es that are
necessary or natural to human life, I find my task growing upon me,
since by these accidental cares, and acquired calamities, if I may so
call them, my patients contract distempers to which their constitution
is of itself a stranger. But this is an evil I have for many years
remarked in the fair sex; and as they are by nature very much formed for
affection and dalliance, I have observed, that when by too obstinate a
cruelty, or any other means, they have disappointed themselves of the
proper objects of love, as husbands, or children, such virgins have
exactly at such a year grown fond of lap-dogs, parrots, or other
animals. I know at this time a celebrated toast, whom I allow to be one
of the most agreeable of her sex, that in the presence of her admirers,
will give a torrent of kisses to her cat, any one of which a Christian
would be glad of. I do not at the same time deny, but there are as great
enormities of this kind committed by our sex as theirs. A Roman emperor
had so very great an esteem for a horse of his, that he had thoughts of
making him a consul; and several moderns of that rank of men whom we
call country squires, won't scruple to kiss their hounds before all the
world, and declare in the presence of their wives, that they had rather
salute a favourite of the pack, than the finest woman in England. These
voluntary friendships between animals of different species, seem to
arise from instinct; for which reason, I have always looked upon the
mutual goodwill between the squire and the hound, to be of the same
nature with that between the lion and the jackal.

The only extravagance of this kind which appears to me excusable, is one
that grew out of an excess of gratitude, which I have somewhere met with
in the life of a Turkish emperor. His horse had brought him safe out of
a field of battle, and from the pursuit of a victorious enemy. As a
reward for such his good and faithful service, his master built him a
stable of marble, shod him with gold, fed him in an ivory manger, and
made him a rack of silver. He annexed to the stable several fields and
meadows, lakes, and running streams. At the same time he provided for
him a seraglio of mares, the most beautiful that could be found in the
whole Ottoman Empire. To these were added a suitable train of domestics,
consisting of grooms, farriers, rubbers, &c., accommodated with proper
liveries and pensions. In short, nothing was omitted that could
contribut