l it were almost threadbare, seeming vastly pleased
(monkey-like) with their mimickry, as tho' it provoked us much.

DICK. Nature, Roger, has furnish'd some brute animals with voices, or,
more properly speaking, with organs of sound that nearly resemble the
human. I have heard of crocodiles weeping like a child, to decoy the
unwary traveller, who is no sooner within their reach, but they seize
and devour instantly.

ROGER. Very true, Dick, I have read of the same; and these wolves, being
of the canine breed, and having the properties of blood-hounds, no doubt
are possess'd of a more acute sense of smelling, more reason, instinct,
sagacity, or what shall I call it? than all other brutes. It might have
been a piece of cunning of theirs, peculiar to them, to make themselves
pass for shepherds, and decoy our flocks; for, as you know, Dick, all
our shepherds both play and sing Yankee Doodle, our sheep and lambs are
as well acquainted with that tune as ourselves, and always make up to us
whene'er they hear the sound.

DICK. Yes, Roger; and now you put me in mind of it I'll tell you of
something surprising in my turn: I have an old ram and an old ewe, that,
whenever they sing Yankee Doodle together, a skilful musician can
scarcely distinguish it from the bass and tenor of an organ.

ROGER. Surprising indeed, Dick, nor do I in the least doubt it; and why
not, as well as Balaam's ass, speak? and I might add, many other asses,
now-a-days; and yet, how might that music be improved by a judicious
disposition of its various parts, by the addition of a proper number of
sheep and young lambs; 't would then likewise resemble the counter,
counter tenor, treble, and finest pipes of an organ, and might be truly
called nature's organ; methinks, Dick, I could forever sit and hear such
music,

_Where all the parts in complication roll,
And with its charming music feast the soul!_

DICK. Delightful, indeed; I'll attempt it with what little skill I have
in music; we may then defy these wolves to imitate it, and thereby save
our flocks: I am well convinced, Roger, these wolves intended it rather
as a decoy than by way of ridicule, because they live by cunning and
deception; besides, they could never mean to ridicule a piece of music,
a tune, of which such brutes cannot be supposed to be judges, and, which
is allowed by the best masters of music to be a composition of the most
sublime kind, and would have done honour to a Handel or