164 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Maternal affection. 



them at her master's feet in the parlour; and 

 when she brought the last whelp, she looked up 

 in her owner's face, laid herself down, and ex- 

 pired. This story is said to have been first pub- 

 lished on the authority of the gentleman's wife. 



A person at Preston, in Lancashire, had a fa- 

 vourite bitch, who when her puppies were taken 

 from her, attended the bearer of each of them to 

 their places of destination, and then returned 

 home. She was observed, however, to visit them 

 every day, for several weeks, and carry each of 

 them whatever she could cater and spare from 

 the cravings of her own appetite. This conduct 

 she uniformly practised towards every litter. 



When the ranks of the Imperialists were 

 broken at the battle of Castiglione, and the heat 

 of the pursuit was in proportion to the obstinacy 

 of the contest, the victorious general coming to 

 the spot where the thickest of the combat had 

 taken place, where French and Austrians lay 

 strewed in horrible profusion, perceived amidst 

 those piles of corpses, one living object, which 

 was a little Barbet dog. The faithful creature 

 stood with his two fore-feet fixed on the breast 

 of an Austrian officer; his long ears hung over 

 his eyes, which were rivetted on those of his 

 dead master. The tumult seemed neither to dis- 

 tract the attention nor change the attitude of 

 the mourner, absorbed by the object to which 

 he clung. The general, struck with the specta- 



