274 THE LION. 



wap"ging his tail, to the side of the cage. The mai^ 

 put his hand upon him, and patted hitn; teUing us, 

 at the same time, that it was three years since they 

 had seen each other ; and that the care of the Lion 

 on his passage from Gibraltar, had been committed 

 to him, and he was happy to see the poor beast shew 

 so much gratitude for his attention. The Lion, in- 

 deed, seemed perfectly pleased ; he went to and fro, 

 rubbing himself against the place where his bene- 

 factor stood, and licked the Serjeant's hand as he 

 held it out to him. The man wanted to go into the 

 cage to him ; but was withheld by the company, 

 who were not altogether convinced that it would be 

 safe for him to do so *." 



Citoyen Felix, about five years ago, brought two 

 Lions, a male and female, to the national menagerie 

 at Paris. About the beginning of the following 

 June, Felix was taken ill, and could no longer attend 

 the Lions ; another was, therefore, forced to perform 

 this duty. The male, sad and solitary, remained 

 from that moment constantly seated at the end of 

 his cage, and refused to receive any thing from the 

 stranger, whose presence was hateful to him, and 

 whom he often menaced by bellowing. The com- 

 pany even of the female seemed now to displease 

 liim ; and he paid no attention to her. The un- 

 easiness of the animal afforded a belief that he was 

 really ill, but no one dared to approach him. At 

 length Felix recovered ; and, with intention to sur- 

 prize the Lion, he crawled softly to thq cage, and 



" ' ^ r 



* Thouglits in Prose and Verse, by John Hope, 1782- 



