NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE. 149 
summer it feeds voraciously, devouring all the food that comes in 
its way. I was much taken with its sagacity in discerning those 
that do it kind offices: for, as soon as the good old lady 
comes in sight who has waited on it for more than thirty years, 
it hobbles towards its benefactress with awkward alacrity; but 
remains inattentive to strangers. Thus not only “the ox knoweth 
his owner, and the ass his master’s crib,”* but the most abject 
reptile and torpid of beings distinguishes the hand that feeds 
it, and is touched with the feelings of gratitude ! 
Iam, &c. &c. 
P.S. In about three days after I left Sussex the tortoise 
retired into the ground under the hepatica. 
* Tsaiah i. 3. + See Letter L. to Barrington. 
