390 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



and crowd so eagerly in front of him that the sportsmen have 

 to shoot a number which they might otherwise have spared. In 

 one instance a tusker, which was badly wounded by Major 

 Rogers, was promptly surrounded by his companions, who sup- 

 ported him between their shoulders, and actually succeeded in 

 covering his retreat to the forest. 



Lastly, allusion may be made to the celebrated obser- 

 vation of M. le Baron de Lauriston, who was at Laknaor 

 during an epidemic which stretched a number of natives 

 sick and dying upon the road. The Nabob riding his 

 elephant over the road was careless whether or not the 

 animal crushed the men and women to death, but not so 

 the elephant, which took great pains to pick his steps 

 among the people so as not to injure them. 



The following account of emotion and sagacity is quoted 

 from the Rev. Julius Young's Memoirs of his father, Mr. 

 Charles Young, the actor. The animal mentioned is the 

 one that subsequently attained such widespread notoriety 

 at Exeter Change, not only on account of his immense 

 size, but still more because of his cruel death ; — 



In July 1810, the largest elephant ever seen in England 

 was advertised as * just arrived.' As soon as Henry Harris, the 

 manager of Covent Garden Theatre, heard of it, he determined, 

 if possible, to obtain it ; for it struck him that if it were to be 

 introduced into the new pantomime of * Harlequin Padmenaba,' 

 which he was about to produce at great cost, it would add 

 greatly to its attraction. Under this impression, and before the 

 proprietor of Exeter Change had seen it, he purchased it for the 

 sum of 900 guineas. Mrs. Henry Johnston was to ride it, and 

 Miss Parker, the columbine, was to play up to it. Young hap- 

 pened to be one morning at the box-office adjoining Covent 

 Garden Theatre, when his ears were assailed by a strange and 

 unusual uproar within the walls. On asking one of the car- 

 penters the cause of it, he was told * it was something going 

 wrong with the elephant ; he could not exactly tell what.' I 

 am not aware what the usage may be nowadays, but then, 

 whenever a new piece had been announced for presentation on 

 a given night, and there was but scant time for its preparation, 

 a rehearsal would take place after the night's regular performance 

 was over, and the audience had been dismissed. One such there 

 had been the night before my father's curiosity had been roused. 

 As it had been arranged that Mrs. Henry Johnston, seated in 



