122 MAIIMALIA. 



the same Dr. Franklin, for the truth of which we must hold him 

 responsible. The master of the old menagerie in Exeter 'Change, 

 named Pidcock, had for some years been in the habit of offering 

 to his Elei^hant every evening a glass of spirituous liquor. The 

 animal seemed to attach great importance to this favour, for it 

 drank its glass with much relish, as indeed nearly every Elephant 

 does. Pidcock always handed the first glass to the Elephant, and 

 then took one himself. One evening he changed his mind, and 

 apostrophised the animal thus, " You have been helped first long 

 enough, it is now my turn to drink before you." His friend the 

 Elephant took this in bad part ; it refused to be helped second, 

 and never drank its master's health again in its daily libations. 



The Elephants which are exhibited in diiferent places in theatrical 

 representations give proofs of a most varied intelligence. They 

 move over the boards with singular lightness. On a stage crowded 

 with actors they avoid anj^ blunders which might interfere with 

 the stage arrangements ; thej^ advance with measured jjaces, 

 keeping time with the music. They distinguish one actor from 

 another. If, for example, they have to place the crown on the 

 head of the lawful king, thej'' do not go and place it on the head 

 of an usurper. There was in Paris, in 1867, an Elephant perform- 

 ing at the circus of the Boulevard du Prince-Eugene, which went 

 through a great many gj'mnastic exercises and feats of address 

 which gave one a high idea of its docility and intelligence. This 

 creature, which was called L' Elephant asccnsioniste, went so far as 

 to balance its heavy mass on a tight-rope, like Blondin. This is 

 a feat which many a man covdd not accomplish.* 



Some Elephants possess* a taste for music. In 1813, the 

 musicians of Paris met together and gave a concert to the male 

 Elephant, which was then in the Jardin des Plantes. The animal 

 showed great pleasure at hearing sung ma tendrc Musette ! 

 But the air of La cltarmante GahrieUe pleased it so much that it 

 beat time bj^ making its trunk oscillate from right to left, and by 

 rocking its enormous bodjr from side to side. It even uttered a 

 few sounds more or less in harmony with those produced by the 



* The African Elephant "^as trained to do this in the time of ancient Krme ; and 

 for anecdotes of the docility and sagacity of Elephants consult ^Elian's work on Tl\e 

 KntAire of Anima/s, hook ii. chap. 11. The passage is translated by the late bir J. 

 Emerson Tenneut in his work entitled Ceijhn. — En. 



