SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 693 



But of all the attributes of the Dog, those which seem the 

 most to have claimed attention are his attachment to man in 

 general, and his fidelity to individuals in particular. The 

 Dog very rarely, and never but under peculiar circumstances, 

 seeks to gain his natural liberty. He prefers, to the state 

 of freedom, the protection of man, and lingers near our 

 dwellings, even when he is shunned and disowned by us. 

 When he attaches himself to any one, all his actions indicate 

 that the relation is one which has a foundation in the affec- 

 tions of the animal, and does not vary with the degree of 

 benefits conferred. The dog that shares the lot of the miser- 

 able and poor, is no less faithful than another that enjoys 

 all that can gratify the senses. The peasant boy, who rears 

 up his little favourite in his cabin of mud, and shares with it 

 his scanty crust, has a friend as true as he who has ease and 

 abundance to bestow. Release, from the cord of the blind 

 beggar, the dog that leads him from door to door, and will 

 he follow you a step for all with which you can tempt his 

 senses I Confine him in your mansion, and feed him with 

 the waste of plenteous repasts, and let his forlorn companion 

 approach your door to crave a scrap of food, and the dog 

 will fly to him with fidelity unshaken, and bound with joy to 

 be allowed once more to share his miserable lot. Again 

 and again has the dog of the humblest and poorest remained 

 faithful to the last, and laid himself down to die on the 

 grave of his earliest friend. Recently, a poor boy in a manu- 

 facturing town had contrived, from his hard earnings, to 

 rear up a little dog. The boy, as he was passing along to 

 his daily work, was struck down, and dreadfully maimed, by 

 the fall of some scaffolding. He was carried on a shutter, 

 mangled and bleeding, to an hospital near, attended by the 

 dog. When he was brought to the door, the dog endeavoured 

 to enter along with him ; but being shut out, he laid himself 

 down. Being driven beyond the outer gate, he went round 

 and round the walls, searching for any opening by which he 

 could enter. He then lay down at the gate, watching every 



