HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 2OI 



he perceived it to proceed from the Lion, which 

 was growling over the body of the unhappy man, 

 whom it had just killed, and had separated his head 

 from his body. The terror and confusion of the 

 gentleman may be easily conceived: he flew out of 

 the room, and, with the assistance of some people, 

 had the animal secured from doing further mis- 

 chief. 



As the passions of this animal are strong, and its 

 appetites vehement, we ought not to presume that 

 the impressions of education will always be suf- 

 ficiently powerful. It must be dangerous, there- 

 fore, to suffer it to remain too long without food, or 

 to persist in irritating or abusing it. 



However, numberless accounts assure us, that 

 the anger of the Lion is noble, its courage mag- 

 nanimous, and its temper susceptible of grateful 

 impressions. It has been often seen to despise 

 weak and contemptible enemies, and even to par- 

 don their insults, when it was in its power to 

 punish them : it has been known to spare the life of 

 an animal that was thrown to be devoured by it, to 

 live in habits of perfect cordiality with it, to share 

 its subsistence, and even to give it a preference 

 when its portion of food was scanty. 



The form of the Lion is strikingly bold and 

 majestic: his large and shaggy mane, which he can 

 erect at pleasure, surrounding his awful front; his 

 huge eye-brows; his round and fiery eye-balls, 

 which, upon the least irritation, seem to glow with 

 peculiar lustre; together with the formidable ap- 

 pearance of his teeth, exhibit a picture of terrific 

 grandeur, which no words can describe. 



The length of the largest Lion is between eight 

 and nine feet, the tail about four, and its height 



VOL III. 2 C 



