NNNING

the sandy deserts of Arabia, know their way precisely, and are able to pursue their route, when their guides are utterly ignorant of it. A dog has the same faculty; for if carried from home, hood-winked, and by a circuitous road, to a considerable distance, he will find his way back by the nearest and most direct passage; of which I have heard several well authenticated instances.

Remove a bee-hive into a new situation, the bees, at first, fly round the hive, in short excursions, and return to it from time to time. They gradually however enlarge their rounds, till, at last, they engage in extensive journeys, returning to the hive, from excursions of many miles; yet the eyes of this insect are so convex, that it does not appear capable of seeing beyond the space of a foot.

OF VOLUNTARY OR ACCIDENTAL IMPROVEMENTS IN ANIMALS. A dog, which had been the favourite of an elderly gentlewoman, some time after her death, discovered the strongest emotions on the sight of her portrait, when taken down from the wall, and laid on the floor to be cleaned. He had never before been observed, to notice the picture previously to this incident. Here was evidently a case of passive remembrance, or of the involuntary renewal of former impressions. Another dog, the property of a gentleman, who died, was given to a friend in Yorkshire. Several years afterwards, a brother from the West Indies, paid a short visit at the house where the dog was then kept. He was instantly recognised, tho' an entire stranger, in consequence, probably, of a strong personal likeness. The dog fawned upon, and followed, him with great affection, to every place where he went.-Percival's Father's Instructions. Mr. Lackington, speaking of his portrait annexed

NNNNN

to the volume of memoirs of his life, says, that before the original painting was finished, Mrs. Lackington called on the artist to examine it. Being introduced into a room filled with portraits, her little dog being with her, immediately ran to that particular portrait, paying it the same attention that he was accustomed to do to the original; which made it necessary to remove it from him, lest he should damage it; tho' this was not accomplished without expressions of dissatisfaction on the part of the dog. Mr.C.Hughes, a son of Thepsis, had a wig which hung upon a peg in one of his rooms. He lent the wig one day to one of his fraternity, and some time after called on him. Mr. Hughes had his dog with him, and the man happened to have the borrowed wig upon his head; but when Mr. Hughes had bid this person good morning, the dog remained behind, and for some time stood looking full in the man's face as he sat in his chair; at last, he suddenly leaped upon his shoulders, seized the wig, and ran off with it. When he reached home, he endeavoured, by jumping, to hang up the wig in it's usual place. The same dog was one afternoon passing through a field in the skirts of Dartmouth, where a washer-woman had hung out her linen to dry; he stopped and surveyed one particular shirt with attention, and presently seized it and dragged it away through the dirt to his master, whose shirt it proved to be.-Life of Lackington, 13th edit. 12mo. p. 339, 340.

In the year 1760, the following incident occurred near Hammersmith. While one Richardson, a waterman of that place, was sleeping in his boat, the vessel broke from her moorings, and was carried by the tide under a west country barge. Fortunately the man's dog happened to be with him: and the sa

gacious animal awaked him, by pawing his face, and pulling the collar of his coat, at the instant when the boat was filled with water, and on the point of sinking; by which means he had an opportunity of saving himself from otherwise inevitable death.-Annual Register, vol. iii, p. 90.

At the seat of the late Earl of Litchfield, three miles from Blenheim, there is a portrait in the dining room, of Sir Henry Lee, by Johnstone, with that of a mastiff dog, which saved his life. A servant had formed the design of assassinating his master and robbing the house; but, the night he had fixed on, the dog, which had never been much noticed by Sir Henry, for the first time followed him up stairs, crept under his bed and could not be driven thence by either the master or man. In the dead of the night, the same servant entered the room to execute his horrid design, but was instantly seized by the dog, and on the man being secured, he confessed his intentions. There are ten quaint lines in one corner of the picture, which conclude thus:

But in my dog, whereof I made no store,

I find more love than those I trusted more. It is difficult to form an hypothesis on this fact, but as it is well authenticated, it merits notice.

A shoemaker at Preston in Lancashire, had in the year 1794, a female dog, of the large Water Spaniel species, who, when her puppies were taken from her, attended the bearer of each of them to their places of destination, and then returned home. She was observed, however, to visit them every day, for several weeks, and carry each of them whatever she could cater and spare from the cravings of her own appetite. This conduct she uniformly practised towards every litter.

"In the very severe winter, betwixt the years 1794 and 1795, as Mr. Boustead's son was looking after his father's sheep, on Great Salkeld common, not far from Penrith in Cumberland, he had the misfortune to fall and break his leg. He was then three miles from home, no person within call, and evening approaching. Under the impulse arising from the desperate circumstances of his situation, he folded up one of his gloves in his handkerchief, tied this about the neck of his dog, and ordered him home. Dogs that are trained to an attendance on flocks are generally under admirable subjection to the commands of their masters. The animal set off; and arriving at the house, scratched at the door for admittance. The parents were alarmed at his appearance; and concluding, on taking off and unfolding the handkerchief, that some accident had undoubtedly befallen their son, they instantly set off in search of him. The dog needed no invitation. Apparently sensible that the chief part of his duty was not yet performed, he led the way, and conducted the anxious parents directly to the spot where their son lay. The young man was taken home; and the necessary aid being procured, he was soon in a fair way of recov ery.-Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 1795.

During the same winter, as a farmer of Bowbrink in the county of Norfolk was returning home in the evening, he was seized with a drowsiness, which caused him to fall several times. He had, however, sufficient perseverance to rise and continue his journey. But, at last, quite overcome by the effects of the intense frost, he fell, and had no longer power to rise. When he was in this situation, the dog, as if sensible of his master's danger, getting upon his breast laid himself over him. By this means the action of the

lungs was preserved; and the incessant barking which the dog kept up, at length attracting assistance, the preservation of his master's life was thus effectually completed.-Star, Feb. 3, 1795.-Gent. Mag. Feb.

1795.

The following instance of docility and faithfulness in a dog is copied from T. Young's "Essay on Humanity," which is given by the writer on the authority of a friend. It occurred, some years ago, in the part of Scotland which borders upon England, that a shepherd had driven a part of his flock to a neighbouring fair, leaving his dog to watch the remainder during that day and the next night, expecting to revisit them the following morning. Unfortunately, however, when at the fair, the shepherd forgot both his dog and his sheep, and did not return home till the morning of the third day. His first enquiry was, whether his dog had been seen? The answer was, No. Then, replied the shepherd, with a tone and gesture of anguish," He must be dead, for I know he was too faithful to desert his charge." He instantly repaired to the heath. The dog had just sufficient strength remaining to crawl to his master's feet, and express his joy at his return; and almost immediately expired.

At the moment when the ranks of the Imperialists were broken, at the famous battle of Castiglione, and the heat of the pursuit was in proportion to the obstinacy of the contest, Buonaparte coming up to the spot, where the thickest of the combat had taken place, where French and Austrians lay strewed in horrible profusion, he observed one living object amid those piles of corpses, which was a little barbet-dog. The faithful creature stood with his two fore feet fixed upon the breast of an Austrian officer; his long ears