166 MAMMALIA—LION. 
which run down buffaloes, antelopes, &c., and when they have succeeded, 
drives them off and gorges to repletion; as he relinquishes the carcass when 
satiated, he is called generous ; as he does not attack and devour men, when 
not hungry, he is considered magnanimous ; he retires slowly, facing his 
enemies, being unable to run with speed, and is celebrated for his noble 
spirit; and, as he does not kill the wild dogs and other small animals, be- 
cause it is not in his power to catch them, he is then called clement ; while 
in virtue of his great strength, dreadful claws, horrid teeth, and aw/ul roar, 
he is considered as altogether royal. Yet this king of quadrupeds has not 
half the moral excellence of a poodle dog, nor a thousandth part of the 
dignity of character possessed by the elephant. He is, moreover, no match 
for the great tiger of Asia, which, in ferocity, savage daring, audacious de- 
structiveness, unconquerable and unappeasable hatred to mankind, is infi- 
nitely more royal, and a more consistent emblem of a great number of 
human sings, who have aided, in various ages and countries, to retard the 
progress of improvement and the march of mind.” 
“At the time when men first adopted the lion as the emblem of courage,” 
says that intelligent traveller, Mr Burchell, ‘‘it would seem that they regard- 
ed great size and strength as indicating it; but they were greatly mistaken 
in the character they have given to this indolent, skulking animal, and 
‘have overlooked a much better example of courage, and of other virtues 
also, in the bold and faithful dog.” Mr Barrow also brands him with the 
character ef cowardly and treacherous. 
“His forbearance and generosity,” says Mr Bennett, ‘if the facts be care- 
fully investigated, will be found to resolve themselves into no more than 
this: that in his wild state he destroys only to satiate his hunger or 
‘revenge, and never, like the ‘gaunt wolves,’ and the ‘sullen tigers,’ of whom 
the poet has composed his train, in the wantonness of his power and the 
malignity of his disposition; and that, when tamed, his hunger being satis- 
fied, and his feelings being free from irritation, he suffers smaller animals to 
remain in his den uninjured, is familiar with, and sometimes fond of, the 
keeper, by whom he is attended and fed, and will even, when under coni- 
plete control, submit to the caresses of strangers. 
“But even this limited degree of amiability, which, in an animal of less 
formidable powers, would be considered as indicating no peculiar mildness 
of temper, is modified by the calls of hunger, by the feelings of revenge, 
which he frequently cherishes for a considerable length of time; and by 
various other circumstances, which render it dangerous to approach him 
iguardedly, even in his tamest and most domesticated state, without pre- 
viously ascertaining his immediate state of mind. On such occasions, no 
keeper possessed of common prudence, would be rash enough to venture 
on confronting him. He knows too well, that it is no boy’s play to 
seek the lion in his den, 
And fight him there, and make him tremble there: 
