520 



VEUTEBRATA. 







. 



fvJ^N^T^Jflv^ fife '^■'-'■■jF^'f^ 



THE LAMB. 



the gentler virtues; they were the victims of propitiatory sacrifices ; and finally, they became the 

 of redemption to fallen man. These may not be considered accidental allusions in a book 

 ■ ■, feature is full of design. 



" Nor has the sheep been less the subject of eulogy and attention with profane writers. Among 

 these, Homer and Eesiod, Virgil and Theocritus, introduced them with evident delight in their 

 pastoral themes ; while their heroes and demigods, Hercules and Ulysses, ^Eneas and Numa, care- 

 fully perpetuated them throughout their regal domains. 



"In modern times, they have commanded the attention of the most enlightened nations, and 

 their prosperity has in no instance been independent of these useful animals, wherever wool and 

 its manufactures have been regarded as essential staples. Spain and Portugal, for more than two 

 centuries, were the most enterprising nations of Europe, and during that period, they excelled in 

 tin- production and manufacture of wool. Flanders for a time was before England in the per- 



tion of the arts and the enjoyments of life, and England then sent the little wool she raised to 

 that country t<> be manufactured. Her politic sovereigns soon found this a losing game, and 

 offered large bounties for the importation of artists and machinery. By a systematic and thor- 

 : , course of legislation, which looked to the utmost protection and augmentation of wool and 

 woolens, Bhe has carried their production beyond any thing the world has ever seen. The small 

 islands of Greal Britain and Ireland, in addition to the support of their 20,000,000 of people, 

 15,000,000 of ciittle, l', •_'.-) o,U()0 horses, 18,000,000 swine, and innumerable smaller domestic ani- 

 mals, maintain over lo, 000,000 sheep, worth §250,000,000; and beside manufacturing nearly 

 all their fli eces, annually import nearly an equal amount from abroad." 



'• We cannot douht," says Buffon, "that most animals which are actually domestic were for- 

 merly wild; those whose history has already been given afford a sufficient proofof.it; and there 

 are still wild horses, wild asses, and wild bulls. But man, who has conquered so many millions 



