THE HARE. 221 



again upon a similar occasion. Finding him extremely 

 tractable, I made it my custom to carry him always 

 after breakfast into my garden, where he hid himself 

 generally under the leaves of a cucumber vine, sleeping 

 or chewing the cud until evening ; in the leaves also of 

 that vine he found a favourite repast. I had not long 

 habituated him to this taste of liberty, before he began 

 to be impatient for the return of the time when he 

 might enjoy it. He would invite me to the garden by 

 drumming upon my knee, and by a look of such ex- 

 pression as it was not possible to misinterpret. If this 

 rhetoric did not immediately succeed, he would take the 

 skirt of my coat between his teeth, and pull at it with 

 all his force. Thus Puss might be said to be perfectly 

 tamed, the shyness of his nature was done away, and, 

 on the whole, it was visible by many symptoms which I 

 have not room to enumerate, that he was more happy 

 in human society than when shut up with his natural 

 companions. 



" Not so Tiney j upon him the kindest treatment 

 had not the least effect. He, too, was sick, and in his 

 sickness had an equal share of my attention ; but if, after 

 his recovery, I took the liberty to stroke him, he would 

 grunt, strike with his fore-feet, spring forward, and bite. 

 He was, however, very entertaining in his way; even 



