probably proceed from the rebellion and disobedience of man; and that most certainly they endure a vast amount of labour, wrong, and cruelty from the state of man's degraded disposition more than from any deterioration in their own; that it is from avaricious, cruel, revengeful, and remorseless man-from beings of that race to whom heaven is opened that they hope to escape; and it is to them who are maltreated without cause, who innocently suffer human wickednesses, in whom malignant dispositions are often increased, if not kindled, by man, it is to them the oppressed and injured that heaven is closed, and to their oppressors and persecutors that it is, in invitation and hope at least, alone opened!

This, we may be assured, cannot be the state of things, however clear intimations of the contrary may be concealed from us. For, in like manner, as I can conceive the poor African slave has a soul (ignorant and dull as the perceptions of that soul may be) to be saved, while the more enlightened soul of his Christian captor may be lost, so I conceive that the wrongs of the animal shall be hereafter redressed, and its more favoured persecutor called to an account for the inhuman deeds

done in the human body: and in the latter case, as in the former, we may ask, what satisfaction would it be, even if the animal could know it, that its persecutor should be punished, unless some hope of better prospects were extended to itself during the period of its sufferings,*-what consolation to Lazarus (had the intimation been granted) to have known that Dives would be tormented, unless the assurance were given that he himself would be comforted?

Archdeacon Manning beautifully offers consolation to the lowliest of the human race. "Blessed thought," he exclaims, " and full of refreshment and calm to the weary and heavy laden, one day all their oppressions shall be

* Some would feel that this might not be insisted on, namely, that justice requires that the sufferings of animals in this life should be alleviated by some cotemporary intimation, that all will be compensated hereafter -inasmuch as the increase of suffering arising from hopelessness would of course be fully compensated at last, and because it might hardly seem consistent with analogy, since infants, idiots, savages (in many cases) suffer without any intimation that all will be compensated hereafter. But in this, as in other kind of suffering, we may be allowed to think that "God will temper the wind to the shorn lamb."

rolled back from them, and they shall

shine

forth as the sun!' Let us beware how we judge one another. Who knows what may lie hid in the man whom we slight and cast out as of no esteem? Who can say how he may outshine his fellows in the kingdom of the resurrection? Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.' The poor man thou despisedst an hour ago shall sit higher than thou at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And the simple and unlearned, and the lowly and slow of speech, whom the learned, and eloquent, and lofty, and prosperous, have contemned as mean and foolish, shall be arrayed in exceeding brightness, before which they that despised them shall be dim and naked."

Let us beware lest this kind of contemptuous feeling towards lowly men, influence our thoughts and actions towards the lowlier animals. Ought we not to be sorrowful at the very idea that animals of beautiful form and tender disposition, and our companions here, should enjoy no hereafter with us, but pass into utter extinction of being, and also that animals deformed and ferocious should have no prospect of putting on a milder nature and a lovelier form? Above all, should we not

rejoice at the thought of a day dawning upon them, when all their oppressions should be rolled back from them, a day of freshness and calm to the weary and heavy laden, and when God's justice shall be revealed towards those whom men slighted and cast out as of no esteem ?

Ever your sincere friend,

Penscellwood.

ACHILLES.

LETTER VI.

My dear Patroclus,

That animals are in possession of a language, that is, of certain articulate sounds by which to express their wants, their desires, their fears, and general ideas, there can be no doubt, for it is a thing that we may listen to often enough. A hen perceives a hawk hovering in the air, and she calls her chickens hastily and urgently to come under the protection of her wings, and the chickens readily understand and obey the call. A flock of rooks are feeding in a field, the sentinels are placed around on the highest trees, and one

earnest note of alarm will raise the whole flock. Partridges, after the dispersion of a covey, regularly call each other until all are gathered together again, and if one has been killed, the calling for him lasts a considerable time, until no answer being returned, it is at length given up. Cocks challenge and answer one another in crowing-and dogs at night seem to do the same. Swallows and sparrows chatter greatly, and we know how talkative. the former become when they meet to arrange matters for their departure, and the latter create a great din under the eaves of our houses on many a fine morning. Cows answer one another in lowing: so do horses in neighing and a ewe and lamb will seek each other by means of language until they meet. For when a particular ewe bleating among a flock is answered only by her particular lamb, we may safely suppose that her bleat is different to that of other ewes, and though the sound, as in human voices, may be much the same, yet that a distinctive meaning is in the sound. And, moreover, one species of animal understands the articulate cries of another species, for on a note from one bird expressive of danger nigh at hand, other birds are sum