expreffed by licking my hand, firft the back of it, then the palm, then every finger feparately, then between all the fingers, as if anxious to leave no part of it unfaluted; a ceremony which he never performed but once again upon a fimilar occafion. Finding him extremely tractable, I made it my cuftom to carry him always after breakfaft into the garden, where he hid himself generally under the leaves of a cucumber vine, sleeping or chewing the cud till evening; in the leaves alfo of that vine he found a favourite repast. I had not long habituated him to this taste of liberty, before he began to be impatient for the return of the time when he might enjoy it. He would invite me to the garden by drumming upon my knee, and by a look of fuch expreffion as it was not poffible to mifinterpret. If this rhetoric did not immediately fucceed, he would take the skirt of my coat between his teeth, and pull at it with all his force. Thus Puss might be said to be perfectly tamed, the fhynefs of his nature was done away, and, on the whole, it was visible, by many fymptoms, which I have not room to enumerate, that he was happier in human fociety than when shut up with his natural companions.

Not fo Tiney; upon him the kindest treatment had not the leaft effect. He too was fick, and in his

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fickness had an equal share of my attention; but if, after his recovery, I took the liberty to ftroke him, he would grunt, strike with his fore feet, spring forward, and bite. He was, however, very entertain

ing in his way;

even his furliness was matter of mirth, and in his play he preserved fuch an air of gravity, and performed his feats with fuch a folemnity of manner, that in him too I had an agreeable companion.

Befs, who died foon after he was full grown, and whose death was occafioned by his being turned into his box, which had been washed, while it was yet damp, was a hare of great humour and drollery. Pufs was tamed by gentle ufage; Tiney was not to be tamed at all; and Befs had a courage and confidence that made him tame from the beginning. I always admitted them into the parlour after fupper, when the carpet affording their feet a firm hold, they would frisk, and bound, and play a thousand gambols, in which Bess, being remarkably ftrong and fearlefs, was always fuperior to the reft, and proved himself the Veftris of the party. One evening the cat being in the room, had the hardiness to pat Bess upon the cheek, an indignity which he refented by drumming upon her back with fuch violence, that

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the cat was happy to escape from under his paws and hide herself.

I defcribe these animals as having each a character of his own. Such they were in fact, and their countenances were fo expreffive of that character, that, when I looked only on the face of either, I immediately knew which it was. It is faid, that a fhepherd, however numerous his flock, foon becomes fo familiar with their features, that he can, by that indication only, distinguish each from all the reft; and yet, to a common obferver, the difference is hardly perceptible. I doubt not that the fame difcrimination in the cast of countenances would be difcoverable in hares, and am perfuaded that among a thousand of them no two could be found exactly fimilar; a circumftance little suspected by those who have not had opportunity to obferve it. Thefe creatures have a singular fagacity in difcovering the minutest alteration that is made in the place to which they are accustomed, and inftantly apply their nofe to the examination of a new object. A small hole being burnt in the carpet, it was mended with a patch, and that patch in a moment underwent the Aricteft fcrutiny. They feem, too, to be very much directed by the smell in the choice of their favourites: to fome perfons, though they faw them daily, they

could never be reconciled, and would even fcream when they attempted to touch them; but a miller coming in engaged their affections at once; his powdered coat had charms that were irresistible. It is no wonder that my intimate acquaintance with these specimens of the kind has taught me to hold the sportsman's amusement in abhorrence; he little knows what amiable creatures he perfecutes, of what gratitude they are capable, how cheerful they are in their spirits, what enjoyment they have of life, and that impreffed as they feem with a peculiar dread of man, it is only because man gives them peculiar caufe for it.

That I may not be tedious, I will just give a short fummary of thofe articles of diet that fuit them best.

Sow

I take it to be a general opinion that they graze, but it is an erroneous one, at least grass is not their ftaple; they feem rather to use it medicinally, foon quitting it for leaves of almost any kind. thistle, dent-de-lion, and lettuce, are their favourite vegetables, especially the laft. I difcovered by accident, that fine white fand is in great estimation with them; I fuppofe as a digeftive. It happened that I was cleaning a bird-cage while the hares were with me; I placed a pot filled with fuch fand upon the floor, which being at once directed to by a strong

inftinct, they devoured voraciously; fince that time I have generally taken care to fee them well fupplied with it. They account green corn a delicacy, both blade and stalk, but the ear they seldom eat: straw of any kind, efpecially wheat-ftraw, is another of their dainties; they will feed greedily upon oats, but if furnished with clean firaw never want them; it ferves them also for a bed, and, if shaken up daily, will be kept sweet and dry for a confiderable time. They do not indeed require aromatic herbs, but will eat a fmall quantity of them with great relish, and are particularly fond of the plant called musk; they seem to resemble sheep in this, that, if their pasture be too fucculent, they are very subject to the rot; to prevent which, I always made bread their principal nourishment, and filling a pan with it cut into fmall fquares, placed it every evening in their chambers, for they feed only at evening and in the night: during the winter, when vegetables were not to be got, I mingled this mefs of bread with fhreds of carrot, adding to it the rind of apples cut extremely thin; for, though they are fond of the paring, the apple itself difgufts them. Thefe, however, not being a fufficient fubftitute for the juice of fummer herbs, they must at this time be fupplied with water; but fo placed that they cannot overset it into their beds,

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