ng me books containing strange stories of far-off
countries, and beautiful poetry, written by some deep dogs of the city;
she taught me to write; and in order to exercise me, made me compose
letters to herself, which Nip carried to her, bringing me back such
answers as would astonish you; for when you thought you had got to the
end, they began all over again in another direction. Besides these, she
taught me to speak and act properly, in the way that well-behaved dogs
ought to do; for I had been used to the company of such low and poor
animals, that it was not surprising if I should make sad blunders in
speech and manners. I need not say that she taught me to love herself,
for that you will guess I had done from the first day I saw her, when I
was wet from my jump in the river, and she spoke to me such flattering
words. No; she could not teach me more love for herself than I already
knew. That lesson had been learnt _by heart_, and at a single sitting.

Our peaceful days were drawing to a close. Sir John died. Lady Bull lived
on for a short time longer. Many said, when she followed, that she ate
herself to death; but I mention the rumour in order to deny it, for I am
sure it was grief that killed her. It is a pity some dogs will repeat
everything they hear, without considering the mischief such tittle-tattle
may occasion--although it has been asserted by many that in this case the
false intelligence came from the Cats, who had no great affection for
poor Lady Bull. Whatever the cause, she died, and with her the employment
of poor Nip and myself. The young Bulls who came into possession of the
estate, sold the preserves to a stranger; and as the new proprietor
intended killing off the birds, and did not require keepers, there being
no longer anything for them to do, we were turned upon the world.

The news came upon us so suddenly, that we were quite unprepared for it;
and we were, besides, so far from being rich, that it was a rather
serious matter to find out how we should live until we could get some
other occupation. I was not troubled for myself; for, though I had been
used to good feeding lately, I did not forget the time when I was often
forced to go the whole day with scarce a bit to eat; but the thought of
how poor old Nip would manage gave me some pain.

Having bid adieu to the peaceful cottage, where we had spent such happy
times, we left the green fields and pleasant trees and proceeded to the
town, where, a