218 THE LION. 



Shakespeare has copied this picture, but added a few finishing 

 touches to it : 



Orlando. " A lioness, witli udders all drawn dry, 



Lay couching, head on ground, with catlike watch, 

 When that the sleeping man should stir ; for, -'tis 

 The royal disposition of that beast 

 To prey on nothing that doth seem as dead." 



(^4.9 You Like It, Act IV. Sc. 3.) 



Living animals are the prey of the lion, and it is seldom that 

 it attacks an unoffending white man,* except under such 

 circumstances as here depicted, where a lioness has come 

 forth in quest of food for herself and her cubs, who when she 

 left them were so hungry that they had quite " drawn dry" 

 her udders. The lion does not refrain from striking a man 

 when he is down because it would be taking an unfair 

 advantage, but because a man lying still on the ground does 

 not appear to be living prey. His clemency, therefore, arises 

 from selfish considerations. According to Mr. Barrow, the 

 lion prefers the flesh of Hottentots to that of any other 

 creature deeming their blood better than that of all the 

 Howards, and the charms of a Hottentot Venus superior to 

 an European one of the most fashionable proportions. 



" A man, at some period or other of his life, may," says 

 Waterton, " have the misfortune to come in contact with the 



* Provision is made under the will of Sir John Gager, who was Lord Mayor 

 of London in the year 1646, for a sermon to be annually preached on Novem- 

 ber 16th, at St. Catherine Cree Church, Leadenhall Street, in commemoration 

 of what he terms his " happy deliverance" from a lion, which suffered him to 

 pass unmolested as he was travelling in the Turkish dominions. The minister 

 receives one pound for his sermon, the clerk half a crown, and the sexton one 

 shilling. It is also provided in the will that the sum of eight pounds sixteen 

 shillings and sixpence shall be distributed among the necessitous inhabitants. 

 Had Sir John better known the nature of the beast, he would not have 

 thought the lion's conduct so very extraordinary ; but good sometimes results 

 from ignorance ; and I hope the poor parishioners still benefit by his grateful 

 offering for what he esteemed an especial providential deliverance. As for 

 the sermon, such a zoological discourse, on a lion's respect for a Lord 

 Mayor, must be well worth a pound. 



