' {Magna Vita #. Hugonis, lib. i. 
 ch. iii. pp. 15, 16.) 
 
 The better-known story of the Dog of Mont- 
 argis ends with the dog fighting his master's 
 murderer in regular combat. Plutarch (" De 
 Solertia Animalium/' c. 13, quoted by Watson) 
 tells a similar anecdote of a dog whom Pyrrhus 
 adopted, having found him lying on his master's 
 corpse. When attached to the king, the dog 
 darted one day on two soldiers, who proved to 
 be the assassins. St. Ambrose, Giraldus Cam- 
 brensis, and Benvenuto Cellini, all tell parallel 
 narratives ; but the most interesting I have heard 
 was one taken down from the lips of the late 
 venerable Professor Sedgwick, of Cambridge. 
 
 " There is a clever old man living at Kendal, 
 who possesses a dog called Charlie, and who has 
 frequently been my companion in my geological re- 
 searches in the north of England. On our return 
 to Kendal from one excursion, the old man came to 
 my hotel to help to arrange the fossils we had col- 
 lected, and Charlie came with him. During the 
 
162 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 whole process of arranging the stones, Charlie sat 
 by, gravely watching us, sitting on his hind quarters, 
 with a most sober and demure face 5 nor did he 
 move till the collection was stowed into a bag and 
 put under my bed. He then went home with his 
 master ; but just as I was preparing to go to bed, I 
 heard a scratching at the door, and there was Charlie, 
 who darted in, ran under the bed, and remained 
 there all night. For the next few days nothing 
 particular happened ; and each night Charlie slept 
 under my bed, till we arranged to start for another 
 expedition, when Charlie was not to be found, and 
 we set off without him. We made a tour of sixteen 
 days, and arrived at Bowness on a Saturday. On 
 Monday morning, when my old friend met me after 
 a visit to his own house, he said, 'Well, I have a 
 strange history to tell you of Charlie. When I got 
 home, I said to my wife, " Where's Charlie ? " 
 " Charlie ! " she replied, " why, hasn't Charlie been 
 with you ? 999 Upon this the old man went up to 
 the inn, and inquired if anything had been seen of 
 Charlie. But he had scarcely begun to speak, w r hen 
 Charlie himself came bounding towards him; and 
 the strange mystery of the dog's disappearance was 
 explained. No one thought or knew anything about 
 Charlie till the evening of his master's departure, 
 when a traveller arriving at the inn, was shown to 
 the room which I had occupied. The moment the 
 traveller and his conductor entered, Charlie rushed 
 from under the bed and flew at them, so that they 
 were in danger of being seriously hurt, and he could 
 only be mastered by the ostler bringing a horse- 
 cloth and throwing it completely over the dog ; thus 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 163 
 
 holding Lim down while they dragged from under 
 the bed the precious bag of stones and placed it in 
 the passage. As soon as this was done, the dog 
 was set free, and instantly quietly took his place 
 upon the bag, from which nothing could entice him. 
 Occasionally, when he heard wheels in the yard 
 below, or any great movement, he would rush down, 
 smell the carriages., and survey the horses ; but 
 speedily satisfied that nothing was there with which 
 he had anything to do, he returned to his post, 
 which he never forsook till his master's voice gave 
 him assurance that his long watch might end." 
 
 The dog also frequently goes through the 
 somewhat complicated mental process involved 
 in conscious deception. He pretends to be asleep, 
 or invents excuses to lag behind in a walk, or 
 after stealing food, when he hears a step at the 
 door, shrinks back into his kennel and lays himself 
 down in an attitude betokening long unbroken 
 repose. The most diverting instance of a beast's 
 hypocrisy of this kind which we have heard is one 
 thus described by Mrs. Symonds, of Clifton : — 
 
 " The dog was a poodle puppy, called Balcli. One 
 night, after we had all gone to the play, supper 
 having been laid ready for our return, we found the 
 pigeon-pie in this condition ; one pigeon having been 
 abstracted, and the hole cleverly filled up with a bit 
 of damp inky sponge, which my father" (the late 
 Mr. North) " always kept in a glass on his writing 
 table to wipe his pens on. Baldi looked terribly 
 
164 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 guilty, and there was no doubt where the pigeon was 
 gone ; but why he should have thought of concealing 
 his guilt by filling up the hole, I have not an idea." 
 
 The delightful history of Japanese Wow, told 
 in the " Spectator/' describes how the little 
 gentleman carried on his deceptions by the help 
 of the cat, whom, by some unknown means, he 
 persuaded to fetch up bones for their joint supper 
 behind the curtain in his master's study. 
 
 Again, the great intuition on which so much of 
 human reasoning is based — that the same cause 
 will always produce the same effect — is manifestly 
 possessed by the canine mind as by our own. 
 The dog observes that a certain result follows on 
 a certain action, e.g., the opening of a door on 
 ringing a bell, and though it is more than doubt- 
 ful whether he has any idea of the modus operandi 
 of the charm, he uses his "open sesame" with 
 implicit faith. In one of the works at the head 
 of this article, which now possesses a mournful 
 interest from the horrible story of its author, 
 " The Seasoning Power in Animals," by the Eev. 
 J. Selby Watson, there is a series of authenti- 
 cated stories of this kind. One is of an Italian 
 greyhound, who noticed that knocking at the door 
 of a certain house was followed by its opening, 
 and who continued to leap at the knocker till he 
 thus obtained admission. Another, more curious, 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 165 
 
 is of a dog belonging to a convent in France, 
 who observed that each of the twenty paupers 
 fed at the tour rang a bell for his dinner, which 
 was pushed to him through the hole. The dog 
 regularly rang the bell, and obtained a pauper's 
 portion for himself for a long time, till the 
 mystery of the twenty-first applicant caused a 
 watch to be set and the impostor to be detected. 
 We are happy to be informed that the monks 
 allowed this dog to ring for his dinner to the 
 day of his death. Mr. Nassau Senior, in an 
 article in the "Quarterly Review" described how 
 he himself saw a terrier seek to obtain entrance 
 into the forbidden precincts of Merton Com- 
 mon Room by simulating a violent quarrel with 
 another (imaginary) dog at the door — a real 
 quarrel the day before having led to his admis- 
 sion by his master to save his life. 
 
 Strangest and most suggestive of all the 
 anecdotes recorded of dogs are the numerous 
 histories of their drowning themselves, under 
 conditions which almost compel us to class the 
 act as voluntary and conscious suicide. Nob 
 long ago many newspapers copied a mournful 
 story of a poor dog who was cruelly discarded 
 in his old age by his master, and after ineffectual 
 efforts to find shelter in another house, was seen 
 deliberately to stand gazing at the rushing waters 
 
166 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 of the Loire, then painfully lift himself on his 
 crippled limbs and leap into the stream. The 
 spectator held out a stick to save him, but the 
 beast gave him a look of despair, turned away 
 his head, and floated down without an effort to 
 save himself. 
 
 Similar incidents are to be found in Jesse's 
 "Anecdotes of Dogs " (p. 145), where we 
 are told of the suicide of a handsome and 
 valuable Newfoundland dog, belonging to Mr. 
 Floyd, a solicitor at Holmfirth. The animal 
 showed low spirits for some days, and then was 
 seen to throw himself into the water, where ho 
 endeavoured to sink by keeping his legs perfectly 
 still. Being dragged out, he returned time after 
 time to the river, till at last he succeeded in keep- 
 ing his head under water long enough to extin- 
 guish life. Mr. Nicol, of Pall Mall, told Mr. 
 Jesse that he had likewise seen an old foxhound 
 deliberately drown himself, and that he was 
 ready to make oath of the fact. In the " Ency- 
 clopaedia Britannica" is another tale of canine 
 suicide ; and Mr. George Jesse {" Kesearches," 
 vol. i., p. 157) gives from an " original source" 
 lite account of a little Havana dog who drowned 
 dimself at Honfleur. Another story has been 
 given me by a kind correspondent : — " A very 
 old Newfoundland, the constant companion of 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 167 
 
 the children, and of invariable good temper, was 
 one day sleeping, when a little girl (to rouse him 
 for his walk) gave him a child's kick. The dog 
 started from his sleep, seized the small leg with 
 his teeth, but not sharply enough to do any harm. 
 The nurse, however, ran up and beat him with 
 her handkerchief, scolding him, and telling him 
 he should not go with them for their walk ; and 
 when he tried to follow she shut the gate against 
 him. Not long after, a groom saw the dog try- 
 ing to drown himself in a ditch, and pulled him 
 out, shutting him up afterwards in the yard. 
 That day and the next he refused all food, but 
 managed to escape to the same ditch, where he 
 was eventually found drowned." 
 
 It is hard to resist the conclusion that, if these 
 tales be true, the creatures who thus acted both 
 knew what death is, and also were able delibe- 
 rately to decide that the short pain of death was 
 better than the prolonged one of a miserable 
 life. Even supposing the dog, however, to pos- 
 sess the very high mental faculties needed for 
 such an argument, the further manifestation of 
 deliberate will, powerful enough to conquer the 
 natural clinging to life of all creatures, and to 
 make the animal resolutely keep his head under 
 water when a few strokes of his paws would 
 save him, is most amazing. It is much to bo 
 
168 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS, 
 
 wished that an anecdote of this class could bo 
 thoroughly sifted and verified. 
 
 From such a general view of canine intelli- 
 gence, it appears an irresistible conclusion that 
 all (or nearly all) the elementary machinery of 
 the human mind is present and active in the 
 brain of a dog. There are Memory, Reflection, 
 Combination, Forethought, Association of Ideas, 
 and that process of arguing from cause to effect 
 which we are wont to consider as Seasoning, 
 strictly so called. The limitations within which 
 this mental machinery works are indeed narrow, 
 seldom proceeding beyond three or four steps at 
 furthest, and dealing only, so far as we can guess, 
 with matters immediately perceived by the senses; 
 but nevertheless it is incumbent on us to recog- 
 nize that, so far as it goes, the Thought of a dog 
 is the same sort of phenomenon as the Thought 
 of a man, carried on, doubtless, with similar 
 modifications of cerebral matter, and being to 
 the creature who thinks, to all intents and pur- 
 poses the same action. 
 
 To comprehend what it would be to think 
 Under the conditions which limit the thoughts of 
 a dog, we have need, in the first place, to en- 
 deavour clearly to realize what it would be to 
 think without Language — not merely as a dumb 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF BOGS. 
 
 1G9 
 
 individual in a speaking race, but as a dumb 
 creature in a dumb race, not even possessed of 
 hands where with to make an alphabet of signs. 
 Under such conditions it is apparent that we 
 should hold a wholly different intellectual rank 
 from that which we possess as masters of this 
 matchless instrument. It is not only for com- 
 munication with our fellows but for all the higher 
 processes of thought that words are indispensable, 
 and without their use the finest human brain 
 would be able to conduct its operations a very 
 little way in comparison of the long ascents it 
 performs with the aid of such a ladder. All 
 thought which rises above mere reverie, is a more 
 or less defined thinking in words ; and the more 
 serious and weighty are our lucubrations, and 
 the more abstruse their theme, the more we need 
 definite language to carry them on. When a 
 man loses the free use of his native tongue in 
 acquiring familiarity with another, he frequently 
 observes the important influence on his thoughts 
 exercised by the transition when he begins to 
 think in the new language ; and every one who 
 has attempted to grapple with questions of meta- 
 physics and ontology is well aware how indis- 
 pensable to such labour are the tools provided 
 by a philosophical vocabulary. Geometry could 
 not proceed beyond the simplest propositions 
 
170 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 without an accurate terminology ; and without 
 the names or figures of numbers, our conceptions 
 of the numbers themselves would hardly extend 
 beyond the five fingers which limit the calculation 
 of the savage. To conceive, then, the limitations 
 of a dog's intellect, we must begin by supposing 
 ourselves always thinking — without aid from lan- 
 guage ; remembering — without any verbal mne- 
 monics; observing — without power to give a 
 name to the thing observed ; and reasoning- — 
 without the stepping-stones of any formulae, 
 which, when once accepted, might serve as bases 
 to the next operations. 
 
