OF THE OX. 101 



felt the sympathy of friendship for the herds- 

 man who tended them, and for the companions 

 with which they fed. They have heen leaders 

 of their own herd, they have marched at 

 their head ; they have given the signal when 

 to seek shelter beneath the trees, or when to 

 repair to the brook. They have loved the 

 fields amidst which they have grown and 

 thriven. Some of them, reared and fed 

 beneath the domestic thatch, were grateful 

 for the care they had received ; their master 

 was endeared to them, they would run to meet 

 bis coming, answer to their name, and lick his 

 hand with fondness. 



And it is the course of this tranquil, this 

 happy existence, that is about to be broken 

 abruptly. It is this creature, the pattern of 

 gentleness and goodness, that we are going to 

 treat like a heap of insensible and inert matter 

 which we are going to subject to unutterable 

 torture ! 



And now, indeed, these creatures are all at 

 once handed over to the savage guidance, to 

 the thongs and cudgels, of a hind, whose cruelty 

 keeps pace with his stolid ignorance, and who 

 abets his dogs to quicken their course to the 



