ANIMALS. 351 



IJut it is very difTercnt with the inferior ranks of the creation ; 

 the classes of birds, of fishes, and of insects, are all much more 

 numerous, and more incompletely known. The quadruped is 

 possessed of no arts of escaping, which we are nuc able to over- 

 come ; but the bird removes itself by its swiftness, the fishes 

 find protection in their native element, and insects are secured in 

 their minuteness, numbers, and variety. Of all these, therefore, 

 we have but a very inadequate catalogue ; and though the list be 

 already very large, yet every hour is adding to its extent. 



In fact, all knowledge is pleasant only as the object of it con- 

 tributes to render man happy ; and the services of quadrupeds 

 being so very necessary to him in every situation, he is particu- 

 larly interested in their history : without their aid, what a 

 wretched and forlorn creature would he have been ! the princi- 

 pal part of his food, his clothing, and his amusements, are deriv- 

 ed wholly from them ; and he may be considered as a great lord, 

 sometimes cherishing his humble dependents, and sometimes 

 terrifying the refractory, to contribute to his delight and con- 

 veniences. 



The horse and the ass, the elephant, the camel, the lama, and 

 rein-deer, contribute to ease his fatigues, and to give him that 

 swiftness which he wants from nature. By their assistance, he 

 changes place without labour ; he attains health without weari- 

 ness ; his pride is enlarged by the elegance of equipage, and 

 other animals are pursued with a certainty of success. It were 

 happy indeed for man, if, while converting these quadrupeds to 

 his own benefit, he had not turned them to the destruction of his 

 fellow-creatures ; he has employed some of them for the pur- 

 poses of war, and they have conformed to his noxious ambitiim 

 with but too fatal an obedience. 



The cow, the sheep, the deer, and all their varieties, are ne- 

 cessary to him, though in a different manner. Their flesh 

 makes the principal luxuries of his table, and their wool or skins 

 ihe chief ornament of his person. Even those nations tljat art- 

 forbid to touch any thing that has life, cannot wholly dispense 

 with their assistance. The milk of these animals makes a jiriri- 

 cipal part of the food of every country, and often repairs those 

 constitutions that have been broken by disease or intemperance. 



The dog, the cat, and the ferret, may be considered as having 

 deserted from their fellow-quadrupeds, to list themselves under 



