THE FELINE. 67 



foolish people frequently prepare riee and fruits, and 

 placing them at the entrance, conceive that, by giving 

 him this hospitable reception, be will he pleased with 

 their attention, and pass on without doing them 

 harm. * 



Bringing the history of our knowledge of these 

 wild animals to a still later period, we find them in 

 Britain, in attendance upon the courts of our own 

 kings. Henry the First had, at his manor at Wood- 

 stock, a royal menagerie, where he kept lions and 

 leopards, lynxes, porcupines, and several other un- 

 common beasts. From Woodstock, these animals 

 were transferred to the Tower, and formed the foun- 

 dation of that establishment. But in all these im- 

 mense collections, we have only seen them as ac- 

 i cessaries of eastern magnificence, or delighting a 

 barbarous people by their still more barbarous eon- 

 tests. It is true, certainly, that one of th greatest 

 original works f derived a great part of its accuracy 

 ; and value from the numbers of animals which Alex- 

 ander remitted during the progress of his conquests, 

 and the Natural History of Pliny was partly supplied 

 from the Roman shows ; but these are only instances 

 of great men making use of the advantages which 

 these collections afforded. 



1 Memoirs of Sir Stamford Raffles, p. 314. They do the 

 same on the approach of the small-pox, and thus endeavoui 

 to lay the evil spirit by kind and hospitable treatment. 

 Ai idiotic. 



