519 



Algernon Sydney. — Animal Sagacity. 



[Nov. 1," 



which they are taken I stioiigiy recom- 

 mend to every person as one of tlie very 

 best that was ever written on the nature 

 of a free constitution. A mnch-lanient- 

 ed friend of mine intended to have pub- 

 lished the " Discourses" separate from 

 the letters whicli are attached to (hem 

 in the quarto edition, aid which, it is 

 much to be regretted, he did not live to 

 perform. If you siiould think this wor- 

 thy of insertion in the Monthly Maga- 

 rine, it may perhaps be tiie means of 

 exciting the attention of some persons to 

 so useful an undertaking. 



Clapi(m;Sept.\^\6. T.H.J. 



France under the Bourbons, 

 *' France, in outward appearance, makes 

 a better shew [than some other countries] ; 

 tut notliing in this world is more miserable 

 than that people under the fatherly care 

 of their triumphant monarch. The best 

 of their condition is, like aHses and mastiff- 

 dogs, to work and fight, to be oppressed 

 and killed, for him ; and those amoiis them 

 who have any understanding, well know 

 that their industry, courage, and good suc- 

 cess, is not only unprofitable, but destruc- 

 tive to them ; and that by eucreasing the 

 power of their master, they add weight to 

 their own chains." — Discourfifs concerning 

 Government, hy Algernon Sydney, p. 416, 

 chap. 3, quarto; London, l76o. 

 Parliaments. 

 "Though experience has too well faucht 

 Tis, that parliaments may have their fail- 

 ings, and that the vices which are indus- 

 triously spread amongst them may be too 

 prevalent, yet ihey arc the best helps we 

 have, and we may much more reasonably 

 depend upon them than u))on those who 

 propagate that corruption among them, 

 for wiiich only they can deserve to be 

 suspected." — Ibid. p. '146, chap. 3, 

 Kings. 

 "They [kings] who know the fiailty of 

 human nature, will always distrust their 

 own ; and, desiring only to do what they 

 ought, will be gla'l to be restrained from 

 that which they ought not, to do. Being 

 taught by reason and experience, that na- 

 tions delight in the peace and justice of a 

 good government, they will never tear a 

 general insurrection whilst they take care 

 it be rightly administered ; and, finding 

 themselves by this means to be safe, will 

 never be unwilling that tht-ir children or 

 successois should be obliged to tread in 

 the same steps." — Ibid. pp. 416, 417, 



To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



SIR, 



IT is my intention to offer your rea- 

 ders some well-authenticated anec- 

 dotes of sa;j;ucity in biutc aiiimals, ov 



of singular cliangcs in tlieir natural pro* 

 pensities ; and I shall beg leave to con-* 

 elude the facts by inferences that en-. 

 force the dictates of humanity to every 

 creatuie that can be gratified by kiiidi 

 ness, or aflected by pain. 



About five-and-twenty jears ago, » 

 cat, that had been robbed of all het 

 young, conceived a wonderful tender- 

 ness for a chicken, which lay among 

 some w ool in a basket, to recover of a 

 broken leg. Puss crept into the same 

 warm retreat, ciierished the little siifleret 

 in her breast, and, wiien it recovered, 

 followed wherever it went, and pro- 

 tected it from two playful kittens belong-, 

 ing to another of her own kind. 



About fwcnly miles distant from th« 

 place where the cat adopted a feathered 

 lunsiing, a lamb that lost its dam wag 

 nourished with milk; and three young 

 pu])pies, whose mother was killed by 

 an erring shot, were fed by the dairy 

 who took chai go of the lamb. He was 

 older and stronger than the canine or- 

 ])hans, and sometimes invaded their por- 

 tion of milk, but no other spoiler dared 

 to approach their tub. When tliey grew 

 up, so great was the attachment of th« 

 young ram, that he attended the compa- 

 nions of his early days to the kennel, 

 and actnally kept the whole pack of 

 hounds in great awe. If any individual 

 became unruly, Willie, the ram, .'sprung 

 up, and butted the ofl'ender with his 

 horns. The huntsmen said, they found 

 no trouble in managing the most re- 

 fractory if 'U'illic but shook his head. 



Captain ]Mc. N , of D , had 



a very sagacious Newfoundland bitch, 

 and at the time she was suckling two 

 whelps, her master's boatmen caught 

 two young seals; by dint of threats and 

 caresses, he prevailed with Coaxer to 

 nurse the amphibious strangers. Her 

 own young were sent to a neighbouring 

 gentleman's house, and in a few days 

 she became quite reconciled to tha 

 seals. They lived sax weeks, but never 

 seemed to thrive; their nurse moaned 

 over the first that died, and redoubled 

 her anxiety about the other. When 

 dej)rivcd of it, slie pined till her master 

 took her some weeks from liomc. 



A common sea-gull, in tiie possession 

 of a gentleman in the neighbourhood of 

 Elgin, in ^Morayshire, has this season 

 laid three eggs, from v\hich were pro- 

 duced two birds; the female has been 

 domesticated nearly ten years, and the 

 male w hich paired with her has been re- 

 sident near five years. JJoth parents 



artl 



