10 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



the instant he heard my voice, he put himself in a pas- 

 sion ; and several months after, although I had been 

 absent the whole time, he seized on my gown while I 

 incautiously stood too near to him, dragged a portion 

 of it within the bars, and bit a great piece out of it, 

 although it was made of a very strong material. 



A monkey, of I know not what species, was domi- 

 ciled in a family in Yorkshire to whom my mother was 

 paying a visit of some days. A large dinner-party was 

 given in honour of the guest, the master of the house 

 helped the soup ; but as he was talking at the time, he 

 did not observe its appearance. Presently all to whom 

 it had been served, laid down their spoons, or sent their 

 plates away. This of course attracted attention ; and 

 on inspection, the liquid was discovered to be full of 

 short hairs. The servants in attendance were ques- 

 tioned, but they declared they were ignorant of the 

 cause ; and the wisest and politest proceeding was, to 

 send the tureen from table, and, serving the fish, make 

 no further comment. The mistress of the family, how- 

 ever, when the ladies left the dining-room, slipped away 

 from her friends, and summoning the cook to her pre- 

 sence, received an explanation of the mystery. The 

 woman said she had left the kitchen for one minute, 

 and when she returned, she saw the monkey standing 

 on the hob of the kitchen grate, with one fore-paw rest- 

 ing on the lid of the boiler which contained the soup. 

 4 O Mr. Curiosity ! ' she exclaimed, ' that is too much 

 for you ; you can't lift that up/ To her horror and 

 amazement, however, he had lifted it up, and was put- 

 ting it on again after popping the kitten in, whose re- 

 mains were discovered at the bottom when the soup was 

 strained. The poor cook was so bewildered, that she 



