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THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



and the indefatigable Sirrah standing in front of them, look- 

 ing all around for some relief, but still standing true to his 

 charge. The sun was then up; and when we first came in 

 view of them, we concluded that it was one of the divisions 

 of the Iambs, which Sirrah had been unable to manage until 

 he came to that commanding situation, for it was about a 

 mile and a half distant from the place where they first broke 

 and scattered. But what was our astonishment, when we 

 discovered by degrees that not one lamb of the whole flock 

 was wanting! How he had got all the divisions collected in 

 the dark is beyond my comprehension. The charge was 

 left entirely to himself from midniglit until the rising of the 

 sun; and if all the shepherds in the forest had been there to 

 have assisted him, they could not have effected it with great- 

 er propriety. All that I can say farther is, that I never felt 

 so grateful to any creature below the sun as I did to my 

 honest Sirrah that morning. — London Sport. Magazine. 



ON THE LUXURY OF THE ROMANS. 



The Roman writers who flourished during the republic 

 say little about Natural History. It is more treated of by 

 the writers under the Empire. But the works they have 

 left us on such subjects contain few original remarks, and 

 are little else than compilations, a circumstance which must 

 appear very strange, since no nation had ever greater oppor- 

 tunities of observing. 



In the earliest ages of the republic, besides that the Roman 

 institutions were in general adverse to every kind of study, 

 the simplicity of manners that prevailed was especially un- 

 favourable to the progress of natural history, a science of 

 luxury, expensive, and not to be carried on without many 

 previous arrangements. 



Indeed the relations among the beings that form the sub- 

 ject of natural history, cannot be established without bring- 

 ing together a great number. Much assistance is therefore 

 derived from commerce, drawing, as it does, towards a cen- 

 tral point, the productions of foreign countries. Now, the 

 Romans, during a very long period were not commercial. 

 By the first treaty made with the Carthaginians, they bound 

 themselves not to sail beyond the strait that separates Sicily 

 from Africa. Still later, in the year of Rome 405, they 

 gave up altogether their trade with Sardinia, and with the 

 coast of Africa. 



Commerce was checked, not through ignorance, but from 

 the policy of their government, in order to withstand the 

 introduction of luxury. Rome had no silver money till the 

 472d year from the foundation of the city, 268 years before 



Christ. At the date of the late Macedonian War, a senator 

 was degraded from his rank for having ten pounds of silver 

 plate. Gold plate was seen for the first time at the end of 

 this war, in the triumph of Paulus jEmilius. But luxury 

 was the speedy consequence of victory, and .the luxury of 

 individuals was carried to the utmost extravagance. We 

 shall notice it in so far as regards natural history. 



The luxury of the table, for example, caused to be im- 

 ported into Rome from foreign countries a multitude of 

 animals; of which several had no other recommendation but 

 rarity, and being excessively dear. 



The luxury of dress also is interesting, with respect to 

 precious stones and dyes. That of buildings, on account of 

 the marbles brought from different parts of Italy, from 

 Greece, and even from Gaul. And the luxury of furniture 

 is interesting, from the valuable woods employed. 



Of the Luxury of the Table. 



Quadrupeds. — During the second Punic War, Fulvius 

 Hirpinus devised the mode of retaining quadrupeds in parks. 

 These parks were named Leporaria, because three sorts of 

 hares were reared in them, the common hare, the original 

 Spanish rabbit, and the variegated or alpine hare, a species 

 now almost entirely destroyed. In like manner, nearly all 

 the native animals of our forests were bred in these parks, 

 besides the wild sheep and the mouflon. These animals 

 were almost domesticated, and were taught to unite at a sig- 

 nal. One day, when Hortensius was entertaining his friends 

 at dinner in one of his parks, at the sound of a trumpet, 

 stags, goats, and wild boars were seen running up, and 

 gathered round his tent, to the no small dismay of some of 

 the guests. Servius Rullus was the first who had a whole 

 boar served on his table. Anthony, during his triumvi- 

 rate, displayed eight at one feast. The Romans considered 

 as a great delicacy the grey dormouse, a little animal that 

 dwells in the woods, and in the holes of oak trees. They 

 reared them in enclosures, and lodged them in jars of 

 eartlicn-ware, of a particular form, fattening them with 

 worms and chesnuts. 



Birds. — Lenius Strabo of Brundusium invented aviaries 

 for confining such birds, destined for the table, as could not 

 be kept witliin the walls of a poultry-yard. It is he, says 

 Pliny, that taught us to imprison animals whose abode is the 

 sky. Alexander had introduced peacocks into Greece, 

 where they were regarded only as objects of curiosity. 

 Hortensius was the first who had one served at a banquet, 

 when he was appointed to the office of augur. 



These birds soon multiplied, and Ptolemy Phocion was 

 astonished at the great number of them to be found in Rome. 

 Aufidius Lucro made about £600 a-year by fattening pea- 



