DOG. 241 
of dance. He afterwards feigned illness in so na- 
tural a manner, as to strike the spectators' with as- 
tonishment ; first shewing symptoms of pain ; then 
falling down as if dead., arf suffering himself to 
be carried about in that state ; and afterwards, at 
the proper time,, seeming to revive as if waking front 
a profound sleep ; and then sporting about and 
shewing every demonstration of joy. 
But of all the educational attainments by which 
the dog has been distinguished, that of learning to 
speak seems the most extraordinary. The French 
academicians, however, make mention of a dog in 
Germany, which' would call, in an intelligible man- 
ner, for tea, coffee, chocolate, &c. The account 
is from no less eminent a person than the celebra- 
ted Leibnitz, who communicated it to the Royal 
Academy of France. This dog was of a middling 
size, and was the property of a peasant inSaxony. 
A little boy, the peasant’s son, imagined that he 
perceived in the dog’s voice an indistinct resem- 
blance to certain words, and therefore took it into 
his head to teach him to speak. For this purpose 
he spared neither time nor pains with his pupil, 
who was about three years old when this his 
learned education commenced ; and at length he 
made such a progress in language, as to be able 
to articulate so many as thirty words. It appears, 
however, that he was somewhat of a truant, and 
did not very willingly exert his talents, being in 
a manner pressed into the service of literature ; 
and it was necessary that the words should be first 
pronounced to him each time, which he then echoed 
from his preceptor. Leibnitz, however, declares 
that he himself heard him speak ; and the French 
academicians add, that unless they had received 
the testimony of so great a man as Leibnitz, they 
should scarcely have dared to report the circum- 
VOL. t. II 
