108 BRITISH QUADRUPEDS. 



" Jesus, I love to trace 



Throughout the sacred page, 

 The riches of thy grace, 



The same in every age ; 

 Oh grant that I may faithful be, 

 To clearer light vouchsafed to me !" 



The animal which has suggested these considerations, 

 has been for ages of great value to people in very dif- 

 ferent circumstances. Its nature seems equally capable 

 of the rigours of heat and cold ; it is an inhabitant of 

 the frozen fields of Iceland, as well as of the burning 

 deserts of Asia. " It seems," says Buffon, " an ancient 

 inmate in every climate ; domestic and tame in those 

 countries which have been 4 civilized j savage and wild in 

 the countries which are less peopled, but capable of 

 being made useful in all ; able to defend itself in a state 

 of nature against the most powerful enemy of the forest, 

 and only subordinate to man, whose force it has expe- 

 rienced, and whose aid it at last seems to require. How- 

 ever wild the calves are which are taken from the dam 

 in a savage state, either in Africa or Asia, they soon be- 

 come humble, patient, and familiar ; and man may be 

 considered, in these countries, as almost helpless with- 

 out their assistance." 



To the milk of the cow we are generally indebted for a 

 most nutritious and wholesome aliment. In a Wiltshire 



