THE WEAZEL. 191 



Although Buffon was of opinion that the weazel, so 

 formidable in this instance, is an animal incapable of 

 domestication, we have the following interesting account 

 of one in a letter of Mademoiselle de Laistre : " If I 

 pour some milk into my hand, it will drink a good deal ; 

 but, if I do not pay it this compliment, it will scarcely 

 take a drop. When it is satisfied, it generally goes to 

 sleep. My chamber is the place of its residence ; and 

 I have found a method of dispelling its strong odours 

 by perfumes. During the day it sleeps inside a quilt, 

 entering by a place that is unsewed in its edge, which 

 it accidentally discovered. At night, I keep it in a wire 

 cage, which it always enters with much reluctance, but 

 leaves with joy. If the servant sets it at liberty before I 

 am up in the morning, after a thousand gambols, it comes 

 into my bed, and reposes in my hand, or on my bosom. 

 If I am up before it is let out, it will fly to me in rap- 

 ture, and spend half an hour in caressing me, playing 

 with my fingers, and nibbling at them with its teeth 

 like a little dog ; leaping on my head and on my neck, 

 and then running round my arm, with the softness and 

 elegance of a squirrel. Such is its agility, that it will 

 leap into my hands, although upwards of a yard distant, 

 if I present them to it. It exhibits much adroitness 

 and cunning to obtain any wished -for object ; and it is 