 It would carry this inquiry into regions of 
 very abstruse speculation to argue the question 
 which here arises, cc Is the lack of language and 
 of abstract ideas so closely involved, that the 
 dumbness of the dog implies his want of such 
 ideas ? " We can only remark, in passing, that 
 as a creature without words could seemingly 
 make little or no use of such ideas, and as it is 
 gratuitous to suppose that any creature possesses 
 faculties both occult and superfluous, we may 
 fairly assume that the dog possesses neither one 
 nor the other. 
 
 Lastly, we reach the concluding problem of 
 the dog's Consciousness. Human thought is 
 not only occupied with its objects, but also carries 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OE DOGS. 171 
 
 with it more or less self-consciousness of its 
 subject. It turns outward to the world, and also 
 inward. Endless profound tilings have been 
 written about this self-conscious "Ich } " which 
 we carry with us in every soaring and diving of 
 imagination and reason — this "Ego/' whose 
 antagonism to the u non-ego" is said to be the 
 first perception of the awakening mind. But, 
 whatever be its mysterious significance, are we 
 bound to limit it to the mind of a man, and to 
 hold that the dog's mind never turns inwards — 
 that he never thinks that marvellous thought, 
 "I am?" 
 
 It has been long ago assumed that so it is ; 
 that the animal never gathers up Memory and 
 Consciousness into one personality ; never studies 
 himself or compares himself with other beings, 
 or thinks " I am a dog." Such self-consciousness, 
 the sense of moral responsibility, and the power 
 of forming abstract ideas, are, in truth, it would 
 appear, three phases of the same thing — three 
 things which must exist together or not at all. 
 If the evidence that dogs have no moral respon- 
 sibility and no abstract ideas be sufficient, the 
 further fact of their having no self-consciousness 
 may be taken for granted ; even if the absolute 
 simplicity of their demeanour did not bear with 
 it an assurance, beyond need of argument, that 
 
172 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP BOGS. 
 
 none of the doublings of self-introspection have 
 ever disturbed the pellucid simplicity of their 
 emotions and thoughts. 
 
 How, then, does a dog actually think, if he 
 never carries his self- consciousness along with 
 him? Let us remember the hours when that 
 " Old Man of the Sea" has sat lightest on our 
 own shoulders ; when, acting at the bidding of 
 some strong feeling, or engrossed in some deep 
 interest, we forgot almost entirely to reflect in 
 our usual wearisome way that " 1 93 am doing 
 this, that, or the other. Let us study the mental 
 condition of the more light-hearted races of men, 
 of children, and of savages. By a little further 
 development of such experiences we shall find 
 ourselves not far off from the point of the dog's 
 state of mind. Merely to suppose ourselves 
 always engrossed in what we are doing — as we 
 are, for example, when we are reading or writing 
 eagerly, watching a man in danger, or entering 
 some sublime scene — and the feat is achieved. 
 As we feel then, so the dog, in his own little 
 sphere of interests, must feel always. 
 
 To sum up the conclusions arrived at in this 
 paper. The dog's physical nature is, in every 
 respect save his keener sense of smelling, inferior 
 to our own. In the region of the Passions and 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 173 
 
 Emotions he approaches us most nearly, falling 
 short of us only where his intellect fails to appre- 
 hend the abstract objects which engage our feel- 
 ings. Of Moral Free Agency he does not par- 
 take; but his Allegiance to man supplies him with 
 a shadow of Duty, and a Religion minus the moral 
 element. Lastly, his mental faculties include all 
 the fundamental machinery of the human intel- 
 lect, and stop short only where the lack of lan- 
 guage bars the path of consecutive reasoning, 
 and the absence of self-consciousness makes self- 
 introspection impossible. 
 
 If these views be correct, it would appear that 
 a dog's consciousness lies in a circle wholly within 
 the borders of our own. We do not differ from 
 him (as Descartes and Mr. Huxley suppose) as a 
 living intelligence differs from a machine, nor yet 
 (as many persons seem to think) as in a fairy- 
 tale a Man differs from an Ogre or a Fairy. The 
 only true distinction to which we can lay claim, 
 is that we have entered on a higher stage of 
 heivg, albeit, the elements of all our emotions 
 and faculties remain essentially the same as those 
 of the affectionate and intelligent animal. He 
 lies, indeed, far beneath us in the scale of exis- 
 tence ; but it is not at a distance wholly incom- 
 mensurate. There is a proportion, albeit a 
 remote one, between him and ourselves ; nor can 
 
174 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS. 
 
 any popular error be more stupid than the cant 
 (so common in the mouths of men of science) 
 that they would freely torture hecatombs of dogs 
 to relieve the smallest pain of a man. The glory 
 of our human nature does not consist in the right 
 to dip, like Caosar Borgia, in a bath of blood ; 
 but rather in the power to feel, like God, com- 
 passion for the sparrow that falls, and pity for 
 the meanest creature which suffers. 
 
 One point only remains to be touched, and 
 that with hesitation. Must our tenderness for 
 our humble friends end at the hour when their 
 brief lives come to a close ? Is there no hope 
 that something in the dog, as well as something 
 in man, may survive the dissolution of the fleshly 
 frame ? Undoubtedly many of the firmer grounds 
 for human faith in immortality are wanting in 
 the case of the creature who, so far as we discern, 
 has no consciousness of such a destiny — no moral 
 freedom, whose high purpose (so often failing 
 here) must have fulfilment hereafter — no sense 
 of that Divine communion which gives to the 
 saint the assurance that €t God will not leave his 
 soul in Hades, nor suffer his holy one to see 
 corruption." On the other hand, the unmerited 
 sufferings of brutes lends warrant to the hope 
 that perfect Justice will not leave them un- 
 requited ; while the veil which hangs over the 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 175 
 
 "how" and the "whither" of the exodus of 
 the human soul from the dissolving body, allows 
 us at least room to speculate whether a similar 
 law may not prevail with regard to the " spirit 
 of the beast/' when divided from its physical 
 form. Keferring to this last order of argument, 
 after stating his reasons for believing that 
 Thought and Will do not perish at death, Bishop 
 Butler says ("Analogy," p. 1, c. 1) :— 
 
 "It is said that these observations are equally 
 applicable to brutes ; and it is thought an insuper- 
 able difficulty that they should be immortal, and, by 
 consequence, capable of everlasting happiness. Now, 
 this manner of expression is both invidious and weak, 
 for the thing intended by it is really no difficulty at 
 all. For, first, suppose the invidious thing were 
 really implied (as it is not in the least in the natural 
 immortality of brutes) , namely, that they must arrive 
 at great attainments, and become rational and moral 
 agents, even this would be no difficulty, since we 
 know not what latent powers and capacities they may 
 be endowed with. There was once, prior to expe- 
 rience, as great a presumption against human 
 creatures, as there is against brutes arriving at the 
 degree of understanding which we have in maturer 
 years, for we can trace up our own existence to the 
 same original with theirs. And we find it to be a 
 general law of nature, that creatures endued with 
 capacities for virtue and religion should be placed 
 
176 
 
 ?HE CONSCIOUSNESS OP DOGS. 
 
 in a condition of being in which they were altogether 
 without the use of them for a considerable length 
 of their duration. And great part of the human 
 species go out of the world before they come to the 
 exercise of those capacities in any degree at all. But, 
 secondly, the natural immortality of brutes does not 
 in the least imply that they are endued with any 
 latent capacities of a moral nature, and the economy 
 of the universe might require that there should be 
 living creatures (in the next world as in the present) 
 without any capacities of the kind." 
 
 These views of the great English philosopher 
 and moralist, which would fill heaven with happy 
 living creatures, may perhaps be supplemented 
 by an argument, which has the advantage of 
 drawing a line between the higher brutes and the 
 lower, whom, we are commonly told, must needs 
 survive, if dogs and elephants be immortal. 
 Accepting human immortality as a given basis 
 of reasoning, we must admit that this wondrous 
 heritage is acquired at a certain stage of being*, 
 and that there must be a stage antecedent to it. 
 That the precise point on whose attainment such 
 momentous consequences depend cannot be 
 merely physical, or arbitrarily fixed at a given 
 date, before birth or afterwards, appears equally 
 clear. It must surely be determined by the 
 development in the child of the mysterious 
 
THE CONSCIOUSNESS OE DOGS. 
 
 177 
 
 something above the purely vegetative or sentient 
 life, for which, that lower life is as the stalk to 
 the flower, and the scaffolding to the temple. 
 Now if this stage of development which ensures 
 immortality be attained early in human life 
 (let us say by a child of a year old), it would 
 seem that an intelligent and devoted dog has 
 certainly reached the same, and may, therefore, 
 possibly have risen to the sphere of being wherein 
 death is not extinction. The spark has been 
 lighted which no longer goes out. Neither 
 infant nor dog is yet possessed of either moral 
 freedom, responsibility, or religion; but there 
 are even more tokens in the brute than in the 
 babe of an approach to, or at least preparation 
 for, the reception of such high endowments, 
 perhaps to be acquired when the narrow limi- 
 tations of his present physical nature have been 
 removed. 
 
 However these things may be in the unknown 
 future world, it is clear enough that in the 
 present our humble friends richly deserve our 
 interest and our sympathy ; and that we might 
 render thanks for many a lesser comfort than 
 a dog's affection; and preach on many a text 
 less useful to remember than the quaint old 
 words of the Zend A vesta (" Vendidad," 13th 
 Fargard, v. 75) : "The Dog have I made, O 
 
178 
 
 THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF DOGS, 
 
 Zarathiistra, . with his own clothing and his 
 own shoes, with keen scent and sharp teeth, 
 faithful to men; for I have made the dog, I who 
 am Ahura Mazda." 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 There are few things more irritating to one who 
 consistently honours dogs, than to hear superficial 
 and indiscriminate people talk of those animals 
 as if they were all alike in their mental and moral 
 qualities, and only differed from each other by 
 being white or black, rough-haired or silky-coated. 
 " The dog/' these persons will complacently 
 observe, "is" this, that, or the other — "saga- 
 cious," "intelligent," and "fond of the chase." 
 Or they will confide to you that "they like dogs 
 in their proper place " (to wit, somewhere wholly 
 out of sight), or "do not particularly care for a 
 dog." They might just as well remark that " the 
 man is wise, honest, and plays the fiddle;" or 
 that they like human beings when they keep their 
 distance ;" or " do not specially care for a man ! 9 
 That every dog has his idiosyncrasy no less than 
 his master has his own ; that his capacities, 
 tempers, gifts, graces, and propensities, vary 
 
180 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 through the whole gamut of intellect, will, and 
 emotion ; and that it would be quite as easy to 
 find two human as two canine Sosias, are facts 
 which the vulgar and dog-ignorant mind has 
 never grasped. He who has once loved a dog, if 
 he find courage after its loss to seek a second 
 friend, nearly always endeavours to procure one 
 of the same breed, and if possible of the same 
 family, for his heart is drawn to such an animal 
 by its likeness to the dead; nor can he by any 
 means transfer his affections from the bold and 
 brave mastiff to the tender little King Charles, 
 nor from the fawn -like, coquettish Pomeranian to 
 the sturdy matter-of-fact Scotch terrier. But 
 when the nearest approach possible to the lost 
 favourite has been found and installed in his place, 
 the second dog's individuality is never for a 
 moment obliterated, but on the contrary, comes 
 out every day in more vivid contrast to that of 
 his predecessor. The old pet was perhaps some- 
 what narrow-minded — a dog of one idea, and that 
 idea was his master. To the rest of mankind he 
 was reserved, if not indifferent ; and if forsaken 
 for a time, he pined and refused to be comforted. 
 His successor probably possesses the " Enthusiasm 
 of Humanity " to a degree which often involves 
 him in trouble in consequence of untimely caresses 
 Offerjed with muddy paws to unappreciative stran- 
 
DOGS WHOM 1 HAVE MET. 
 
