530 



RAT. 



vented. If so, they might be turned to excellent 

 account as surveyors, especially in the matter of such 

 works as the sewers and subways in and about 

 London, which are not very pleasant places tor 

 human surveyors to examine. The rats are also 

 always in those places in great numbers ; and if they 

 possess the knowledge, there must be some means 

 of getting them to communicate that knowledge. , 

 If they know that a house is to fall, they must, on 

 the very same principle, know that a sewer is to get 

 out of order, because there are no means of know- 

 ledge open to them in the one case which are not 

 just as open to them in the other. The notion that 

 rats abandon a house in anticipation of its fall must, 

 therefore, be held as nothing but a piece of supersti- 

 tious nonsense, and, consequently, all that has been 

 founded upon it, with regard to the conduct of men, 

 must fall to the ground. 



It by no means follows, from this, that rats may 

 not desert old houses, and that to the very last rat, in 

 a very short period of time ; and it is certain that 

 rats, the black ones especially, migrate in flocks on 

 some occasions, though we are not informed that any 

 unusual falling of houses follows these migrations. 

 The probability is, that they migrate in search of 

 food, and quit places which no longer afford them 

 subsistence and shelter. These are no doubt the 

 real reasons why they quit old houses, just as they 

 are the real reasons why they are not 1'ound in the 

 cottages of very poor people, which do not afford 

 food for a rat, or in houses of modern construction, 

 in which a rat can find no shelter. 



On this subject we shall quote a passage from Mr. 

 Bell's very pretty book on " British Quadrupeds," 

 now in course of publication. We do this for three 

 reasons : first, the book is very carefully written and 

 very beautifully illustrated ; secondly, the passage 

 which we shall quote contains much valuable matter 

 respecting an animal the facilities of observing which 

 are diminishing every day ; and thirdly, because 

 there is a quotation contained in it which calls for a 

 remark or two. " Although," says Mr. Bell, " its 

 disposition appears to be naturally exceedingly fero- 

 cious, there are instances on record of its evincing 

 considerable attachment, not only to each other, but 

 to mankind." There is a slight depression of the 

 skull of Priscian by the hit here, but n'importe. 

 " Mr. Jesse, in his usual amusing and pleasant style, 

 gives us an anecdote, which the respectable authority 

 from which he derived it forbids us to doubt, exhibit- 

 ing a degree of tenderness and care toward the dis- 

 abled and aged members of their community, which, 

 were it imitated by Christian men, would either ren- 

 der our poor laws unnecessary, or remove the disgrace 

 and opprobrium which their mal-administration too 

 often causes to attach to them." The reader will 

 please to mark this with particular attention ; it is 

 meant to be very pathetic and philanthropic, and we 

 shall have two words to say upon it, after we have 

 heard Mr. Bell and his informant to the end. Now 

 for the anecdote: "His (Mr. Jesse's) informant, 

 the Rev. Mr. Ferryman, walking out in some mea- 

 dows one evening, observed a great number of rats 

 migrating from one place to another, which it is 

 known they are in the habit of doing occasionally. 

 He stood perfectly still, and the whole assemblage 

 passed close to him. His astonishment, however, 

 was great when he saw an old blind rat, which held 

 a piece of stick at one end in its mouth, while another 



rat held the other end of It, and thus conducted his 

 blind companion. It appears also, from several in- 

 stances, that this animal is not insensible of kindness, 

 and that it may be powerfully attached to those who 

 feed and caress it." So far Mr. Bell and his respect- 

 able authorities. We trust we have shown already 

 that we have no malice prepense against this active 

 and ferocious little beast; and so, as we wish to hold 

 the scales even between rats and ratters, we must 

 look to the high character which is here given to the 

 black rat, as a schoolmaster to " Christian men" in 

 the nobler works of Christian charily. If the rat 

 really deserves this high character, then he ought to 

 be exalted above all beasts, whether quadrupeds or 

 not ; but if the character is a false one, then all who 

 are concerned in the imposture ought to be made to 

 feel it. But before we can be quite sure of the merits 

 of the case, we must look at " the act." 



Now we find that, in the whole code of animal 

 legislation, there is no such thing recognised as any 

 sort of kindness to the " disabled and the aged," but 

 quite the contrary. Dogs always worry the dog that 

 is down ; the herd forcibly eject the stricken or the 

 hunted deer ; and, among animals of every kind, the 

 weak are always driven to the wall. This is not only 

 what actually is, but, if the expression may be allowed, 

 it is what should be. There is no place in the eco- 

 nomy of nature for an old and useless animal, any 

 more than there is for a withered leaf, farther than 

 the gathering of it to the common store of materials. 

 This does not apply to human beings, because there 

 is a part in them which does not partake in the " dis- 

 abled and aged " state of the body, though its con- 

 nexion with material nature is of course weakened by 

 bodily decay ; and, for the sake of this, the existence 

 of which is demonstrated by Christianity only, 

 " Christian men " are bound to cherish the aged to 

 the very last. With animals it is quite the reverse ; 

 their affection, if instinct ought under any circum- 

 stances to get such a name, is all for the young and 

 the vigorous ; and their attacks are directed against 

 the feeble and the exhausted. If there is any hospi- 

 tality in them, it is Homer's hospitality " Welcome 

 the coming, speed the going;" and many of them, 

 and the rats and mice among the rest, even in the 

 most small and delicate of their species, have no ob- 

 jection to Malthusianize, by applying the " positive 

 check," and eating the superabundant population of 

 their own nests. We find therefore that the statute 

 is against Mr. Jesse and his authority. Then for the 

 facts of the particular case. 



Mr. Jesse is a great zealot in the observation of all 

 sorts of productions and phenomena in nature ; and, 

 moreover, he is a great zealot for the truth of stories, 

 and the more the story is out of the common way the 

 stronger appears to be Mr. Jesse's desire that it 

 should be true. But though we state this as a gene- 

 ral inference from the tenor of Mr. Jesse's writings, 

 and think that he has it in common with all zealous 

 observers who are very amiable and not very pro- 

 found, we must dismiss the present case both as 

 against him and his informant ; for the very same 

 story has been told and believed before either of them 

 was born, and long anterior to that. We have heard 

 it in fifty places, and that from people who had no 

 communication with each other. The first time we 

 heard it was forty years ago, from a man turned 

 ninety ; so that if time gave validity to stories as 

 well as to the possession of estates, the truth of 



