Part 1 (1/2)
Heads and Tales.
by Various.
PREFACE.
In this work, a part of which is, so far as it extends, a careful compilation from an extensive series of books, the great order mammalia, or, rather, a few of its subjects, is treated anecdotically. The connexion of certain animals with man, and the readiness with which man can subdue even the largest of the mammalia, are very curious subjects of thought. The dog and horse are our special friends and a.s.sociates; they seem to understand us, and we get very much attached to them. The cat or the cow, again, possess a different degree of attachment, and have ”heads and hearts” less susceptible of this education than the first mentioned. The anecdotes in this book will clearly show facts of this nature. In the Letter of the Gorilla, under an appearance of exaggeration, will be found many facts of its history. We have a strong belief that natural history, written as White of Selborne did his Letter of Timothy the Tortoise, would be very enticing and interesting to young people. To make birds and other animals relate their stories has been done sometimes, and generally with success. There are anecdotes hinging, however, on animals which have more to do with man than the other mammals referred to in the little story. These stories we have felt to be very interesting when they occur in biographies of great men. Cowper and his Hares, Huygens and his Sparrow, are tales--at least the former--full of interesting matter on the history of the lower animal, but are of most value as showing the influence on the man who amused himself by taming them. We like to know that the great Duke, after getting down from his horse Copenhagen, which carried him through the whole battle of Waterloo, clapped him on the neck, when the war-charger kicked out, as if untired.
We could have added greatly to this book, especially in the part of jests, puns, or cases of _double entendre_. The few selected may suffice. The so-called conversations of ”the Ettrick Shepherd” are full of matter of this kind, treated by ”Christopher North” with a happy combination of rare power of description and apt exaggeration of detail, often highly amusing. One or two instances are given here, such as the Fox-hunt and the Whale. The intention of this book is primarily to be amusing; but it will be strange if it do not instruct as well. There is much in it that is _true_ of the habits of mammalia. These, with birds, are likely to interest young people generally, more than anecdotes of members of orders like fish, insects, or molluscs, lower in the scale, though often possessing marvellous instincts, the accounts of which form intensely interesting reading to those who are fond of seeing or hearing of ”the works of the Lord,” and who ”take pleasure” in them.
HEADS AND TALES.
MAN.
In this collection, like Linnaeus, we begin with man as undoubtedly an animal, as opposed to a vegetable or mineral. Like Professor Owen, we are inclined to fancy he is well ent.i.tled to separate rank from even the Linnaean order, _Primates_, and to have more systematic honour conferred on him than what Cuvier allowed him. That great French naturalist placed man in a section separate from his four-handed order, _Quadrumana_, and, from his two hands and some other qualities, enrolled our race in an order, _Bimana_. Surely the ancients surpa.s.sed many modern naturalists of the Lamarckian school, who would derive him from an ourang, a chimpanzee, or a gorilla. One of them has n.o.bly said--
”Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri.”
Our own Sir William Hamilton, in a few powerful words has condensed what will ever be, we are thankful to suppose, the general idea of most men, be they naturalists or not, that mind and soul have much to distinguish us from every other animal:--
”What man holds of matter does not make up his personality. Man is not an organism. He is an intelligence served by organs. _They are_ HIS, _not_ HE.”
As a mere specimen, we subjoin two or three anecdotes, although the species, _h.o.m.o sapiens_, has supplied, and might supply, many volumes of anecdotes touching on his whims and peculiarities. As a good example of the Scottish variety, who is there that does not know Dean Ramsay's ”Reminiscences?” Surely each nation requires a similar judicious selection. Mr Punch, especially when aided by his late admirable artist, John Leech, shows seemingly that John Bull and his family are as distinct from the French, as the French are from the Yankees.
THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH THE ARTIST, AND THE TAILOR.
Gainsborough, the painter, was very ready-witted. His biographer[2]
records the following anecdote of him as very likely to be authentic.
The great artist occasionally made sketches from an honest old tailor, of the name of Fowler, who had a picturesque countenance and silver-gray locks. On the chimney-piece of his painting-room, among other curiosities, was a beautiful preparation of an infant _cranium_, presented to the painter by his old friend, Surgeon Cruickshanks.
Fowler, without moving his position, continually peered at it askance with inquisitive eye. ”Ah! Master Fowler,” said the painter, ”that is a mighty curiosity.” ”What might it be, sir, if I may be so bold?” ”A _whale's eye_,” replied Gainsborough. ”Oh! not so; never say so, Muster Gainsborough. Laws! sir, it is a little child's skull!” ”You have hit upon it,” said the wag. ”Why, Fowler, you are a witch! But what will you think when I tell you that it is the skull of _Julius Caesar_ when he was a little boy?” ”Do you say so!” exclaimed Fowler, ”what a phenomenon!”
This reminds us of a similar story told of a countryman, who was shown the so-called skull of Oliver Cromwell at the museum in Oxford, and expressed his delight by saying how gratifying it was to see skulls of great men at different ages, for he had just seen at Bath the skull of the Protector when a youth!
SIR DAVID WILKIE AND THE BABY.
A very popular novelist and author of the present day tells the following anecdote of the simplicity of Sir David Wilkie, with regard to his knowledge of _infant_ human nature:--
On the birth of his first son, at the beginning of 1824, William Collins,[3] the great artist, requested Sir David Wilkie to become one of the sponsors for his child.[4] The painter's first criticism on his future G.o.dson is worth recording from its simplicity. Sir David, whose studies of human nature extended to everything but _infant_ human nature, had evidently been refres.h.i.+ng his faculties for the occasion, by taxing his boyish recollections of puppies and kittens; for, after looking intently into the child's eyes as it was held up for his inspection, he exclaimed to the father, with serious astonishment and satisfaction, ”He _sees_!”
MAN DEFINED SOMEWHAT IN THE LINNaeAN MANNER.
One who is partial to the Linnaean mode of characterising objects of natural history has amused himself with drawing up the following definition of man:--”_Simia sine cauda; pedibus posticis ambulans; gregarius, omnivorus, inquietus, mendax, furax, rapax, salax, pugnax, artium variarum capax, animalium reliquorum hostis, sui ipsius inimicus acerrimus._”
Montgomery translated the description thus:--