 181 
 
 gers, but which reassures us regarding his power 
 to receive consolation in case of our premature 
 departure for a world into which we make no 
 effort^ like the mighty hunters of old,, to compel 
 our dogs to follow us. Again, our first dog, after 
 a reprimand, used to shrink from us for hours, 
 and convey by sad and solemn looks his sense that 
 a cruel breach had been made in the harmony of 
 our relations. The second will hasten to assure 
 us that we are most graciously forgiven for our 
 bad temper, and that, with all our faults, he loves 
 us still. Number One was addicted to the plea- 
 sures of (or under) the table, and displayed his 
 feelings towards bones with unaffected sim- 
 plicity. Number Two will blink at us urbanely 
 as we proceed with our meal, and only towards 
 the close of the entertainment, when the dreadful 
 idea occurs to him that the courses are over, the 
 dinner is ended, and he is not fed, will he rise in 
 remonstrance on his hind legs and sit like a statue 
 of Anubis till his wants be supplied. Number 
 One was a dog of resources ; and when his path of 
 life was beset with any of the thorns which, alas ! 
 strew the road which dogs are born to tread — if a 
 door were shut through which he desired to pass, 
 or his water-basin were left unfilled when he was 
 thirsty, or the rat he Loped to catch had retired 
 into an inaccessible hole, — he would employ his 
 
182 
 
 BOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 whole energy and ingenuity by scratching, whin- 
 ing, begging, watching, and poking all round the 
 premises till he had attained his end. Number 
 Two, on the other hand, when defeated in his first 
 eager rush, always subsides rapidly and resignedly 
 into quiescence, and seeks ere long that peculiar 
 consolation for unsatisfied longings which is to be 
 found in rolling oneself up into the nearest ap- 
 proach to a circle attainable to the vertebrata. 
 
 Our first dog seemed to live in an atmosphere 
 of " refined and gentle melancholy," such as the 
 divines of the last generation considered the 
 proper tone of feeling for mortals" travelling 
 through this Vale of Tears. His great mournful 
 eyes looked as if they might at any time overflow 
 with drops from the depths of a divine despair-, 
 and only when he laid his noble head sadly on 
 the tablecloth, and unmistakably turned those 
 eloquent orbs in unutterable longing towards the 
 dish of biscuits, were we able to fathom the pro- 
 fundity of his sorrow and his aspirations. Our 
 second dog, on the contrary, is blessed with a 
 cheerful disposition, and evidently views the world 
 as a place abounding in kind people, social dogs, 
 interesting rabbits, and abundant bones. His 
 bark is like the laugh of childhood, and means 
 nothing but that best of all possible jokes, " How 
 happy I am ! n He skips here and there as if 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. J£g 
 
 wishing, to go every way at once, and pursues the 
 swallows and leaps at the butterflies out of mere 
 joyousness of heart. And yet, again, Number 
 One had an Oriental indifference for all proceedings 
 
 notimmediatelyconcerninghimself^ndhabitually 
 lay down to enjoy his -kef" on therug whenever 
 we were particularly busy, seeming to regard with 
 Pitying indulgence the fuss which two-Wed 
 creatures make about trifles disconnected with the 
 real concerns of life-namely, sport and dinner. 
 But instead of calling Allah to witness our strange 
 and foolish behaviour, our second dog takes the 
 keenest interest in everything we do which he 
 cannot understand-pasting, painting, needle- 
 work, using a sewing-machine or a chessboard, 
 lighting a spirit-lamp, arranging a cabinet-it is 
 all a matter of intensest curiosity to our poor 
 foend, who stands on his hind legs for an agon^z- 
 mg period, and sniffs and looks, and asks us with 
 - eyes hat it all means? And, alas ! alas ! we 
 cannot tell him. Between his intellect-more full 
 of he wholesome spirit of inquiry than that of 
 half our human pupil S - and 0Hr & 
 niedium ^communication which suffices to le 
 the knowledge he seeks pass from us to him • 
 
 and so the little eager g aze dies away at as ^ 
 -vit ab e disappointment ^ * ^st 
 
 will d,splay such curiosity as this (and I not only 
 
184 
 
 BOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 "have met/' but possess one fairly eaten -up with 
 it), will also hunt out in the woods every odd 
 creature, and study it for half an hour together. 
 Twice my dog has discovered the caterpillars of 
 the goat -moth, and she is constantly to be found 
 seated gravely before a humble-bee, an earthworm, 
 or a slug, deliberately watching its movements, 
 and occasionally (I regret to say) accelerating 
 them by means of a certain sharp experimental 
 scratch with her paw. A railway train, seen for 
 the first time, running across a distant valley, filled 
 her with astonishment ; and after ingeniously run- 
 ning round a projecting hill-side, so as to watch it 
 again after it had passed behind it, she came back 
 to me with the question speaking in every ges- 
 ture, " What iv as that wonderful thing ? " For 
 a child of three times her age to display similar 
 thirst for knowledge would be to hold out the 
 promise of 4 a new Humboldt. 
 
 Lastly (for this sort of contrast might be 
 drawn out ad infinitum), our dogs display their 
 affection towards us in the most curiously varied 
 modes. As a rule dogs, having no language to 
 supplement their caresses, are of course more 
 demonstrative than human beings ; but if the 
 master do not respond to the demonstration, the 
 finer-natured dog retreats into himself, and (as is 
 the case with the colleys of most shepherds) lives 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 185 
 
 a life of devotion, and sometimes dies of despair 
 on his master's grave, but never tells his love by 
 so much as a lick of the hand. There are great 
 varieties, also, in the manner in which dogs will 
 display their feelings even to a person who 
 encourages their caresses. There are horrid little 
 pampered beasts who obviously like to be stroked, 
 not as a token of affection, but because it plear 
 santly rubs their tight skins and would as soon 
 be shampooed by a hairdresser as caressed by 
 their foolish mistress. When the stroking ceases 
 they turn round imperiously, " Go on, I say," 
 and scratch viciously till the process be renewed, 
 or they are turned out of the room. The dog 
 who really loves his master delights in mere pro- 
 pinquity, likes to lie down on the floor resting 
 against his feet, better than on a cushion a yard 
 away, and, after a warm interchange of caresses 
 for two or three minutes, asks no more, and sub- 
 sides quietly into perfect contentment. That a 
 short tender touch of the dog's tongue to hand or 
 face corresponds exactly, as an expression of his 
 feelings, to our kisses of affection, there can be no 
 sort of doubt. All dogs kiss the people they love 
 in this way by instinct, and sometimes have 
 curious little individual fancies about the way they 
 do it. My own dog, as a tiny puppy, took a fancy 
 thus to kiss or bite my ear; and being stolen and 
 
186 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET, 
 
 lost for nine weeks while too young clearly to 
 remember me, this propensity enabled me to 
 identify her most satisfactorily on her restoration. 
 The scene was exceedingly exciting. The Claim- 
 ant, for whom a large reward had just been paid, 
 stood in the middle of the court, while various 
 witnesses entered their depositions. The first said 
 it was the very image of the lost puppy only 
 grown much more stout. The second swore that 
 she had cut a lock of its hair behind the ears; 
 and showed the place where, apparently, the hair 
 had not yet fully grown again. The third deposed 
 that the Claimant had proved that she knew her 
 way at once to her own old kennel and to the 
 kitchen. The fourth witness — most valuable of 
 all, as probably inaccessible to bribery — was the 
 old cat, who recognized the dog distinctly, while 
 the new cat set up his back at her unhesitatingly 
 as an utter stranger. But witnesses on the other 
 side gave different testimony. One remarked 
 the original puppy had a black nose, whereas the 
 nose of this dog was indisputably mottled. 
 Another doubted that the delicate young silky- 
 haired creature we had known could ever have 
 developed into the present rather loutish indivi- 
 dual. A third vehemently disputed the test of the 
 shaven lock of hair, which, it was urged, did not 
 certainly show signs of having ever been cut. 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET, 
 
 187 
 
 All this time the Claimant made no sign. She 
 did not seem to know her mistress, to whom she 
 had been exceedingly attached, but still looked on 
 doubtfully from one person to another. Impatient 
 to decide the case, I observed, " I do not think it 
 is my dog ; but if it be, she will remember her old 
 trick." Singular to say, the memory of the 
 young creature, which my appearance and voice 
 had failed to recall, came back in a moment, when 
 brought close to my face, and, in a rapture of 
 recognition, she immediately caught hold of the 
 lobe of my ear, and gave it the identical little 
 gentle bite she had been wont to do two months 
 before, and which she never gave to- anybody else. 
 After this all doubts vanished for ever, and Tama 
 resumed her place in the affections of her family. 
 
 Of course the return of a master after absence 
 is the crucial occasion in which a dog's love is 
 displayed. It is impossible for us, who so rarely 
 embark our whole heart's longings in a single 
 affection, and who receive news by every mail 
 from absent dear ones, to conceive the feelings 
 of an animal whose entire being is swallowed up 
 in attachment to his master, and to whom that 
 master's absence is a severance complete as 
 death, and who then, when inevitably wholly 
 unprepared, hears the dear voice and beholds 
 again the form he adores, suddenly restored. 
 
188 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 If the absence have been long, and the dog's 
 affection of the more concentrated kind, he 
 sometimes dies of the shock, and always he is 
 powerfully affected. A young and lively dog 
 will leap a score of times to kiss his master's 
 face, but an older one will generally cling to 
 him in silent ecstasy, and perhaps suffer serious 
 physical derangement, like a human being who 
 has passed through an over-exciting scene. A 
 toy-terrier belonging to Mrs. Sumner Gibson 
 was twice violently sick from joy at restoration 
 to his mistress; and the Rev. 0. Evans, Eector 
 of Solihull, Birmingham, has had the goodness to 
 send me an instance in which this physical shock 
 took the extraordinary form of a regular swoon 
 or fainting fit: — "In June last" (1872), he says, 
 "a beautiful black and tan terrier followed us 
 home from the neighbourhood of Stoneleigh. 
 He remained with us one week, the pet of the 
 whole house, and apparently very fond of us. 
 At the end of that time we discovered his owner, 
 at the sight of whom the dog sprang up in 
 delight, and then swooned away, and lay as if 
 dead, for the space of two minutes, when, having 
 been sprinkled with water, he revived." 
 
