164 HISTORY OF 



swiftness to force, or numbers to invasion : but 

 what can be done against such an enemy as man, 

 who finds them out though unseen, and though 

 remote destroys them ? Wherever he comes, all 

 the contest among the meaner ranks seems to be 

 at an end, or is carried on only by surprise. Such 

 as he has thought proper to protect, have calmly 

 submitted to his protection ; such as he has found 

 convenient to destroy, carry on an unequal war, 

 and their numbers are every day decreasing. 



The wild animal is subject to few alterations ; 

 and in a state of savage nature, continues, for 

 ages the same, in size, shape, and colour. But it 

 is otherwise when subdued, and taken under the 

 protection of man : its external form, and even 

 its internal structure, are altered by human assi- 

 duity ; and this is one of the first and greatest 

 causes of the variety that \ve see among the seve- 

 ral quadrupeds of the same species. Man appears 

 to have changed the very nature of domestic ani- 

 mals, by cultivation and care. A domestic ani- 

 mal is a slave that seems to have few other desires 

 but such as man is willing to allow it : Humble, 

 patient, resigned, and attentive, it fills up the 

 duties of its station ; ready for labour, and con- 

 tent with subsistence. 



Almost all domestic animals seem to bear the 

 marks of servitude strong upon them. All the 

 varieties in their colour, all the fineness and length 

 of their hair, together with the depending length 

 of their ears, seem to have arisen from a long 

 continuance of domestic slavery. What an im- 

 mense variety is there to be found in the ordinary 



