All these things, I say, declared hy Jason of Gyrene in five books, we will assay 

 to abridge in one volume. We have been careful, that they that will read may have 

 delight, and that they that are desirous to commit to memory may have ease, 

 and that all, into whose hands it comes, may have profit ; leaving to the author 

 the exact handling of every particular, and labouring to follow the rules of an 

 abridgement. For to stand ^^pon every point, and to go over things at large, and 

 to be curious in particulars, belongeth to the first author of the story ; but to use 

 brevity, and to avoid much labouring of the work, is to be granted to him that will 

 make an abridgement. Book ii. of the Maccabees. 



We continually forget, that brutes have not the advantage of obtaining accurate 

 ideas, by spoken or written language. We do not realise the immensity of their 

 ignorance. That ignorance, in combination with perfect cerebral clearness (ignor- 

 ance and mental clearness are quite compatible), and with inconceivably strong 

 instincts, produces a creature whose mental states we can never accurately under- 

 stand. The impossibility of knowing the real sensations of animals and the 

 sensations are the life stands, like an inaccessible and immovable rock, right in 

 the pathway of our studies. P. G. HAMERTON, " Chapters on Animals." 



The earth may smile, 



And deck herself, each May, vain thing ! with flowers, 

 And seem forgetful of the cruelties 

 Enacted on her ever-changing stage, 

 Till every spot, upon the storied surface, 

 Is rank with tragic memories. 



The earth may smile, I say, 

 But, like a new-made widow's mirth, it shocks one. 



SIR ARTHUR HELPS, " Bealmah.' 



There is much slaughter in the world of brutes, but there is little slavery ; and 

 the killing is done with merciful rapidity, ending life whilst its pulses still beat in 

 their energy, and preventing infirmity and age. The brute creation has its 

 diseases, but on the whole it is astonishingly healthy. It is full of an amazing 

 vitality. The more we study animals, the more evident it is that they live, for the 

 most part, in a heaven of exuberant health. That gladness which we seek, how 

 often vainly, in artificial stimulants, the brute finds in the free coursing of his own 

 uncontaminated blood. Which of us has not envied the glee of his own dog ? 

 P. G. HAMERTON, " Chapters on Animals." 



'Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady: would 'twere done. 

 SHAKESPEARE, " The Taming of the Shrew." 



