The Illustrated London Reading Book Part 7

The Terrier is a valuable dog in the house and farm, keeping both domains free from intruders, either in the shape of thieves or vermin.

The mischief effected by rats is almost incredible; it has been said that, in some cases, in the article of corn, these little animals consume a quant.i.ty in food equal in value to the rent of the farm. Here the terrier is a most valuable a.s.sistant, in helping the farmer to rid himself of his enemies. The Scotch Terrier is very common in the greater part of the Western Islands of Scotland, and some of the species are greatly admired. Her Majesty Queen Victoria possesses one from Islay--a faithful, affectionate creature, yet with all the spirit and determination that belong to his breed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEAD OF THE SCOTCH TERRIER.]

THE GREYHOUND.

The modern smooth-haired Greyhound of England is a very elegant dog, not surpa.s.sed in speed and endurance by that of any other country. Hunting the deer with a kind of greyhound of a larger size was formerly a favourite diversion; and Queen Elizabeth was gratified by seeing, on one occasion, from a turret, sixteen deer pulled down by greyhounds upon the lawn at Cowdry Park, in Suss.e.x.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEAD OF THE GREYHOUND.]

OLD ENGLISH HOUND.

The dog we now call the Staghound appears to answer better than any other to the description given to us of the old English Hound, which was so much valued when the country was less enclosed, and the numerous and extensive forests were the harbours of the wild deer. This hound, with the harrier, were for many centuries the only hunting dogs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEAD OF THE OLD ENGLISH HOUND.]

SHEPHERD'S DOG.

Instinct and education combine to fit this dog for our service: the pointer will act without any great degree of instruction, and the setter will crouch; but the Sheep Dog, especially if he has the example of an older one, will, almost without the teaching of his master, become everything he could wish, and be obedient to every order, even to the slightest motion of the hand. If the shepherd's dog be but with his master, he appears to be perfectly content, rarely mingling with his kind, and generally shunning the advances of strangers; but the moment duty calls, his eye brightens, he springs up with eagerness, and exhibits a sagacity, fidelity, and devotion rarely equalled even by man himself.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEAD OF THE SHEPHERDS DOG.]

BULL-DOG.

Of all dogs, none surpa.s.s in obstinacy and ferocity the Bull-dog. The head is broad and thick, the lower jaw generally projects so that the under teeth advance beyond the upper, the eyes are scowling, and the whole expression calculated to inspire terror. It is remarkable for the pertinacity with which it maintains its hold of any animal it may have seized, and is, therefore, much used in the barbarous practice of bull-baiting, so common in some countries, and but lately abolished in England.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HEAD OF THE BULL-DOG.]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

LORD BACON.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Letter I.]

In those prescient views by which the genius of Lord Bacon has often antic.i.p.ated the inst.i.tutions and the discoveries of succeeding times, there was one important object which even his foresight does not appear to have contemplated. Lord Bacon did not foresee that the English language would one day be capable of embalming all that philosophy can discover, or poetry can invent; that his country would at length possess a national literature of its own, and that it would exult in cla.s.sical compositions, which might be appreciated with the finest models of antiquity. His taste was far unequal to his invention. So little did he esteem the language of his country, that his favourite works were composed in Latin; and he was anxious to have what he had written in English preserved in that "universal language which may last as long as books last."

It would have surprised Bacon to have been told that the most learned men in Europe have studied English authors to learn to think and to write. Our philosopher was surely somewhat mortified, when, in his dedication of the Essays, he observed, that, "Of all my other works, my Essays have been most current; for that, as it seems, they come home to men's business and bosoms." It is too much to hope to find in a vast and profound inventor, a writer also who bestows immortality on his language. The English language is the only object, in his great survey of art and of nature, which owes nothing of its excellence to the genius of Bacon.

He had reason, indeed, to be mortified at the reception of his philosophical works; and Dr. Rowley, even, some years after the death of his ill.u.s.trious master, had occasion to observe, "His fame is greater, and sounds louder in foreign parts abroad than at home in his own nation; thereby verifying that Divine sentence, 'A Prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his own house,'" Even the men of genius, who ought to have comprehended this new source of knowledge thus opened to them, reluctantly entered into it: so repugnant are we to give up ancient errors, which time and habit have made a part of ourselves.

D'ISRAELI.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STATUE OF LORD BACON.]

THE LILIES OF THE FIELD.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SYRIAN LILY.]

Flowers! when the Saviour's calm, benignant eye Fell on your gentle beauty; when from you That heavenly lesson for all hearts he drew.

Eternal, universal as the sky; Then in the bosom of your purity A voice He set, as in a temple shrine, That Life's quick travellers ne'er might pa.s.s you by Unwarn'd of that sweet oracle divine.

And though too oft its low, celestial sound By the harsh notes of work-day care is drown'd, And the loud steps of vain, unlist'ning haste, Yet the great lesson hath no tone of power, Mightier to reach the soul in thought's hush'd hour, Than yours, meek lilies, chosen thus, and graced.

MRS. HEMANS.

POMPEII.