CANINE FIDELITY. 91 



larly if he is shabbily dressed, bold, courageous, and 

 implacable. No bribe can seduce him from the duty 

 he owes to his benefactor. Our favourite poet, Gay, 

 extols his fidelity, in the character of the shepherd, 

 who, with great simplicity, acknowledges that he has 

 learned many moral virtues from those creatures that 

 are called irrational. He says : 



" My dog, the trustiest of his kind. 

 With gratitude inflames my mind: 

 I mark his true, his faithful way. 

 And in my service copy Tray." 



To what innumerable purposes are the capacities of 

 this useful race applied ! Their instincts enable them 

 to hunt and catch our game, even in the water. They 

 guard our flocks and herds with amazing dexterity. 

 In our rambles, we have frequent opportunities of ob- 

 serving the qualities of the shepherd's dog. Vast 

 flocks of sheep are fed upon the mountains in this 

 country, and the shepherd receives more assistance 

 from one of these dogs than half a dozen boys could 

 give him. It is really curious to see with what ex- 

 pedition he obeys his master's commands : he watches 

 his eye, and is gone to execute his commission at a 

 word, whether it is to drive the flock with regularity 

 to their pasture, or to conduct them home at night ; 

 and, though other flocks are browsing on the same 

 pastures, he prevents any stranger from intermixing 



