appended to those sheets, I have recommended the abolition of all noxious playthings and books, from the nursery; and the substitution of others which are capable of aiding your Society, by establishing useful and humane associations in young minds. The pretty story of the Children in the Wood has saved the Robin Redbreast from much persecution, and he has consequently become one of our most familiar visitants in England in winter. But on the Continent he is by no means a domestic bird; and it is even a rare thing in France Belgium and Germany to see a Robin except in the woods. The old story of Whittington, whose return as lord Mayor of London is still told to the tune of the twelve bells of St. Michaels in Cornhill, may have done something also to protect the cat; and we cannot avoid ascribing in some measure the protection afforded to ravens to their having fed Elisha in the wilderness. How much more therefore should the conduct of the dogs of the Convent of St. Bernard have secured to that animal a token of human gratitude. Carry yourself in imagination to the summits of that frozen mountain, where Faith Hope and Charity have inscribed, on a tablet of eternal ice, the motto of the Christian ascetic, NITOR IN ADVERSUM. Behold there the convent of hospitable monks, cased in snows that never dissolve, offering an asylum to the lost pilgrim, who is conducted along his perilous path by the trusty dog; and then, turning to the bad usage which this animal receives in safer regions below, ask yourself whether man deserves such a guide?

Fancy yourself a benighted traveller in these deserted passes; the sun, already set, no longer gilds the peaks of the Alps; Evening spreads her grey hood over a wide ocean of glaciers, and at length Night falls, while you are still in the frozen mazes of the tracts of the ibex, surrounded with no habitations but the mountain chambers of the marmot, or the nests of the eagle; while the owl breaks the dreadful silence, and the wolves howl responsive, in the valleys beneath. You now think of home and all its endearments, and trace your life from the sweet recollections of infancy, coloured by the obscure prism

of memory, to the very period of present peril: perhaps, the dying sound of the Curfew floating on a stray breeze may strike your ears; or your sight may be tantalized by the faint glimmer of a distant wicker light shed from some herdsmans cabin too far off to be hailed! What is now to be done? your mule, had he the wings of Pegasus, would not know which way to fly; and Tray who trots after you with your bundle knows as little of his way as you do! What, then, I ask, must be your sensations, in this whirlpool of danger, on seeing the fine intelligent dogs of the convent approach, instructed as they are in the art of conducting you to a retreat among the sons of Charity? How much, when at length housed for the night, among the monks in their cowls and mantles, round the blazing monastery fire, you must praise the sagacity of such an animal as the dog, and acknowledge his preeminent title to the protection and gratitude of man!

One thing has always struck me as very remarkable in the history of human paradox, namely, that man should always have been found the persecutor and oppressor of the dog, when at the same time the language of poetry and romance no less than positive history tells the comforts which the faithful dog has conferred on man. Notwithstanding every age and country has produced tales of canine attachment, and has recorded both in prose and verse a reciprocity of real or pretended affection between the dog and his master; yet we find no animal treated by the thoughtless part of mankind with more barbarity. If this circumstance depends on the great inequality among the virtues of men, and shews that society, wherein the more the virtuous are elevated the more the vicious are debased, is like the tall trees:

Aesculus in primis quæ quantum vertice in auras
Aetherias tantum radice in Tartara tendit.

Then it surely behoves those who derive authority from education to instruct those who owe brutality to ignorance, on a subject of high importance to the consistency of the human character. Allow me to take a few examples, in order to prove,

to the classic reader at least, how strangely the voice of popular eulogy belies vulgar practice in respect to dogs; and at the same time to recommend, henceforth and for ever, the disuse of all such proverbial phrases, as using a person like a dog; which is a sort of misnomer, and implies that dogs ought to be worse used than men. For language, as the vehicle of thought, ought to be purified, as the age advances, since it is influential on opinions and consequently on actions. For the present, let me observe that history and poetry declare, at every page, the pleasure that all good men have taken in an animal whose fidelity is proof against bribes, and whose attachment is not to be shaken by absence, rivalship or even by illtreatment.

When the lorn votarist in palmers weeds makes a dangerous and irksome pilgrimage, his faithful dog accompanies him and solaces his lonely hours: when the wounded warrior lies on the deserted field, his dog, alone fearless of danger, stays with him and licks his wounds, while his human companions scamper off to save their own lives. When the victim of justice is sent to prison, his dog goes with him and quits the fields of liberty, to dwell with his old master in a dungeon. The Vestal fears no diminution of divine love in giving a portion of pure attachment to her dog; and the hermit, in refusing all the dangerous consolations of humanity, accepts gladly the companionship of his honest dog in whose benevolent eyes he beholds an encouraging scintillation of the divine charity, and from whose fidelity his own perseverance in the cause of Heaven is strengthened.

But, above all, we see the reciprocal attachment, between the dog and the master shewn, when the traveller returns, after years of absence, to his native home. I will pass over the stories of ancient Greece and Rome; where poor old Argus lived just to greet Ulysses, or where Hylax barking in the threshold announced the return of Daphnis. Let us take examples in our own times; and every good man's experience will furnish one, who knows the pleasure, after long wandering from his native land, of first hearing the old house dogs honest bark

passes through his paternal fields and approaches the habitation of his family. When he enters the door how contrasted are the caresses of Fangs to the suspicious embraces of relations, and the courteous grimaces of hireling attendants. The dog, during the master's absence, has refused his wonted food, and all other consolations, and has scarcely been kept alive on a scanty morsel, to greet his patron home. But his dearest relatives have sought the solace of other friends and his servants have revelled in his absence! When I have come home myself on such occasions, the voice of my old dog has been to my ears the music of returning comfort: and, discarding the salutations of the family, I have rushed pass them all, lest I should disappoint his pleasure in first meeting me. Impressed with these sentiments I have laid great stress on the duty which we owe to this faithful animal; and have recommended you to open a subscription for the erection of public places of resort for poor half frozen and hungry dogs who ramble about our streets in winter. These dogs are of the greatest use in summer in picking up and eating offals that would otherwise infect the air. In warm climates they perform the same useful part in cities that vultures do in plains: they ought therefore to have protection in cold weather. For in that inclement season the foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but often this trusty servant of man hath not where to lay his head.

You will observe here that, situated as man is with respect to the domestic animals that surround him, and to the wild ones which either contribute to his comforts or to his annoyance, his advancement in happiness must in some measure run parallel with theirs. I have therefore considered them both together, in these pages, as constituting a common object of solicitude. I shall now conclude by expressing a hope, that, in consideration of the great importance of the object before us, you will excuse this imperfect attempt of mine to contribute to its further elucidation. For I am conscious that I am addressing men greatly my superiors in humanity, piety, and knowledge of the subject. In one thing, however, I might venture, if it were necessary,

to recommend my own example to your imitation; when I counsel you, since you will meet with some objections to your Society, on the part of weak people, to hold in deserved contempt the prejudices of the baser part of mankind; to bid defiance to interested opposition; and, conscious that sound reason and humanity are on your side, to meet obstacles with commensurate courage, and augment all your supernumerary energies, in so good a cause, in direct proportion to the powers that may oppose them.

With these sentiments I have the honour to

remain your most obedient servant.