 Much of the variety apparent in the character 
 of dogs no doubt results from the behaviour of 
 their owners. Not only do people reflect their 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 189 
 
 peculiarities on their dogs in a mysterious fashion, 
 but they live with them on wholly different terms 
 and in different relationships. A dog is an idol 
 in one family, a friend in another, a slave in a third. 
 Busy people spare only a moment now and then 
 to bestow a hasty pat on the poor brute who is 
 hungering for affection. Philanthropists mostly 
 treat him with a distant and condescending 
 benevolence, to the last degree offensive to his 
 feelings ; and both gushing and misanthropic 
 folks make a fool of him, to his ill-concealed 
 disgust, by lavishing more endearments than he 
 cares to return. In some houses an absolute 
 despotism is the established form of government. 
 The dog is allowed no motu proprio whatever, 
 and discipline is enforced by terrible penalties^ of 
 which it is dreadful to speak. Other people 
 live with their dogs in a republican manner, or 
 what the Vril Ya would call a " Koom Posh/' 
 and the dog does that which is pleasant in his 
 own eyes, and generally unpleasant in those of 
 unfortunate visitors. In such cases the owner 
 of the animal is merely considered in the light 
 of a well-intentioned officer of state, appointed 
 to attend to the commissariat and other matters 
 connected with the dog's comfort and well-being. 
 If he fulfil his duty, well and good; the dog will 
 be pleased graciously to accept the attentions 
 
190 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 offered. If he neglect it, then the ill-used 
 quadruped will "know the reason why/' Un- 
 doubtedly both these extremes are evil, and no 
 constitution less beautifully balanced than that of 
 the British Empire can adjust the nice relation- 
 ships of dogs and men, reserving the rights of 
 all, and securing the greatest happiness of the 
 greatest number. Worst of all are those oli- 
 garchies where several of the upper class (as I 
 suppose we must call the men) divide the 
 government. No dog can serve two masters, 
 much less three or four masters and mistresses ; 
 and his proper feelings of allegiance and devo- 
 tion are all destroyed by placing him in so un- 
 natural a position, analogous only to the polyandry 
 practised in Thibet. And, on the other hand, for 
 one human being to keep several dogs at once 
 (real pet house-dogs, not poor slaves of the 
 kennel-harem), is a violation to what the Ger- 
 mans would call the root idea of the relation. 
 "When one dog is dead, after a reasonable inter- 
 val the widowed owner may, without violation of 
 decency, take to himself another canine com- 
 panion. But poly doggery is a thing against 
 which all proper feeling revolts, and the Mormon 
 establishments in which it is permitted are 
 necessarily scenes of permanent rivalry and dis- 
 cord. Every dog would, if it could, compel its 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 191 
 
 master to adopt the old knightly motto, with 
 slight variation — 
 
 Ung Roy, ung Loy, ting Chien. 
 But of all the current mistakes about dogs, 
 the most exasperating is the vulgar delusion 
 that they have no faults, that all their virtues 
 are mere matters of course ; and that wo may 
 expect every dog to be magnanimous and cour- 
 ageous, as we expect a table to be firm, or a 
 drawer to open and shut. The grand Wattsian 
 aphorism, " It is their nature to" exhausts the 
 popular philosophy of the subject, and the 
 meanest cad will pat a dog condescendingly on 
 the head for an act of heroism which he could 
 not himself perform to save a drowning universe. 
 To understand how good are dogs, it is ab- 
 solutely necessary (as Hegel would tell us) to 
 recognize also their badness. We must see 
 that the "best of dogs has his faults," if we 
 would appreciate the merits which redeem from 
 absolute contempt even the most pusillanimous 
 cur. I have used the word " faults/' but I am 
 not sure that we might not equally properly 
 speak of the crimes of dogs, for the turpitude of 
 some of their actions certainly surpasses mere 
 failure in justice or benevolence. There aro 
 traitor dogs who have basely accepted bribes of 
 raw meat and remained silent when it was their 
 
192' 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 imperative duty as sentinels to challenge tlie 
 intruder with the loudest of barks. Moroseness, 
 and even malignity of temper, have betrayed 
 many an animal, otherwise deserving of moral 
 approval, into deeds of violence and murderous 
 attacks on rivals ; and the lawless brigandage 
 of others in the matter of their neighbours' 
 bones is almost too common a transgression to 
 be noticed. Even real estate (in kennel 
 property) is disregarded by some marauders, 
 who will hold €C adverse possession " against the 
 rightful owner upon 
 
 The good old plan 
 That they may take who have the power, 
 And they may keep who can. 
 
 Others, again, set aside every recognized 
 principle of treaties and friendly alliances. 
 Among the cc dogs whom I have met" was one 
 of this kind, an Italian bandit, tall, fierce, and 
 muscular, who lived on a spur of the Apennines. 
 After paying him a respectful greeting at the 
 mouth of his own den in a Tuscan farmyard, I 
 had been conversing with his mistress for half- 
 an-hour, when Vendetta (such are the hideous 
 names Italians give to their dogs ! ) stole up be- 
 hind me and took my leg in his enormous jaws, 
 with a crunch not soon to be banished from a re- 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 193 
 
 tentive memory. Worse than such ordinary- 
 traitorous acts was that of a dog of whom I 
 have heard, whose heart, previously full of the 
 milk of canine kindness, had been turned to gall 
 by beholding the caresses lavished od a toy- 
 terrier newly acquired by the family in whose 
 affections the hardy mastiff had hitherto reigned 
 supreme and alone. From the reports furnished 
 me of the judicial inquiry which followed the crime 
 (and to which only the genius of M. Gaboriau could 
 do adequate justice), it seems that the little dog 
 was missed for several days, and his absence be- 
 wailed, while something in the demeanour of the 
 big dog suggested to all beholders that some 
 terrible tragedy had occurred, and that Leo was 
 darkly privy thereto. At length a servant ap- 
 proaching the coal-hole fancied she heard a 
 faint moan of anguish from the depths of that 
 dreary receptacle, and, a light being procured, 
 the miserable little toy -terrier was found well- 
 nigh buried under the coals, and quite unable to 
 extricate himself, or even to move his limbs. 
 Whether the vindictive Leo had actually carried 
 his puny rival into the hole, and scratched an 
 avalanche of coals over him, or that Tiny had 
 somehow managed to involve himself in such a 
 trap, it was equally obvious from Leo's behaviour 
 that he was quite aware of what had befallen his 
 
194 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET, 
 
 rival, and that he lacked the generosity to de- 
 liver him, or even to draw attention to his 
 deplorable case. The old Egyptian law, which 
 punished as murderers in the second degree men 
 who witnessed a murder and did nothing to pre- 
 vent it, would undoubtedly have fallen heavily 
 on such a dog ; nor can we deny (though it is a 
 dreadful thing to say of a dog) that Leo was al- 
 most as bad as the people who see wives 
 beaten to death and never call the police, much 
 less stir a finger to help them. 
 
 With endless facts such as these, proving 
 the occasional wickedness of dogs, it is amazing 
 to think how so many people persist in talking 
 of dogs as if their natures were all on a dead 
 level, and it were quite a matter of course that 
 every individual should display all the virtues 
 set down in books of natural history as distin- 
 guishing " the dog." Bless their souls ! (or 
 whatever does duty for a dog's soul), the dear 
 brutes are a thousand times more loveable and 
 interesting than any such pieces of moral clock- 
 work. In the hope of awakening some readers 
 to a better comprehension, I shall endeavour to 
 describe— not the intellectual achievements of 
 dogs, of which we have all heard so much, — but 
 the moral characters of a few " dogs whom I have 
 met." Though I cannot boast of the acquaintance 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 195 
 
 of any animals whom Mr. Galton would consider 
 as Illustrious Dogs, I have been permitted to 
 associate with two or three which might aspire 
 to the rank of Eminent, and I would fain hope 
 that the privilege has not been altogether wasted. 
 No doubt every reader who has possessed and 
 studied dogs will be able to parallel, or per- 
 haps surpass, the little biographical sketches I 
 propose to offer. But, for the purpose of re- 
 futing the absurd and misleading delusions of 
 the dogless multitude, I trust my slight but 
 faithful delineations of genuine canine character 
 may be sufficient. 
 
 To corroborate my assertion of the occasional 
 wickedness of dogs I shall begin by a brief 
 memoir of a really atrocious scoundrel named 
 Lintogs. In this animal's disposition vindic- 
 tiveness and treachery were the only stable 
 characteristics. Possibly he had been maltreated 
 at an early period of life, or his ancestors before 
 him might have been ill-governed ; but, however 
 this may be, the result was as I have stated. Of 
 gratitude he often made great outward demon- 
 stration, but bitter malice and vengeance lurked 
 in the recesses of his heart. Lintogs was 
 a great hulking Irish terrier, with a rough 
 yellow coat, a coarse prognathous jaw, and an 
 eye which never met that of an honest man. 
 
196 
 
 BOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 His manners were cringing in the extreme, and 
 lie fawned on liis master, especially at meal times, 
 in an exaggerated way ; but I have little doubt 
 that, on small provocation, he would have u tum- 
 bled 99 him from behind a hedge, were dogs per- 
 mitted the use of firearms. Lintogs habitually 
 treasured up any injury done to him and " bided 
 his time." With my own eyes I saw him bite 
 a poor old labourer who, a month before, had 
 punished him for stealing his dinner, and 
 against whom, in the interval, the cautious cur 
 had refrained from betraying any unfriendly 
 sentiment. The labourer, with three or four 
 comrades, was carrying the heavy trunk of a tree, 
 and bending under its weight ; of course unable 
 either to defend himself or to pursue an aggres- 
 sor. At that propitious moment the miserable 
 Lintogs ran up and fastened his teeth deep into 
 the calf of the poor old fellow's leg, with a snarl 
 of delight which bespoke the gratification of 
 long-husbanded passion. Nor was vindic- 
 tiveness the only evil quality of that degraded 
 brute. His master having reason to suspect 
 that thieves came about his house, and that 
 Lintogs was an untrustworthy guardian, went 
 one night quietly and without a candle into his 
 kitchen, where the dog slept as sentinel. Ob- 
 viously Lintogs failed to recognize his master in 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 197 
 
 his dressing-gown, and took him for'an intruder; 
 and equally obviously he acted on Dogberry's 
 principle of "allowing a thief to show himself 
 such/' and ^teal away. Lintogs, with his tail 
 between his legs, noiselessly retired into the 
 scullery to leave the coast clear, and would, 
 doubtless, have remarked (as is common in such 
 cases) that "the office of an ' informer 9 was 
 one to which he could not condescend." The end 
 of this bad dog might afford a solemn warning 
 to other curs, could the lesson be conveyed to 
 them. His generally indulgent master exaspe- 
 rated at length by Lintogs' thefts, exclaimed 
 one day, like Henry II., "Who will rid me of 
 this pestilent fellow ? " The servants, who 
 disliked the animal (and it speaks volumes 
 against either a dog or servants, when an entente 
 cordiale does not exist between them), took their 
 master at his word, and availed themselves of 
 his absence to put poor Lintogs in a sack and 
 drown him in the river. When the master 
 learned what had happened he was angry enough 
 with the assassins, but we are not informed that 
 he thought fit to undergo any penance at the 
 scene of the murder. 
 
 Of a wholly different type of character was 
 the small red cocker, Begum. Her beset- 
 ting sin was Worldliness. She had what for- 
 
198 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 eigners call la maladie Anglaise of over-rever- 
 ence for rank, and, had she been a lady, would 
 have probably chosen Sir Bernard Burke's pub- 
 lications as her favourite studies. As it was, 
 she contrived to make out in a large household 
 the relative dignities in the domestic hierarchy, 
 and, from a very early period, was observed al- 
 ways to forsake the society of the under-house- 
 maid for that of the upper servants, and to 
 quit the most engaging footman when the butler 
 invited her company. Above-stairs she knew 
 perfectly the degree of respect of persons which 
 les convenances required, and of course paid de- 
 voted court to the stately old Squire, after whom 
 she trotted about the stables and farmyard with 
 an air of veneration. It was by no means every- 
 body, however, to whom Begum would conde- 
 scend to be affable. A frequent visitor of the 
 Squire (who was rather supposed to come on 
 pressing pecuniary emergencies) was detestable 
 in the opinion of the dog, and indeed of a good 
 many other people. In vain did this gentleman 
 praise and coax the "nice dog/' of whom the 
 Squire was so fond, and call her affectionately, 
 " Poor old Begum/' " Good old dog/' If he 
 ventured to stroke her, his fingers were imme- 
 diately severely bitten, and wherever he walked 
 with his host, a running accompaniment of a 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 199 
 
 bass growl bore testimony that at least one of 
 the party disapproved of his society. 
 
