THE LIFE OF A FOX-HOUND. 33 



accounts of his exploits, that he ought, without hesita- 

 tion, to take precedence of all other animals which 

 have been rendered subservient to the wants and 

 amusements of mankind. The life of a fox-hound, 

 from the very day that he enters the kennel, is that of 

 the most perfect slavery ; from the moment that the 

 door is closed upon him, his free agency ceases, he 

 neither eats, works, nor even exercises himself, but at 

 the command of his keeper ; by some innate faculty, 

 he learns to imitate the example of others ; he is sus- 

 ceptible of emulation and jealousy, and endeavours not 

 only to execute the commands, but also to discover the 

 wishes, of his master. The following remarks of Dr. 

 Hartley (extracted from the Magazine of Natural 

 History), on the intellectual faculties of Brutes, are so 

 extremely judicious, and so much to the purpose of 

 the present subject, that I shall subjoin them. 



" The whole nature of each brute which has been 

 brought up among others of the same species, is a 

 compound of instinct, its own observation, and expe- 

 rience, and imitation of those of its own species. 

 Instinct seems to have exerted its whole influence, 

 when the creature has arrived at maturity, and has 

 brought up its young, so that nothing new can be 

 expected of it (instinct) afterwards. But the intel- 

 lectual acquisitions of brutes from observation and 

 experience continue : whence old brutes are far more 

 cunning, and can act better {pro re nata) as circum- 

 stances arise, than young ones. It ought also to be 

 remembered that brutes, from their want of words, and 

 from our ignorance of their symbols, which they use in 

 giving intimation to each other and to man, cannot 



D 



