III.] 



OF SELBORNE. 



137 



autumn before it retires : through the height of the 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 its owner, and the 

 ass his master's crib," 1 but the most abject reptile and torpid of 

 beings distinguishes the hand that feeds it, and is touched with 

 the feelings of gratitude ! 



P.S. In about three days after I left Sussex the tortoise 

 retired into the ground under the hepatica. 



April 12, 1772. 



LETTER 



TO THE IIUMH'HABLE DAINES BAKKIXGTON. 



THE more I reflect on the crropyr) of animals, the more I am 

 astonished at its effects. Nor is the violence of this affection 

 more wonderful than the shortness of its duration. Thus every 

 hen is in her turn the virago of the yard, in proportion to the 

 helplessness of her brood ; and will fly in the face of a dog or a 

 sow in defence of those chickens, which in a few weeks she 

 will drive before her with relentless cruelty. 



This affection sublimes the passions, quickens the invention, 

 and sharpens the sagacity of the brute creation. Thus a hen, 

 just become a mother, is no longer that placid bird she used to 

 be, but with feathers standing on end, wings hovering, and 

 clucking note, she runs about like one possessed. Dams will 

 throw themselves in the way of the greatest danger in order to 

 avert it from their progeny. Thus a partridge Mill tumble alonjg 

 before a sportsman in order to draw away the dogs from her 

 helpless covey. In the time of nidification the most feeble 



1 Isaiah i. 3. 

 VOL. i. T 



