OUR PETS. 155 



when he found all his efforts unavailing, he lay clown on 

 his back as if dead, and allowed himself to be thus dragged 

 unresistingly out of the house and down the avenue. When 

 within a few yards of his kennel, however, he used to start 

 up and run, as if for his life, till he got into it. He never 

 attempted to bite on these occasions; however unwilling to 

 be led off, he might be lifted and carried with perfect im- 

 punity; all he did was to manifest his repugnance to the 

 change of quarters in this " anti-annuity tax " fashion of pas- 

 sive resistance. May this not have been a modification of 

 the instinct that makes many animals sham death when in 

 danger ? 



We have more than once had monkeys as pets ; but, 

 amusing as they are, they have more caprice of temper, 

 and are less docile than many other animals that do not 

 look so companionable. I think they sometimes get credit 

 for more sagacity than they deserve, from the absurd 

 gravity with which they perform their antics, and from 

 the resemblance of their movements to those of human 

 beings ; the manner of using their hands especially has a 

 ludicrous likeness to ourselves, and always seems to strike 

 children with surprise. Both our monkeys were of the 

 same species ; and the last one we had was certainly affec- 

 tionate to those whom it took a fancy to, though apt to 

 take a capricious ill-will even to them, while to others it 

 manifested marked dislike at first sight. During summer, 

 it used to be fastened to a tree in the garden, where it 

 could climb about, or swing by its prehensile tail ; but in 

 winter, its health suffered from confinement in a cage, and 



