eminent degree : he lies down when I sit, and 

 walks when I walk, which is more than many good 

 friends can pretend to. Witness our walk a year 

 ago in St. James's Park. Histories are more full 

 of examples of the fidelity of dogs than of friends, 

 but I will not insist upon many of them, because 

 it is possible some may be almost as fabulous as 

 those of Pylades and Orestes, etc. I will only 

 say, for the honour of dogs, that the two most 

 ancient and estimable books, sacred and profane, 

 extant (viz. the Scripture and Homer), have shown 

 a particular regard to these animals. That of 

 Tobit is the more remarkable, because there 

 seemed no manner of reason to take notice of the 

 dog, besides the great humanity of the author. 



Plutarch, relating how the Athenians were 

 obliged to abandon Athens in the time of Themis- 

 tocles, steps back again out of the way of his 

 history, purely to describe the lamentable cries 

 and howlings of the poor dogs they left behind. 

 He makes mention of one that followed his master 

 across the sea to Salamis, where he died, and was 

 honoured with a tomb by the Athenians, who gave 

 the name of the Dog's Grave to that part of the 

 island where he was buried. 



This respect to a dog in the most polite 

 people in the world is very observable. A modern 

 instance of gratitude to a dog (though we have 

 few such) is, that the chief order of Denmark 



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