The Miscellaneous Works of Oliver Goldsmith, M B

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1837 Excerpt: ... INTRODUCTION, &c. PART I.--Of Quadrupeds In General, And Their Way Of Living. When we turn our eyes to that variety of beings endued with life, which share with us the globe we inhabit, we shall find that Quadrupeds demand the foremost place. The similitude between the structure of their bodies and our own; those instincts which they seem to enjoy in a superior degree to the other classes that live in air or water; their constant services to man, or the unceasing enmity they bear him, all render them the foremost objects of his curiosity, the most interesting part of animated nature. In the first ages of the world it is probable, that all living creatures were nearer an equality than at present. Man, while vet savage himself, was but ill-qualified to civilize the forest. While yet naked, unarmed, and without shelter, every wild beast was a formidable rival, and the destruction of such was the first employment of heroes. But when he began to multiply, and arts to accumulate, he soon cleared the plains of its brute inhabitants; he soon established an empire over all the orders of animated nature: a part was taken under his protection and care, while the rest found a precarious refuge in the burning desert of the howling wilderness. The most obvious and simple division therefore of Quadrupeds, is into the domestic and savage: by domestic I mean, such as man has taken into friendship, or reduced to obedience; by the savage, those who still preserve their natural independence and ferocity; who either oppose force by force, or find safety in swiftness or cunning. The savage animal preserves at once his liberty and instinct, but man seems to have changed the very nature of domestic animals by cultivation and care. A domestic animal is a slave, which has few other ...