THE RAVEN. 
126 
state it has attained a very long life. How long ex- 
tended its existence may be, when roaming in an un- 
restricted state, we have no means of ascertaining. 
This liberty may be most favorable to longevity ; yet, 
from the numerous contingencies attending the condition 
of these creatures, it is probable that few of them live 
out all their days, so as to become the “ bird of ages.” 
However, the supposed longevity they have attained, 
their frequent mention and agency in holy writ, the ob- 
scure knowledge we possess of their powers and motives, 
with the gravity of their deportment, like an “all- 
knowing bird,” have acquired for them, from very re- 
mote periods, the veneration of mankind. The changes 
in our manners and ideas, in respect to many things, 
have certainly deprived them of much of this reverence ; 
yet the almost supernatural information which they ob- 
tain of the decease, or approaching dissolution, of an 
animal, claims still some admiration for them. This 
supposed faculty of “smelling death” formerly ren- 
dered their presence, or even their voice, ominous to 
all, as 
The hateful messengers of heavy things, 
Of death and dolor telling 
and the unusual sound of their harsh croak, still, when 
illness is in the house, with some timid and affectionate 
persons, brings old fancies to remembrance, savoring 
of terror and alarm. I am no friend to the superstition 
of converting natural transactions, or occasional events, 
into signs and indications of coming things; supersti- 
tions are wearing out, and shortly will waste away, and 
be no more heard of ; but I fear, in their place, deism, 
infidelity, impiety, have started up, the offspring of in- 
tuitive wisdom: the first belief arises from weakness 
and ignorance ; the latter disbelief is ingratitude, pride, 
wickedness. 
Of the natural duration of animal life it is, from 
many circumstances, difficult to form an accurate state- 
ment, the wild creatures being in great measure re- 
moved from observation, and those in a condition of 
domestication being seldom permitted to live as long 
as their bodily strength would allow. It was formerly 
