248 



ON THE DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS OF 



Something of the kind is occasionally, indeed, to be met with in quadru- 

 peds, as I have formerly observed in the case of the seal and lamantin tribes 

 (trichecus Manatus^) which pass through life in families of single male 

 and single female, never deserting or deserted by their young, till the latter, 

 having reached the term of maturity, separate to found families of their 

 own. 



In these cases we see 6xumplesof all the three principles of instinct, 

 sensation, and intelligence in a state of union : and we occasionally meet 

 with still more extraordinary examples of the same fact. One of the 

 most extraordinary, perhaps, is that related by Mr. Gilbert White, in his 

 very interesting History of Selbourn, of the gratitude and affection of a 

 young hare towards a cat by which it had been suckled and brought up : 

 the leveret following the cat about the garden, playing with her like a kit- 

 ten, and bounding towards her upon her purring or uttering any other call 

 of tenderness. 



We see something of the same kind of internal feeling, and often ex- 

 alted to a still higher pitch, in the gratitude and affection of the fond and 

 faithful dog for a kind and indulgent master ; occasionally indeed rising 

 superior to, and openly triumphing over the strongest instinctive feehngs 

 of the animal frame, over thirst and hunger, and the love of life itself ; 

 an(J inciting him to perish voluntarily by the side of his master and share 

 his grave, rather than abandon his corse, when in the course of a solitary 

 journey he has suddenly fallen a victim to accident or violence. The late 

 Bishop of Landaff has a striking anecdote to this effect in his very in- 

 teresting Life, in which he relates the sudden disappearance of a man, 

 who, it seems, had perished on the top of Heivellyn ; his body was found 

 two months afterwards in this exposed and desolate spot, with his faithful 

 dog still sitting by it.* And he adds in a similar tale, told him by the 

 Duke of Northumberland, concerning a young antelope that had perished 

 by a fall, whose mother immediately quitted the pasture in which she was 

 feeding, sat piteously by the side of the body, which she refused to quit, 

 and died of grief and hunger. 



I will only adjoin another case of a like interesting kind that occurred 

 not long since in my own family. A favourite cat, that was accustomed 

 from day to day to take her station quietly at my elbow, on the writing- 

 table, sometimes for hour after hour, while \ was engaged in study, be- 

 came at length less constant in her attendance, as she bad a kitten to 

 take care of. One morning she placed herself in the same spot, but 

 seemed unquiet ; and, instead of seating herself as usual, continued to rub 

 her furry sides against my hand and pen, as though resolved to draw my 

 attention and make me leave off. As soon as she had accomplished this 

 point she leaped down on the carpet, and made towards the door with a 

 look of great uneasiness. I opened the door for her as she seemed to de- 

 sire ; but instead of going forward, she turned round and looked earnestly at 

 me as though she wished me to follow her, or had something to communicate. 

 1 did not fully understand her meaning, and being much engaged at the 



♦ Sir Walter Scott has, with much judgment, selected a similar, and perhaps the same, 

 story, as the ba^is of one of the most impressive and popular ballads in the English language 



I cliuQb'd the dark broW of the mighty Heivellyn, 

 Lakes and mountains beneath me gleam'd misty and wide, 



Ail was still save, by fits, when the eagle was yelling. 

 And starting around me the echoes replied, &c, kc. 



