348 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



up to the mouth in feeding, to incline it always on the left 

 side, which may be a specific and not an individual cha- 

 racter, though certainly unimportant # . 



* Since the above very short allusion to Mr. Cross's elephant 

 was written, the death of that magnificent animal has excited a 

 great deal of public attention. The editor conceiving the circum- 

 stances, considered purely in a zoological point of view to demand 

 a notice here, applied to Mr. Cross for authentic information, and 

 full particulars of the affair, who, with his accustomed alacrity, 

 was quite ready to give them, stating however, at the same time, 

 that he had already furnished a minute account to Mr. Hone, 

 which had been published in the Every-Day Book. Mr. Hone, 

 in his introductory remarks, states that, except as to language, the 

 narrative is in fact that of Mr. Cross, and although it may contain 

 a few details rather more minutely than the editor would have 

 stated them, it seemed to him quite unnecessary to repeat the same 

 tale in other words, merely to give it an air of originality, and he has 

 therefore subjoined Mr. Cross's account, as published by Mr. Hone. 



" The first owner of the lordly animal, now no more, was Mr. 

 Harris, proprietor of Covent-garden theatre. He purchased it in 

 July, 1810, for nine hundred guineas on its arrival in England, 

 aboard the Astel, Captain Hay, and the elephant ' came out' as 

 a public performer the same year, in the procession of a grand 

 pantomime, called ' Harlequin Padmanaba.' Mrs. Henry John- 

 stone was his graceful rider, and he was ' played up to' by the 

 celebrated columbine, Mrs. Parker, whose husband had a joint in- 

 terest with Mr. Harris in the new performer. During his ' engage- 

 ment' at this theatre, Mr. Polito ' signed articles' with Messrs. 

 Harris and Parker for his further ' appearance in public' at the 

 Royal Menagerie, Exeter 'Change. On the death of Mr. Polito, in 

 1814, Mr. Cross, who for twenty years had been superintendent 

 of the concern, became its purchaser, and the elephant, thus trans- 

 ferred, remained with Mr. Cross till the termination of his life. 

 From his ' last farewell' to the public at Covent-garden theatre, 

 he was stationary at the menagerie, from whence he was never 

 removed, and, consequently, he was never exhibited at any other 

 place. 



" On the elephant's first arrival from India he had two keepers; 

 these accompanied him to Exeter 'Change, and to their control he 

 implicitly submitted, until the death of one of them, within the 

 first year after Mr. Cross's proprietorship, when the animal's in- 



