Page:Natural History (1848).djvu/102

With the following touching example of faithful love even in death, and with Mr. Jesse’s reflection thereon, we close our history of this most interesting of animals. "The following anecdote of faithful attachment was communicated to me by a gentleman well known as a diplomatist. He had a small terrier which was much attached to him. On leaving this country for America, he placed the dog under the care of his sister, who resided in London. The dog at first was inconsolable, and could scarcely be persuaded to eat anything. At the end of three years his owner returned, and upon knocking at the door of his sister’s house, the dog knew his knock, ran down-stairs with the utmost eagerness, fondled his master with the greatest affection, and when he was in the sitting-room, the faithful animal jumped upon the piano-forte, that he might get as near to him as possible. The dog’s attachment remained to the last moment of his life. He was taken ill, and was placed in his master’s dressing-room, on one of his cloaks. When he could scarcely move, his kind protector met him endeavouring to crawl up-stairs. He took him up in his arms, placed him on his cloak, when the dog gave him a look of affection which could not be mistaken, and immediately died. There can be no doubt, I think, that this affectionate animal, in his endeavour to get up the steps to his master, was influenced by sensations of love and attachment which death alone could extinguish, and which the approach of death prompted him to shew. I delight in these testimonies of the affection of dogs to a kind master. They serve to prove what I have said elsewhere, that these animals were designed by an infinitely wise and good