 Towards her own species Begum was usually 
 somewhat haughty and reserved. It was not 
 for her, with her aspirations after high society, 
 to associate freely with the rabble of setters and 
 pointers who lived in the back slums of the 
 kennels ; and, as to the greyhounds, their aris- 
 tocratic appearance was balanced by a want of 
 polish in their address to small lady dogs which 
 rendered them offensive. When the keepers 
 released these rude creatures preparatory to 
 exercise, Begum, instead of joining the party, 
 always retired into the housekeeper's room, and 
 reposed against any silk-dressed lady's-maid who 
 might be sharing the perpetual libation of tea 
 carried on in that apartment. One animal, how- 
 ever, was admitted to the privilege of Begum's 
 friendship : a beautiful, mild, flaxen-haired Pome- 
 ranian of her own sex, who, having only three 
 available legs, displayed the gentler manners of 
 a confirmed invalid. After every separation, 
 when the Pomeranian had enjoyed a drive, or 
 Begum had followed the Squire to the woods, the 
 two dogs rushed into each other's paws, rubbed 
 their noses with cordial affection, and then lay 
 down side by side, resting against one another. 
 Several times in her long and respected career, 
 
200 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 Begum became the joyful mother of puppies, 
 and on all such interesting occasions her friend 
 Rip (or Mrs. Gamp, as she came to be called) 
 presided over the nursery, slept beside the mo- 
 ther in her temporary seclusion, exhibited the 
 "little strangers" to visitors with sympathetic 
 pride, and partook with moderation of the caudle 
 prepared for the invalid. Strange to say, when 
 the poor nurse herself was dying, and her sor- 
 rowing mistress brought Begum to cheer her, 
 the worldliness of Begum reasserted itself ; and 
 (as always happens with Mammon-worshippers) 
 she forsook her friend in her extremity, leaped 
 over her prostrate form, and rushed out of the 
 stable, never to return. 
 
 With these dogs resided another, who dis- 
 played — as is not uncommon in her sex — graces 
 of person rather than gifts of intellect or force 
 of character. She was, in fact, that sweet thing 
 a weak minded female ; a black and tan spaniel, 
 with exquisite raven hair and large soft eyes of 
 a languishing description. Of course she was 
 greatly cherished by the gentlemen of the fa- 
 mily, and very fond of their society; but on one 
 occasion, for no assignable reason, Lily proved 
 fanciful, and declined an invitation to go out 
 with a shooting-party. On being pressed to 
 follow her friends, who needed her to put up 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 201 
 
 game, the dog ran away from them and hid 
 herself in one of the servants' rooms with 
 singular demonstrations of terror. A game- 
 keeper to whom she was attached at last dis- 
 lodged her forcibly from under a sofa and carried 
 her out. Once in the field the animal recovered 
 spirits and ran about as eagerly as usual, putting 
 up rabbits. But the first shot which was fired 
 missed its aim and struck her in the heart, and 
 poor Lily was brought back dead to the room 
 she had been so loth to quit an hour before. 
 
 Sly was a dog whose devotion resembled that 
 of Caleb to the Ravenswood family, uniting stern 
 fidelity with extreme surliness, and incorruptible 
 integrity with an inconvenient determination to 
 have things arranged according to her judgment 
 instead of that of her nominal mistress. A 
 widow lady of great wealth and masculine ability, 
 the friend in former years of Condorcet and 
 Madame de Stael, fell into a state of apathetic 
 depression on the death of her husband. She 
 had no children,, and resided in a large country- 
 house near the sea, in preference to her more 
 cheerful abode in Eaton Square. To rouse her 
 from her despair her physician bethought himself 
 of presenting her with the very ugliest, roughest, 
 most ill-tempered yellow-and-white terrier which 
 could possibly have been discovered. Never was 
 
202 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAYE MET. 
 
 a more unladylike pet, but Sly proved an immense 
 comfort to the old lady, towards whom she dis- 
 played an attachment best described as ferocious. 
 When Mrs. E. once attempted to kiss a young 
 friend, Sly started up from her slumbers on the 
 rug with a roar which sounded like an oath, and 
 tore off the poor old lady's cap and dishevelled 
 her white hair, before any body could guess what 
 Was the matter. On other occasions, when she 
 sat down to play an overture of her favourite 
 Sebastian Bach, Sly always leaped on the grand 
 piano, ran up and down the case in a fury, and 
 finally glared over the music-book and barked 
 peremptorily till the performance was abandoned. 
 Of course visitors at the house fared worse than 
 the mistress. Sly constituted herself Constable 
 of the drawing-room, and followed suspiciously 
 any guest who might move about it. A touch to 
 her mistress's book or writing materials brought 
 forth a warning growl ; but the matter grew 
 serious if the unwary stranger approached the 
 tea-chest. Sly, who had a passion for sugar, 
 clearly considered the receptacle of the precious 
 lumps as the great treasury of the house. The 
 poor beast's love for her mistress, however, far. 
 exceeded all her other sentiments. Mrs. E, 
 having returned home unexpectedly from a long 
 absence, (when can such events be otherwise than 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 203 
 
 unexpected to a dog ?) Sly very nearly lost her 
 life from joy, and did lose a litter of puppies. 
 After long years the lady died abroad, and her 
 body was brought to her house enclosed in a 
 leaden coffin and placed on trestles in her library. 
 In some inscrutable manner the strange, pall- 
 covered object conveyed to the dog the fact that 
 her beloved mistress lay within, and (as I was 
 informed by several eye-witnesses of the scene) 
 the poor brute yelled with agony, and leaped 
 again and again upon the coffin with piteous 
 gesticulations of fondness and despair. A few 
 days afterwards, on the day of the funeral, Sly, 
 and six other dogs who lived about the house and 
 offices, all displayed unequivocal signs of madness, 
 and were enclosed in the stable-yard and shot 
 down by the servants from the windows overlook- 
 ing it. One young dog only escaped by leaping 
 the gate of the yard, and this animal ran through 
 a neighbouring park and bit three cows grazing 
 in it, who all exhibited shortly afterwards tokens 
 of hydrophobia, and were shot, in the writer's 
 presence, by the police. 
 
 The epitaph on the gentleman who 
 
 Lived and died a true Christian ; 
 He loved his friends and hated his enemies- 
 might be jusUy dedicated to the memory of Nip, 
 
204 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 a dog with, whom I had the privilege of intimacy 
 for years, and whose character I specially com- 
 mend to the study of those benighted persons 
 who talk of "the dog" being this or that, as 
 they talk of the qualities of birch-wood or 
 mahogany. " Intense " was the only word in the 
 language to describe Nip. Prom her puppyhood 
 she seemed to have taken to heart the principle 
 of doing with all her might whatever her paws 
 or teeth found to do. There was neither luke- 
 warmness about her feelings nor hesitation about 
 her actions. The " polarization of the affections" 
 was, in her case, complete. At the pole of 
 adoration was her mistress, and at that of 
 detestation all persons and beasts and things 
 whom her suspicious little mind could imagine to 
 be either her mistress's foes or her own rivals. 
 The charity- child whom the clergyman asked 
 what it loved most and feared most, and who gave 
 the disheartening response to the first question, 
 ce wittles," and to the second " twoads," fell far 
 behind the level of Nip's sentiments, for she 
 cared little for "wittles," and feared neither 
 " twoads 99 nor much more perilous creatures, 
 attacking, on one occasion, a huge polecat and 
 demolishing him on the spot, and habitually 
 bullying an enormous bulldog six times her own 
 size, of ferocious aspect, but inwardly benign 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 205 
 
 disposition. Nip herself was a beautiful little 
 bull-terrier, pure white, with a black nose, 
 exquisitely delicate limbs, and a little face whose 
 mobile features expressed emotions as readily as 
 a human countenance. Of course her ears were 
 uncut — her mistress was no barbarian to mutilate 
 nature's work — and their varieties of attitude 
 transformed her expression from an affected and 
 ostentatious meekness under censure to a martial 
 enthusiasm, suggestive of the Marseillaise, at the 
 bare mention of a Rat. In the various wars in 
 which she was engaged, these same pretty ears, 
 however, became terribly torn, and more than 
 once presented rather the appearance of a bleed- 
 ing fringe than of a piece of white flesh. As 
 she advanced in years, and also in pugnacity, her 
 honourable scars multiplied, till, finally, her little 
 eager face was all spotted with them, and one ear 
 remained permanently pendant, the muscle which 
 should have erected it having been bitten through 
 by the enemy. Nevertheless, with the bright 
 brown eyes, speaking volumes of love and devo- 
 tion (or, as the case might be, of courage and 
 fury), and the wide-awake aspect of the whole 
 creature, from the ever-moving nose to the tip of 
 the oscillating tail, Nip was worthy of Landseer's 
 best skill, and the heart of the British workman 
 was always so affected by her charms, that the 
 
20S 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 words " nice dawg 93 miglit be heard repeated by 
 every group of bricklayers she passed going 
 home from work of an evening. 
 
 Professionally, Nip was a rat-catcher ; and 
 on the first occasion when she appeared on the 
 stage, she is recorded to have destroyed thir- 
 teen rats in thirty- six seconds in a rat-pit — a 
 considerable achievement for a novice in that un- 
 pleasant kind of public entertainment. To the 
 end of her career, though transformed into a 
 lady's companion (like the cat in the Arabian 
 Nights turned into a woman), Nip never ceased 
 to display a fervent professional interest in the 
 objects of her original pursuit. The mere 
 whisper of the word " Rats ! " roused her from 
 the soundest repose, and her friends, who did 
 not desire to invoke an immediate storm of 
 barking, were compelled to speak enigmatically 
 to each other of " those rodents ; " when an 
 allusion to such animals became necessary. 
 
 To say that Nip had a resolute will would be 
 feebly to express the tenacity of her volitions. 
 To sit on somebody's lap or on a particular chair, 
 to go in or out of the door, to roil herself in a 
 new silk dress, — if Nip had taken these things 
 into her little bullet-head, no power save that of 
 her mistress could do anything in the matter. A 
 score of times rebuffed, she returned perseveringly 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 207 
 
 to the charge till she gained her object. Dis- 
 covering once a water-rat in a hole under the 
 bank of a brook, Nip spent days viciously watch- 
 ing the hole, and was with difficulty lured home 
 to her meals, after each of which she was se£n 
 trotting off again to lay siege to the fortress as 
 before. Having seized a ball or similar object in 
 her teeth, heaven and earth might sooner come 
 asunder than Nip's jaws. Frequently I have held 
 her up by such a ball, then swung her round 
 more and more rapidly, till finally Nip's body and 
 tail stuck out at right angles, like spokes of a 
 wheel, whilst I performed half-a-dozen gyrations. 
 On one occasion, walking through a kitchen- 
 garden, the owner called attention to a tank 
 filled to the brim with liquid manure. Nip of 
 course stood intently observing with the rest of 
 the company on the brink, when at this unlucky 
 moment, a bubble surged up to the surface of 
 the horrid vat. Instantly Nip not only leaped 
 mentally to the conclusion that the bubble w T as 
 caused by a rat, but also leaped bodily into the 
 tank to catch it ; and for one awful moment sank 
 before our eyes into the witches' cauldron and 
 w r as covered by the waves of abomination. The 
 next minute her little white head rose above the 
 surface, and, half- choked with ammonia, she was 
 snatched from destruction and held for ten 
 
208 
 
 dogs whom i have met. 
 
 minutes under a fortunately-adjacent pump. 
 Again, another time, she was caught by a steel 
 trap, when her leg was severely hurt ; but the 
 effect of such painful experience was simply to 
 make Nip's pluck rise to the boiling point, and 
 she fiercely worried and barked at the trap, biting 
 the steel savagely with her teeth. 
 
 Nevertheless, like many other heroes and 
 heroines overflowing with physical courage, Nip 
 was abjectly superstitious and ready to grovel 
 with terror in the presence of anything inexpli- 
 cable to her mind. An indiarubber cushion filled 
 or emptied of air in her presence, or bellows 
 blown in her face, sent her into paroxysms of 
 hysterical screaming, and a monkey-skin hung 
 against a wall she regarded with such looks as a 
 man might turn on a ghost. The most dreadful 
 of all objects, however, in Nip's opinion, was the 
 garden-hose. Whether she took the long tube 
 for a snake or not I cannot say, but the appear- 
 ance of the fearful implement was on all occasions 
 the signal for Nip instantly to shrink out of sight, 
 nor would any persuasion induce her to remain 
 in the room where it was usually kept. Strange 
 to say, another dog, who has none of Nip's 
 courage in other matters, and is herself extremely 
 superstitious about stumps and stones in the 
 woods, has never viewed this same hose in a 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 209 
 
 supernatural lights but runs frantically to attack 
 the water when it squirts from it, barking and 
 biting at the stream, and of course getting her 
 self drenched, time after time. Who shall say that 
 we have not here evidence both of the existence 
 of the faculty of Imagination and of its entirely 
 various action in the minds of two animals ? 
 
