OF MULES. 13 



the hour of Nature ftruck : And, though flie 

 feemed to complain and to fuffer, fhe felt more 

 pleafure than pain ; for ihe allowed the opera- 

 tion to be repeated every day, during all the 

 time ihe was in feafon. Befides, the proper 

 moment for this unnatural union was feized. 

 The wolf felt the imprefhon of love for the firft 

 time. She was only in the fecond year of her 

 age ; and, of courfe, had not entirely refumed 

 her natural ferocity. 



All thefe circumftances, and perhaps fome 

 others which were not obferved, contributed to 

 the fuccefs of this fertile embrace. From what 

 has been remarked, it would appear, that the 

 moft certain method of rendering animals un- 

 faithful to their fpecies, is to place them, like 

 man, in fociety, a:nd to accuftom them gradual- 

 ly to individuals which, without fuch precau- 

 tions, would not only be indifferent, but hoftile 

 to each other. However this matter ftands, the 

 Marquis de Spontin has afcertained the fa£t, that 

 the dog can produce with the wolf even in our 

 climates. I could have wiflied that the fuccefs 

 of this experiment had induced its author to try 

 the union of a wolf with a bitch, and of foxes 

 with dogs. But if this defire (hould be confider- 

 cd as exorbitant, he muft afcribe it to the infa- 

 tiable enthufiafm of a naturalid *. 



But 



* A iimilar fufl has been announced by M. Bour;;c!at, in 

 a letter to me, dated April 15. 1775: ' My Lord Pembroke,' 



fays 



