HISTORY OF THE SHEEP. 141 



that want horns are found more dull and heavy than the 

 rest ; those whose fleeces are longest and finest are most 

 subject to a variety of disorders ; and, in short, whatever 

 changes have been wrought in this animal by the industry 

 of man, are entirely calculated for human advantage, and 

 not for that of the creature itself. It might require a suc- 

 cession of ages before the sheep could be restored to its 

 primitive state of activity, so as to become a match for its 

 pursuers of the forest. 



The goat, which it resembles in so many other respects, 

 is much its superior. The one has its particular attach- 

 ment, sees danger, and generally contrives to escape from 

 it ; but the other is timid without a cause, and secure 

 when real danger approaches. Nor is the sheep, when 

 bred up tame in the house, and familiarized with its keep- 

 ers, less obstinately absurd ; from being dull and timid, it 

 then acquires a degree of pert familiarity ; butts with its 

 head, becomes mischievous, and shows itself every way 

 unworthy of being singled out from the rest of the flock. 

 Thus it seems rather formed for slavery than friendship ; 

 and framed more for the necessities than the amusements 

 of mankind. There is but one instance in which the sheep 

 shows any attachment to its keeper; and that is seen in 

 those countries which are thinly settled, but not in Eng- 

 land or America. What I allude to is, their following the 

 sound of the shepherd's pipe. Before I had seen them 

 trained in this manner, I had no conception of those de- 

 scriptions in the old pastoral poets, of the shepherd leading 

 his flock from one country to another. As I had been used 

 only to see these harmless creatures driven before their 

 keepers, I supposed that all the rest was but invention ; 

 but in many parts of the Alps, and even some provinces 

 of France, the shepherd and his pipe are still continued 

 with true antique simplicity. The flock is regularly pen- 

 ned every evening, to preserve them from the wolf; and 