 When her mistress went to Rome one winter, 
 Nip spent several days in restless misery, looking 
 for her everywhere. Then, apparently, she re- 
 solved, in a resentful sort of way, to make the 
 best of an evil and ungrateful world, and take her 
 walks with her mistress's friend, myself. By de- 
 grees she seemed to grow attached to me, and 
 occasionally honoured me with a cordial caress. 
 But the very hour her mistress returned, she 
 abjured my affection and authority with con- 
 tumely, and once more became absorbed in 
 her lawful homage and devotion. Anything like 
 that devotion I never witnessed in a dog. The 
 creature's whole nature seemed to be drawn 
 upward like a needle by a magnet, and her perfect 
 obedience to the slightest signal from eye or voice 
 was as wonderful as her wilfulness where any ono 
 else was concerned. Of course Nip was a well- 
 educated dog, and knew how to Beg, to Trust, 
 and to Faint — the three canine accomplishments 
 corresponding to the learned R/s among human 
 
no 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET, 
 
 beings. I regret that veracity compels me to 
 add that towards her own species her behaviour 
 was far from exemplary. At one time she kept a 
 Humble Companion, and maltreated her like any 
 hue lady. Poor Blackie was found starving in 
 Eaton Square in a long frost and with a hideous 
 wound, obviously caused by some red-hot ircn 
 instrument, all across her shoulders. The little 
 creature, a slender animal, half toy-terrier, half 
 Italian greyhound, had suffered so much at the 
 hands of cruel men that it was almost impossible 
 for me to catch her. A bribe of a shilling to a 
 loitering policeman merely induced that sublime 
 functionary to stalk solemnly along the resound- 
 ing pavement in Blackie's supposed direction, 
 while that forlorn little brute was running like 
 the wind to the other end of the long inclosure. 
 Another shilling offered to a street-boy produced 
 quite an opposite effect, for, with a whoop and a 
 war- cry, there were instantaneously half-a-dozen 
 little scamps on the track at full speed down the 
 square. Jumping into a hansom, I pursued the 
 chase in the rear of my pack, and somewhere 
 among Grosvenor Gardens had the satisfaction of 
 seeing poor little Blackie hemmed in and cower- 
 ing in a doorway. Of course the terrors of the little 
 brute disappeared the moment it felt my caress, 
 and was hoisted into my cab and conveyed home; : 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 211 
 
 and equally, of course, in ten minutes after the 
 administration of food and water, she was ready 
 to defend her new premises against any invaders. 
 Sometimes Nip condescended to play with this 
 waif of society, notwithstanding her obscure 
 antecedents ; but more frequently she behaved 
 towards her with unchristian haughtiness and 
 even spite, till at last the worm turned, and 
 Blackie fought it out with her oppressor before 
 their kennels one night in the garden. The 
 night chanced to be rainy ; and all that is known 
 of the battle is, that next morning both dogs were 
 found covered with gore 'and gravel ; Nip a greyish 
 pink, and Blackie a mixture of black and red, 
 like a half-boiled lobster, hideous to behold. 
 My own dog, who lived on more equal terms 
 with Nip, and with whom she sometimes played 
 for hours on the grass, was nevertheless an 
 object of bitter jealousy. When Hajjin rushed 
 barking with ecstasy to the door at which she 
 heard my well-known knock, Nip, who was per- 
 fectly indifferent to my comings and goings, 
 habitually rushed out of her den (disgusted, 
 like a Saturday Eeviewer, that anybody should 
 presume to enjoy anything for which she did 
 not care), and frequently succeeded in changing 
 poor Hajjin's shrieks of delight into a yell of 
 pain, by giving her a bite before the door could 
 
212 
 
 LOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 be opened. As to her young offspring, Nip per- 
 formed her duties towards them in a severe and 
 perfunctory manner, clearly showing that it was 
 not on a blind puppy her affections could be 
 lavished. Just before her sole surviving off- 
 spring (a son and heir named Sting) was born, 
 a whole swarm of bees fastened upon Nip and 
 stung her in a fearful manner. She merely 
 screamed defiance and called to her mistress for 
 aid, which being immediately rendered (at the 
 cost of course of a dozen stings), Nip expressed 
 herself satisfied, and forbore to utter any lamen- 
 tations over her cruel sufferings. 
 
 So lived Nip for many years — a dog of 
 chequered character, with strong lights and 
 shades, capable of rising to the heights of mar- 
 tyrdom, or of descending into the gulf of crime ! 
 A creature like this could be an object of indif- 
 ference only to people incapable of conceiving 
 moral qualities except in human form, or of 
 loving anything unless it wore a coat or a petti- 
 coat. There was as much in Nip to praise and 
 to blame, to regret and to cherish, as any ordinary 
 acquaintance reveals to us in man or woman in 
 a lifetime; and there is always this difference 
 with regard to a dog and a human being, that 
 we see the dog's character pur et simple, such 
 as nature made it, whilst we see the man's or 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 213 
 
 woman's through a thick crust of conventionality, 
 and perhaps not once in a year get a glimpse 
 of the real John or Jane behind the veil. When 
 we do catch a full sight of a human heart in its 
 anguish or joy, temptation or triumph, of course 
 we love it beyond anything we can feel for a 
 lesser nature. Even when it is a wicked heart, 
 the revelation stirs us to the depth of our being 
 with pity, terror, perchance with a reflection of 
 a lurid light into depths of our own souls. 
 "Nothing human is alien to us/' But then it 
 must be the real human passion, not the dreary 
 fiction of a sentiment — pretence of care for what 
 the speaker cares nothing, of pleasure in what he 
 does not enjoy, of hopes, loves, fears, interests, 
 admirations, all second-hand and half-affected 
 if not absolutely unreal, which make up the 
 staple of social intercourse. Now, with our 
 humble dog, there is nothing of all this. Every- 
 thing in him is genuine to the heart's core, and, 
 so far as his nature goes, we reach him at once, 
 and love him at once. And so Nip was beloved 
 and made happy for all her little span ; and 
 when the end came, she lay through the long, 
 Bad winter's night in the lap of the mistress she 
 loved so dearly, with her eyes fixed upon hers, 
 forbearing to moan as if on purpose to save her 
 pain, and still gazing on and on motionless, till, 
 
214 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 before tlie dawn, the glaze of death came over the 
 bright brown eyes, and the warm, true little heart 
 grew still. No movement, no withdrawal of atten- 
 tion marked th e last moment. Gazing up straight 
 into the face which was her heaven, she died. 
 
 I have said there are dogs capable of ascend- 
 ing to the heights of martyrdom, and surely 
 there are many whose lives are inspired by the 
 purest self-sacrificing love, and who die (in their 
 simple, unconscious way) real martyrs to the 
 cruelty of men. Mr. Motley, in his " History 
 of the Netherlands/' tells a wonderful story of a 
 Huguenot flying for his life, pursued by a soldier 
 of Alva. The Huguenot ran at last upon a 
 frozen river, over which he had nearly passed in 
 safety, when he heard the soldier behind him in 
 his heavy armour crash through the ice. The 
 fugitive actually turned round and saved his 
 pursuer, who thereupon seized him, and led him 
 back to the Catholic- authorities, by whom he 
 was shortly consigned to the stake. It was no 
 wonder they burned him ! Such a man might 
 have converted the world to his faith. Here was, 
 in truth, the absolute embodiment in action of 
 that great Christian Idea which first found 
 utterance on the Mount of Galilee. But how 
 often has not the slow, cold heart of man been 
 rebuked by the display of this same self-sacri- 
 
DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 215 
 
 ficing love for the unkind and the unmerciful by 
 the poor humble brutes ever since the far-off time 
 when the dog first attached himself to primeval 
 man ? How many dogs are there now in the 
 world who for ever return blows and ill-treatment 
 with devoted service, and who would in an instant 
 leap into fire or water to save the man who the 
 moment before had been kicking or scourging 
 them ? Of course it is common to slur over all 
 the stories of such magnanimity when it is a dog 
 who has been the hero, with that stupid word 
 " Instinct." But if we analyze what we mean 
 by instinct in such a case, we shall find that, if 
 the act loses moral elevation by the absence 'of 
 deliberate choice, it gains almost as much in 
 lovableness by the simplicity and unconsciousness 
 with which the grand self-sacrifice is achieved. 
 It is not that a dog rushes blindly to death and 
 danger. He knows just as well as a man does 
 the risk he runs, and fears pain and clings to 
 existence as much as we. But, with him, love 
 and generosity are so overpoweriug that he has 
 no need to stand debating whether he shall give 
 himself for another. It is the spontaneous wish 
 of his fond heart to do so, and, without cue 
 hesitation of self-regardful pity, he performs the 
 act for which saints and heroes fit themselves by 
 a lifetime of virtue. 
 
 8 
 
216 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 I did not myself see — I am thankful I was 
 spared — the sight once described to me by that 
 great artist and tender-hearted man, John Gib- 
 son. He said that he was one day walking in 
 Venice and came upon a crowd of men and boys 
 engaged seemingly in some diversion. Presently 
 he saw in what the " sport w consisted. A fine 
 large dog, old and thin, was standing where he 
 must have been driven, on a small islet of sand 
 about twenty yards from the shore. The animal 
 was of course entirely defenceless and shelterless, 
 and the men were pelting it with large stones 
 and broken bricks and pottery. Whenever one 
 of these missiles hit the dog, the crowd roared 
 with laughter, all the more lively when the wound 
 seemed serious, or the dog gave vent to a sudden 
 cry of pain. It was not, however, making much 
 moan in its misery. One leg was broken, one 
 eye blinded, its body covered with bruises ; and 
 obviously, by and by, perhaps after half-an-hour 
 more, some stone more merciful than the rest 
 might crush its brain. Meanwhile, the dog stood 
 still and patient, looking pitifully and inquiringly 
 at the men who were jeering at its death agonies. 
 " What have I done ? 99 (Gibson said it actually 
 seemed to ask) — " what have I done but love and 
 serve you all my life, that you should deal with 
 me thus ? " But no one, save the gentle-hearted 
 
BOGS WHOM I HAVE MET. 
 
 217 
 
 Englishman, who could do nothing amid that 
 savage crowd, heeded what the dog might have 
 been in the past or might be feeling now. Eather 
 was it a special jest to see how mild the creature 
 looked, how helplessly he bore the pelting of the 
 stones and shards. And so Gibson turned sorrow- 
 fully away, and as he passed down the streets the 
 shouts and laughter of the crowd still followed him 
 — that laughter of fiends over suffering, which, 
 alas ! has rung in every land, and many and many 
 a time has echoed over English fields, or down the 
 streets of English towns ; even as we are told 
 it did in Paris, when the lost retriever fetched 
 the stick for the gendarme, who therewith imme- 
 diately knocked out its brains. 
 
 There are a few men who feel only for them- 
 selves. There are many who feel only for their 
 own families and friends. Then come those 
 who feel for their own class, their townsfolk or 
 fellow-countrymen. Of recent years, since the 
 interests of men and women have seemed to be 
 distinguished from one another, it has become 
 apparent that there are thousands who cannot 
 thoroughly sympathize with the wants, sufferings, 
 and wrongs of the opposite sex. Lastly, the 
 power of feeling for animals, realizing their 
 wants, and making their pains our own, is one 
 which is most irregularly shown by human 
 
218 
 
 DOGS WHOM I HAVE MET* 
 
 beings. A Timon might have it, and a Howard 
 be devoid of it. A rough shepherd's heart may 
 overflow with it, and that of a distinguished man 
 of science may be — and, alas ! too often is — 
 as utterly without it as the nether millstone. 
 One thing, I think, must be clear : till a man has 
 learned to feel for all his sentient fellow-creatures, 
 whether in human or in brutal form — of his own 
 class and sex and country, or of another — he has 
 not yet ascended the first step towards true 
 civilization, nor applied the first lesson from the 
 love of God. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 Pillow Lace. — Just ready, handsomely bound in cloth, gilt side and edges, 3s. 6d. 
 MADAME GOTJBAUD'S BOOK OF INSTRUCTIONS in 
 
 Pillow Lace Making and Pillow Lace Patterns. With numerous Illustrations 
 printed in Mauve. 
 
