QUADRUPEDS. 49 



the right which man, as the heaven-appointed lord of the creation, 

 possesses to protect his property from the inroads of the invaders, 

 and to check, by every means within his power, the extension of any 

 race of animals, who, if they are to live, must live to his detriment, 

 upon the fruit of his labor. Of all four-footed vermin, perhaps, 

 rats and mice, with their varieties, are the greatest foes to the agri- 

 culturist, nay, to man generally. It is, in short, but a choice be- 

 tween their extermination and his ; for if suffered to increase in 

 numbers, unchecked, the time would not be far distant when the 

 entire globe would but suffice to furnish food for their rapacious 

 appetites, to the exclusion of the human race, created by our Divine 

 Maker himself its legitimate sovereign and lord. Sentimental 

 theorists need not fear the extinction of this troublesome tribe ; let 

 us proceed with all our vigor let us call into exercise every re- 

 source of human cunning, and we shall still find ourselves, to a 

 great extent, baffled by these diminutive marauders, who, despite 

 of all our efforts, continue to thrive, to multiply, to grow fat upon 

 the products of our toil. The utmost that we can effect is to deci- 

 mate their ranks ; we may diminish their numbers, but extirpate 

 them never ! I am far from blaming the poor creatures for their 

 predatory habits. I am fully aware, that in following them, they 

 do but follow certain instincts implanted for wise purposes in their 

 natures, and which, when the earth was yet scantily peopled, and 

 artificial culture comparatively unknown, must have conduced 

 greatly to utility. So it was at creation so it has been. But 

 many tribes of animals were then created by the Almighty with a 

 view to so many special purposes. According as man advances in 

 knowledge and consequent improvement, so does the necessity for 

 the intervention of brutal aid decrease, until at length what was at 

 first a blessing, will if suffered to remain, become a pest. So it was 

 with the Rat. In earlier ages, when man had no settled habita- 

 tion, but roved to and fro upon the earth, killing, eating, and wast- 

 ing, the aid of such animals, as scavengers, was most necessary, in 

 order to maintain the atmosphere in such a pure and healthful con- 

 dition as was necessary for his support. As cultivation of the soil 

 commenced and progressed, and as the nomadic habits to which I 

 allude ceased, so did the necessity cease for these animals to exist 

 in their wonted numbers. We may, therefore, legitimately con- 

 clude, 1 think, that when it becomes, as it has become, a positive 

 battle between the rats and man for the produce of the ground, and 

 when that produce owes its existence to the labor of the latter, that 

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