INTRODUCTION. 
Tue origin of Menageries dates from the most remote 
antiquity. Their existence may be traced even in the 
obscure traditions of the fabulous ages, when the contests 
of the barbarian leader with his fellow-men were relieved 
by exploits in the chase scarcely less adventurous, and 
when the monster-queller was held in equal estimation 
with the warrior-chief. The spoils of the chase were 
treasured up in common with the trophies of the fight; 
and the captive brute occupied his station by the side 
of the vanquished hero. It was soon discovered that the 
den and the dungeon were not the only places in which 
this link of connexion might be advantageously pre- 
served, and the strength and ferocity of the forest beast 
were found to be available as useful auxiliaries even in 
the battle-field. The only difficulty to be surmounted 
in the application of this new species of brute force to 
the rude conflicts of the times consisted in giving to it 
the wished-for direction; and for this purpose it was 
necessary that the animals to be so employed should be 
confined in what may be considered as a kind of Mena- 
gerie, there to be rendered subservient to the control, 
and obedient to the commands, of their masters. 
In the theology too of these dark ages many animals 
occupied a distinguished place, and were not only vene- 
rated in their own proper persons, on account of their 
size, their power, their uncouth figure, their resemblance 