 Just ready, fcap. 4to, cloth, bevelled boards, gilt edges, io*. 6d. 
 ANTIQUE POINT AND HONITON LACE. Containing Flain 
 and Explicit Instructions for Making, Transferring, and Cleaning Laces of every 
 Description, -with about One Hundred Illustrations, Outlines, and Pricking of 
 the Principal Point Stitches and Honiton Sprigs. By Mrs. Treadwin. 
 
 Published by Ward, Lock y and Tyler. 
 
New Books and New Editions. 
 
 r 9 
 
 Priee One Shilling Each. 
 
 There is but little call to laud the men who have written the books catalogued 
 below. They have done good work— work that needs no bush ; and mankind is 
 under obligations to them for a large sum-total of enjoyment. It will be a long day 
 before we, in England, forget the names of Thomas Hood, Albert Smith, Reach, 
 and the Mayhews ; and from America we hail, as exponents of genuine and special 
 humour, Artemus Ward, J. R. Lowell, Bret Harte, and Charles Dudley Warner, 
 all ot whose writings will be found included in the following list,— a various and en- 
 tertaining company of genial jesters and merry penmen. 
 
 a. Artemus Ward : His Book. 
 
 3. Kiddles. Illustrated. 
 
 4. Burlesques. Illustrated. 
 
 5. Charades. Illustrated. 
 
 6. The Biglow Papers. J. R. Lowell. 
 
 7. Saxe's Poems. 
 
 8. Joe Miller's Jest Book. 
 
 9. Connubial Bliss. Dowty. 
 
 10. Model Men and Model Women. 
 
 Mayhew. 
 ix. The Flirt, and Evening Parties. 
 
 Albert Smith. 
 
 12. The Gent, and Stuck-up People. 
 
 Albert Smith. 
 
 13. The Ballet-Girl, and the Idler upon 
 
 Town. Albert Smith. 
 
 14. Humbug and Mince Pies. Angus 
 
 Reach. 
 
 15. Hearts and Trumps, Hannay ; and 
 
 Change for a Shilling. Mayhew. 
 
 16. Pusley ; or, My Summer in a 
 
 Garden. Chas. Dudley Warner. 
 
 17. Back-Log Studies. Charles D. 
 
 Warner. 
 
 18. Sandy Bar. Bret Harte. 
 
 19. The Roaring Camp. Bret Harte. 
 
 20. Heathen Chinee. Bret Harte. 
 
 21. Wit and Humour. Thomas Hood. 
 
 22. Whims. Thomas Hood. 
 
 23. Oddities. Thomas Hood. 
 
 24. The Innocents Abroad. By Mark 
 
 Twain. 
 
 25. The New Pilgrim's Progress. By 
 
 Mark Twain. 
 
 26. Jokes and Wit. Douglas Jerrold. 
 
 27. The Siliad. By the Authors of the 
 
 Coming K . 
 
 28. Marjorie Daw. By T. B. Aldrich. 
 
 29. The Jumping Frog, By Mark 
 
 Twain. 
 
 30. Letters to Punch. By Artemus 
 
 Ward. 
 
 31. Artemus Ward among the Mormons. 
 
 32. Naughty Jemima. 
 
 Cheap issue, in uniform style, crown 8vo, fancy boards. 
 
 CHARLES READ E'S NOVELS. 
 
 1. It is Never Too Late to Mend. 25. 6d. 
 
 2. Hard Cash. 2s. 6d. 
 
 3. Peg Woffington. 2s. 
 4/ Christie Johnstone. 25. 
 
 5. Griffith Gaunt. 2s. 6d. 
 
 6. Double Marriage or, White Lies. 
 
 2S. 6d. 
 
 7. Love me Little, Love meLong. 2s. 6d. 
 
 8. Foul Play. By C. Reade and Dion 
 
 Boucicault. 2s. 6d. 
 
 9. The Cloister and the Hearth. 2s. 6d. 
 
 10. The Course of True Love Never did 
 
 Run Smooth. 2s. 
 
 11. Autobiography of a Thief, and Jack 
 
 of All Trades. 2s. 
 
 %* All the above are also done in cloth, gilt binding, each 35. 6d 
 
 Published by Ward, Lock, and Tyler*. 
 
20 
 
 New Books and New Editions. 
 
 Fcap. 8vo, cloth gilt, 2s. 6d. 
 
 1. The Innocents Abroad; or, The New Pilgrim's Progress. 
 
 Mark Twain. 
 
 2. Bret Harte . Complete Tales. 
 
 3. Out of the Hurly- Burly. By Max Adeler. 400 Illustrations. 
 
 4. Artemus Ward, " His Book" and Among the Mormons. 
 
 5. Hood's Whims and Oddities. Illustrated. 
 
 6. Wit and Wisdom of Douglas Jerrold and Thomas Hood. 
 
 7. Lowell's Biglow Papers, and Saxe's Poems. 
 
 8. Pusley, and Back Log Studies. By Charles Dudley Warner. 
 
 9. Kiddles and Charades. 
 
 10. The Jumping Frog, and Screamers. By Mark Twain. 
 
 11. Artemus Ward's Letter to Punch, and Mark Twain's 
 
 Practical Jokes. 
 
 12. Mark Twain's Eye Openers, and Holmes' Wit and Humour. 
 
 13. Josh Billings' Sayings, and Mr. Sprouts' Opinions. 
 
 14. Little Breeches, and Babies and Ladders. 
 
 15. Bailey's Danbury Newsman, and Kerr's Mystery of Mr. 
 
 E. Drood. 
 
 16. Hook's Ramsbottom Papers, and Mr. Brown on the Goings 
 
 on of Mrs. Brown. 
 
 17. Awful Crammers, and Shaving Them. By Titus A. Brick. 
 
 Captain Jftagtu fUib'a fiobds. 
 
 The Headless Horseman. A New and Cheap Edition. By 
 
 Captain Mayne Reid. 2s. 6d. 
 
 Two Shilling Volumes. 
 
 The Scalp Hunters. 
 The Rifle Rangers. 
 The Maroon. 
 The White Chief. 
 The Wild Huntress. 
 The White Gauntlet. 
 The Half Blood. 
 9. The Wood Rangers. 
 
 10. The Tiger Hunters. 
 
 11. Lost Lenore. 
 
 12. The Hunters' Feast 
 
 13. The Cliff Climbers. 
 
 14. The Boy Slaves. 
 
 15. The Giraffe Hunters* 
 
 16. Ocean Waifs. 
 
 17. Afloat in the Forest. 
 
 Published by Ward, Lock, and Tyler. 
 
New Books and New Editions. 21 
 
 Price 3.?. 6d. each, Illustrated. 
 
 Boys love to read the records of adventurous deeds, to trace the careers of brave 
 and good lads who have attained to eminence, and to be told of wonderful natural 
 objects. The volumes in this series furnish the literary food most acceptable to 
 intelligent and spirited boys, and most calculated to develop their best qualities. 
 
 1. The Wonders of the "World, in Earth, Sea, and Sky. As 
 
 related to his Young Friends by Uncle John. 
 
 2. Fifty Celebrated Men : Their Lives and Trials, and the Deeds 
 
 that made them Famous. Illustrated with numerous Wood Engravings. 
 
 3. The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of 
 
 York, Mariner. By Daniel Defoe. With a Biographical Sketch of the 
 Author. Embellished with a great number of Engravings on Wood. 
 
 4. The History of Sandford and Merton. By Thomas Day. 
 
 Illustrated with 100 Engravings by the Brothers Dalziel. 
 
 5. A Boy's Life Aboard Ship, as it is Told by Himself. Full of 
 
 Adventure and Daring Deeds. 
 
 6. Life in a Whaler ; or, Perils and Adventures in the Tropical Seas. 
 
 By Sailor Charley. 
 
 7. Great Inventors : The Sources of their Usefulness, and the Re- 
 
 sults of their Efforts. Embellished with numerous Engravings. 
 
 8. Household Stories. Collected by the Brothers Grimm. To 
 
 which is added, " The Caravan " : An Eastern Tale. By William Hauff. 
 Profusely Illustrated with Wood Engravings from Designs by Eminent Artists. 
 
 9. The Marvels of Nature ; or, Outlines of Creation. By Elisha 
 
 Noyce. With 400 Engravings by the Brothers Dalziel. 
 
 10. The Boy's Book of Industrial Information. By Elisha 
 
 Noyce. With 365 Engravings by the Brothers Dalziel. 
 
 11. Famous Boys, and How they Became Famous Men. By the 
 
 Author of " Clever Boys." Numerous Engravings. New Edition. 
 
 12. The Triumphs of Perseverance and Enterprise. By Thomas 
 
 Cooper. Fully Illustrated. New Edition. 
 
 13. Edgar's Crusades and Crusaders. With numerous Illustrations. 
 
 New Edition. 
 
 14. The Merchant's Clerk ; or, Mark Wilton. A Book for Young 
 
 Men. By the Rev. C. B. Tayler, M.A. 
 
 15. Sailor Hero ; or, The Frigate and the Lugger. By Captain F. 
 
 C. Armstrong. With Illustrations. 
 
 16. Cruise of the Daring : A Tale of the Sea. By Captain F. C. 
 Armstrong. With Illustrations. 
 
 Published by Ward, Lock, and Tyler. 
 
22 
 
 New Books and New Editions. 
 
 The Boys' Favourite Library, continued. 
 
 17. Pyrotecimy; or, The Art of making Fireworks at little Cost, 
 
 and with complete Safety and Cleanliness. With 124 Illustrations of Forms 
 and Diagrams for Manufacture and Exhibition. 
 
 18. Mont Elanc, A Boy's Ascent of. By Albert Smith. Illus- 
 
 trated. With a Memoir of the Author by Edmund Yates. 
 
 I 19. Poe's Tales of Mystery, Imagination, and Humour. 
 
 20. Ballads and Poetical Tales. Selected from Percy, Ritson, 
 Evans, Jamieson, Scott, &c. &c. 
 
 Iteeton's flams 
 
 The sale of this very Popular Series of Useful Penny Books is enormous. 
 
 All these Books are most carefully written, and contain complete information upon 
 every subject within their province. 
 
 1. Life of the Prince of Wales, comprising all the events ^in the 
 
 Career of His Royal Highness, from his Birth to the Present Day. 
 
 2. Beeton's Penny Cookery Book. 
 
 3. Beeton's Penny Song Book (Popular Collection). 
 
 4. Beeton's Penny Song Book (National Collection), 
 
 5. Beeton's Penny County Court Book. 
 
 6. Beeton's Penny Gardening Book. 
 
 7. Beeton's Penny Doctor's Book. 
 
 8. Beeton's Penny Ready Reckoner. 
 
 9. Beeton's Penny Watts' s Songs for Children. 
 
 10. Beeton's Penny Landlord, Tenant, and Lodger. 
 
 1 1. Beeton's Penny Poultry Book. 
 
 12. Beeton's Penny Domestic Service Guide. No. 1. For Lady's 
 
 Maid, Upper and Under Nurse. 
 
 13. Beeton's Penny Domestic Recipe Book. 
 
 14. Beeton's Penny Stamps and Taxes. 
 
 15. Beeton's Penny Nine Hours Wages Book. 
 
 16. Beeton's Penny Letter Writer. 
 
 17. Beeton's Penny Domestic Service Guide. No. 2. For General 
 
 Servant, Laundry and Dairy Maid. 
 
