and progress, the subversion and regeneration, or perhaps extinction of empires:

'Next to the intelligence exhibited in human society, that of the beavers is the most conspicuous. Their operations in preparing, fashioning, and transporting the heavy materials for building their winter habitations, are truly astonishing; and, when we read their history, we are apt to think that we are perusing the history of man in a period of society not inconsiderably advanced. It is only by the united strength, and co-operation of numbers, that the beavers could be enabled to produce such wonderful effects; for, in a solitary state, as they at present appear in some northern parts of Europe, the beavers, like solitary savages, are timid and stupid animals. They neither associate, nor attempt to construct villages, but content themselves with digging holes in the earth. Like men under the oppression of despotic governments, the spirit of the European beavers is depressed, and their genius is extinguished by terror, and by a perpetual and necessary attention to individual safety. The northern parts of Europe are now so populous, and the animals there are so perpetually hunted for the sake of their furs, that they have no opportunity of associating; of course, those wonderful marks of their sagacity, which they exhibit in the remote and uninhabited regions of North America, are no longer to be found. The society of beavers is a society of peace and affection. They never quarrel nor injure one another, but live together in different numbers, according to the dimensions of particular cabins, in the most perfect harmony. The principle of their union is neither monarchical nor despotic. But the inhabitants of the different cabins, as well as those of the whole village, seem to acknowledge no chief or leader whatever. Their association pre

sents to our observation a model of a pure and perfect republic, the only basis of which is mutual and unequivocal attachment. They have no law but the law of love and of parental affection. Humanity prompts us to wish that it were possible to establish republics of this kind among mankind. But the dispositions of men have little affinity to those of the beavers.'

No. LXXI.

ON THE INSTINCT OF AFFECTION IN THE BRUTE CREATION.

'Tis love creates their melody, and all
This waste of music is the voice of love;

That even to birds, and beasts, the tender arts
Of pleasing teaches.

THOMSON.

Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?
Loves of his own and raptures swell the note.

POPE.

THE great intention of Nature, in endowing almost every animal with a sexual attachment, is the multiplication and continuation of the respective species. But, with regard to man, and, in an inferior degree, to all pairing animals, love is the source of many other social and important advantages. Love, or a strong affection for a particular woman, is to young men, perhaps, one of the greatest incentives to virtue and propriety of conduct. This observation, however, I shall not pursue, as it is more

properly the subject of a moral essay. My present disquisition shall be confined to that instinct of Nature in the brute creation, taught by which, they form reciprocal attachments, and evince the most powerful and uncontrollable affection for their young.

The love of offspring, though not universal, is, perhaps, the strongest and most active principle in nature. It overcomes the sense of pain, and even the principle of self-preservation. Among many wonderful examples of this, may be mentioned that of a bitch, which, during the operation of dissection, licked her young, whose presence seemed to make her forget the most excruciating tortures; and, when they were removed, she uttered the most dolorous cries'.-Certain species of spiders inclose their eggs in a silken bag spun and wove by themselves. This bag they fix to their back, and carry it along with them wherever they go. They are extremely nimble in their motions. But, when the bag is forced from a spider of this kind, her natural agility forsakes her, and she falls into a languid state. When the bag is again presented to her, she instantly seizes it, and carries it off with rapidity. The young spiders no sooner escape from the eggs than they dexterously arrange themselves on the back of the mother, who continues, for some time, to carry them about with her, and to supply all their wants. Another species of spider attaches her bag of eggs to her belly. This spider is likewise very agile, and so ferocious and determined in the protection of her eggs, that she has been known to suffer death rather than relinquish them.-The hind spontaneously presents herself to be chased by the dogs, to prevent their attacking her fawn.-When the fox perceives that her young have been disturbed

• Smellic's Philosophy of Natural History.

in her absence, she carries them off, one after another, and conceals them in a new retreat.-Wasps feed their young, when in the worm or caterpillar state, in the same manner as pigeons and other birds that disgorge. The pigeon, after swallowing grain, retains it for some time in her stomach, till it is softened and macerated: she then disgorges, and throws it into the mouths of her young. In the same manner (says Reaumur) I have observed a female wasp swallow a large portion of an insect: in a short time afterward, she traversed the different cells of her nest, disgorged the contents of her stomach, and distributed food in this half digested form to her young worms.?

All animals acquire a double portion of force and courage after they bring forth. A cow, at least in a domestic state, is a placid and phlegmatic animal: but, whenever she produces a calf, a wonderful change is exhibited: she instantly becomes vigilant, active, and even ferocious, in the defence of her young. A lioness deprived of her cubs presents the most dreadful picture of anxiety, rage, and rapacity. Descending lower in the scale of animation, the same change is to be remarked. A domestic hen is a timid, indocile, and obstinately stupid creature. Though chased, harassed, and even put in danger of her life, fifty times in a day, she never learns to avoid a garden, or any particular place which she is accustomed to frequent, or to which she is led by her appetite for food: but, the moment her chicken are hatched, instead of her usual timidity, she becomes bold as a lion. When she thinks her young are in danger, she bristles up her feathers, assumes a fierceness in her eye, makes an alarming noise, and attacks, in the most furious manner, and without

as

distinction, every animal that comes near her. By the suddenness of her onsets, she often alarms men,

and actually intimidates and beats off dogs, and other animals, that could devour her in an instant.

Though several of the insect tribes discover a strong attachment to their young, yet all those which undergo transformations, and do not form societies, must be completely ignorant of the existence of their progeny; because, in general, the parents die before the young are hatched. Nature, however, has endowed those species with an instinct which produces all the effects of parental affection: they uniformly deposit their eggs in substances which afford to the young, immediately after their escape from the egg, a nourishment adapted to their respective constitutions, and a comfortable and safe protection from injury. Thus, Nature, ever attentive to the continuation and happiness of her productions, however seemingly insignificant in the scale of being, often employs very different means to accomplish the same beneficent purposes.

Nature has unquestionably attached pleasure to all the necessary functions of animals. But this pleasure cannot be considered as the original cause of any particular action; for the experiment must be made before the animal can discover whether the result is to be agreeable or disagreeable. The truth is, that Nature has bestowed on the minds of all animated creatures a number of laws or instincts perfectly accommodated to the species, and which irresistibly compel them to perform certain actions. The effects of these laws we perceive: but the causes, or the modes by which they operate on animal minds, are inscrutable. We may and must admire, but we can never penetrate the mysteries of Nature.

Marriage, or pairing, though by no means a universal institution of Nature, is not unfrequently exhibited in the animal creation. In the feathered