alf-way down the hill when the dog was again at his
side, lowly but deeply growling, and every hair bristling. On looking
about, he saw two ill-looking fellows making their way through the
bushes, which occupied the angular space between Roehampton and
Wandsworth roads. Their intention was scarcely questionable, and,
indeed, a week or two before, he had narrowly escaped from two
miscreants like them. "I can scarcely say," proceeds Mr. Youatt, "what
I felt; for presently one of the scoundrels emerged from the bushes,
not twenty yards from me; but he no sooner saw my companion, and heard
his growling, the loudness and depth of which were fearfully
increasing, than he retreated, and I saw no more of him or of his
associate. My gallant defender accompanied me to the direction-post at
the bottom of the hill, and there, with many a mutual and honest
greeting, we parted, and he bounded away to overtake his rightful
owner. We never met again; but I need not say that I often thought of
him with admiration and gratitude."

It is pleasing to record such instances of kindness in a brute. Here
we see a recollection of, and gratitude for, previous good treatment,
and that towards one whom the dog had not seen for four years. There
is a sort of bewilderment in the human mind, when we come to analyse
the feelings, affections, and peculiar instinctive faculties of dogs.
A French writer (Mons. Blaze) has asserted, that the dog most
undoubtedly has all the qualities of a man possessed of good feeling,
and adds that man has not the fine qualities of the dog. We make a
virtue of that gratitude which is nothing more than a duty incumbent
upon us, while it is an inherent quality in the dog.

"Canis gratus est, et amicitiae memor."

We repudiate ingratitude, and yet every one is more or less guilty of
it. Indeed, where shall we find the man who is free from it? Take,
however, the first dog you meet with, and the moment he has adopted
you for his master, from that moment you are sure of his gratitude
and affection. He will love you without calculating what he shall gain
by it--his greatest pleasure will be to be near you--and should you be
reduced to beg your bread, no poverty will induce him to abandon you.
Your friends may, and probably will, do so--the object of your love
and attachment will not, perhaps, like to encounter poverty with you.
Your wife, by some possibility (it is a rare case, however, if she has
received kind treatment)