 18. Ditto. No. 3. For Cook and Housemaid. 
 
 19. Ditto. No. 4. For Butler, Housekeeper, Footman, Valet, Coach- 
 
 man, and Groom. 
 
 20. Beeton's Penny Cab Fares. 
 
 Published by Ward, Lock, and Tyler. 
 
JVezv Books and New Editions. 
 
 23 
 
 %hz €xxW Jabmmte pbrarg. 
 
 Price 3 j. 6d. each, Illustrated. 
 
 These are all books which have gained a reputation for containing deep 
 interest and amusement with pleasantly conveyed instruction. They are really 
 "Javoiirites" ; books which Girls will read and preserve as indispensable to the 
 Library 'of the School or the Home. 
 
 1. Fifty Celebrated Women : Their Virtues and Failings, and the 
 
 Lessons of their Lives. Illustrated with numerous Engravings on Wood. 
 
 2. Evenings at Home ; or, The Juvenile Budget Opened. Con- 
 
 sisting of a variety of Miscellaneous Pieces, for the Instruction and Amuse- 
 ment of Young Persons. By Dr. Aiken and Mrs. Barbauld. 
 
 3. Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio. First and Second Series, 
 
 Complete Beautifully Illustrated with page and other Engravings. 
 
 4. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (from this World to that which 
 
 is to Comej. A New Edition, with a Memoir. Illustrated with 100 Engrav* 
 ings by the Brothers Dalziel. 
 
 5. Orange Blossoms. A Book for all who have worn, are wearing, 
 
 or are likely to wear them. Edited by T. S. Arthur. With Illustrations. 
 
 6. Julamerk ; or, The Converted Jewess. By the Author of 
 
 " Naomi." With numerous Illustrations. 
 
 7. Martyrs of Carthage ; or, The Christian Converts. A Tale of 
 
 the Times of Old. 
 
 8. Margaret Catclipole, the Suffolk Girl. By the Rev. R. Cobbold. 
 
 9. Modern Accomplishments ; or, The March of Intellect. By 
 
 Catherine Sinclair. 
 
 10. Mary Bunyan, The Dreamer's Blind Daughter. By Sallie 
 
 Rochester Ford. 
 
 11. Aunt Jane's Hero, and Stepping Heavenward. By E. 
 
 Prentiss, Author of " The Flower of the Family." 
 
 12. Faith Gartney's Girlhood, acd a Summer in Leslie Gold- 
 
 thwaite's Life. By the Author of "The Gayworthys." 
 
 13. Little Women, and Good Wives. Being Stories for Girls. By 
 
 Miss L. M. Alcott. 
 
 14. The Lamplighter; or, An Orphan Girl's Struggles and Triumphs. 
 
 Miss Cumming. Illustrated. 
 
 15. Queechy. By the Author of " The Wide, Wide World." 
 
 16. The Wide, Wide World. By Miss Wetherell. Illustrated. 
 
 17. Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly. By Mrs. 
 
 Harriet Beecher Stowe. Illustrated. 
 
 18. Maternal Counsels to a Daughter. By Mrs. Pullan. 
 
 19. The Mothers of Scripture. Showing their Influence on their 
 
 Sons. 
 
 20. The School-Girl in France. By Miss McCRiNbELL. 
 
 Published by Ward, Lock, and Tyler. 
 
 i 
 
24 
 
 New Books and New Editions. 
 
 Price 35-. 6d. each, Illustrated. 
 
 An entirely New Work by Susan Coolidge. 
 
 1. Little Miss Mischief, and other Stories. By Susan Coolidge, 
 
 Author of "Ihe New Year's Bargain," *'\Vhat Katy Did," &c. With 
 Illustrations by Addie Ledyard. 
 
 2. Moral Nursery Tales for Children. By the Author of "The 
 
 Golden Harp." 
 
 3. Holiaay House. By Catherine Sinclair. Illustrated. 
 
 4. Story of Stories (The); or, Bible Narratives for the Young. By 
 Mrs. Leaihley, Author of "Chickseed without Chickweed." Btautifully 
 Illustrated with full page Engravings. 416 pages. 
 
 5. The Child's Own Book of Country Pleasures. Sixteen 
 
 Coloured and numerous other Illustrations. 
 
 6. Fanny Fern's New Stories for Children. By the Author of 
 
 " Fern Leaves." Illustrated. 
 
 7. Good Old Stories and Fairy Tales. Told for the Hundredth 
 
 Time by H. W. Dulcken, Ph.D. Eight Coloured and numerous other 
 Illustrations. 
 
 8. Old Nursery Tales and Famous Histories. Re-told by H. W. 
 
 Dulcken, Ph.D. Illustrated with Eight Coloured and numerous other 
 Illustrations. 
 
 9. Harry's Ladder to Learning. Numerous plain Engravings, and 
 
 Sixteen Coloured Plates. 
 
 10. Songs for the Little Ones at Home. Coloured and other Illus- 
 
 trations. 
 
 11. Half-Hours with the Bible ; or, Scripture Scenes and Characters : 
 
 described in a simple and attractive form, suitable for Young People. Beauti- 
 fully and profusely illustrated with Engravings. 
 
 12. Brave Old Ballads (The Book of). With Sixteen Coloured 
 
 Illustrations, from designs by John Gilbert. 
 
 13. Nursery Songs and Ballads. Uniform with * 4 Harry's Ladder." 
 
 Eight Coloured Cuts and numerous Plain Illustrations. 
 
 14. Little Mary's Nursery Story Book. Imperial i6mo, numerous 
 
 Illustrations. 
 
 15. Nursery Tales and Stories. Uniform with "Songs for the 
 
 Little Ones." Eight Coloured Cuts and numerous Plain Illustrations. New 
 Edition. Just published. 
 
 16. Papa's Pretty Gift-Book for all Good Little Boys and Girls. 
 
 Enriched with numerous clever Engravings. 
 
 16. Nursery Rhymes, Old and New. A Collection of all the most 
 
 Favourite Nursery Rhymes, Jingles, and Stories ; also many new ones now 
 for the first time printed. Imperial 32mo. Numerous clever Illustrations. 
 
 17. Short Stories and Poems for Children. Original and select, 
 
 with numerous Wood Engravings. New and Revised Edition. 
 
 Published by Ward y Lock, and Tyler. 
 
New Books and New Editions. 25 
 
 ^lu pis Szvit*. 
 
 Wrappers, is. each ; nicely bound for Presents, is. 6d. and 2s. 
 
 The design of this New Series is to include no books except such as are peculiarly 
 adapted by their high tone, pure taste, and thorough principle to be read by those 
 persons, young and old, who look upon books as upon their friends — only worthy 
 to be received into the Family Circle for their good qualities and excellent characters. 
 So many volumes now issue from the press low in tone and lax in morality that it 
 is especially incumbent on all who would avoid the taint of such hurtful matter to 
 select carefully the books they would themselves read or introduce to their house- 
 holds. In view of this design, no author whose name is not a guarantee of the real 
 worth and purity of his or her work, or whose book has not been subjected to a rigid 
 examination, will be admitted into " The Lily Series." 
 
 1. A Summer in Leslie Goldthwaite's Life. By the Author of 
 
 "Faith Gartney's Girlhood," " The Gayworthys," &c. 
 
 2. The Gayworthys : A Story of Threads and Thrums. By the 
 
 Author of " Faith Gartney's Girlhood," &c. 
 
 3. Faith Gartney's Girlhood. By the Author of "The Gay- 
 
 worthys," &c. 
 
 4. The Gates Ajar ; or, Our Loved Ones in Heaven. By Eliza- 
 
 beth Stuart Phelps. 
 
 5. Little Women. By the Author of " Good Wives," &c. 
 
 6. Good Wives. By the Author of " Little Women," &c. 
 
 7. Alone. By Marion Harland, Author of "The Hidden Path." 
 
 8. I've Been Thinking. By the Author of "Looking Round," &c. 
 
 9. Ida May. By Mary Langdon. 
 
 10. The Lamplighter. By Miss Gumming. 
 
 11. Stepping Heavenward. By the Author of " Aunt Jane's Hero." 
 
 12. Gypsy Breynton. By the Author of " The Gates Ajar." 
 
 13. Aunt Jane's Hero. By the Author of " Stepping Heavenward." 
 
 14. The Wide, Wide World. By Miss Wetherell. 
 
 15. Queechy. By the Author of "The Wide, Wide World." 
 
 16. Looking Round. By the Author of " I've Been Thinking." 
 
 17. Fabrics : A Story of To-Day. 
 
 18. Our Village : Tales. By Miss Mitford. 
 
 19. The Winter Fire. By Rose Porter. 
 
 20. The Flower of the Family. By Mrs. E. Prentiss. 
 
 21. Mercy Gliddon's Work. By the Author of "The Gates Ajar." 
 
 22. Patience Strong's Outings. By Mrs. Whitney. 
 
 23. Something to Do. By the Author of " Little Women," &c. 
 
 24. Gertrude's Trial. By Mary Jefferis. 
 
 25. The Hidden Path. By the Author of " Alone." 
 
 26. Uncle Tom's Cabin. By Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe. 
 
 Published by Ward, Lock, and Tyler. 
 
26 
 
 New Books and New Editions. 
 
 The Lily Series, continued. 
 
 27. Fireside and Camp Stories. By Author of " Little Women," &c. 
 
 28. The Shady Side. By a Pastor's Wife. 
 
 29. The Sunny Side. By H. Trusta. 
 
 30. What Katy Did. By Susan Coolidge. 
 
 31. Fern Leaves from Fanny's Portfolio. By Fanny Fern. 
 
 32. Shadows and Sunbeams. By Fanny Fern. 
 
 33. What Katy Did at School. By Susan Coolidge. 
 
 34. Shiloh; or, Without and Within. By W. M. L. Jay. 
 
 35. The Percys. By the Author of ' ' Stepping Heavenward, " &c. 
 
 36. Gypsy's Sowing and Reaping. By E. Stuart Phelps. 
 
 37. Gypsy's Cousin Joy. By Author of ' ' Mercy Gliddon's Work. " 
 
 38. Gypsy's Year at the Golden Crescent. By E. S. Phelps. 
 
 39. Miss Edgeworth's Moral Tales. 
 
 40. Miss Edgeworth's Popular Tales. 
 
 41. The Prince of the House of David. By Rev. J. H. Ingraham. 
 
 42. Anna Lee. By T. S. Arthur. 
 
 43. The Throne of David. By the Rev. J. H. Ingraham. 
 
 44. The Pillar of Fire. By the Rev. J. H. Ingraham. 
 
 45. Prudence Palfrey. By T. B. Aldrich. 
 
 46. A Peep at Number Five. By H. Trusta. 
 
 47. Marjorie's Quest. By Jeannie T. Gould. 
 
 48. Our Village : Country Pictures. By Miss Mitford. 
 
 fi*ttmt's $0ok0 tax M %xmz. 
 
 Crown 8vo, Coloured Wrapper, is. ; cloth, cut flush, is. 6d. ; 
 cloth boards, gilt, 2s. 
 
 1. Maeaulay: Reviews and Essays from the * 1 Edinburgh. " With 
 
 Portrait and Memoir. 
 
 2. Sydney Smith : Essays Social and Political, 1 802-1 825. With 
 
 Portrait and . Memoir. 
 
 3. Do Quineey : Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, and Essays 
 
 on Men of Letters. By Thomas de Quincey. With Portrait and Memoir. 
 
 4. Lord Bacon: The Proficience and Advancement of Learning. By 
 
 Francis Lord Bacon. With his Essays Civil and Moral, and a Collection 
 of Apophthegms. With Portroit and Memoir. 
 
 5. Maeaulay (Second Series) : Reviews and Essays. 
 
 6. Addison: Selected Essays from the "Spectator." 
 
 Published by Ward, Lock y and Tyler. 
 
in 
 
 H