ary of opposition, bade the servant open the door,
that they might see what he wanted to do. This done, the dog deliberately
walked up, and crawling under the bed, laid himself down as if desirous to
take up his night's lodging there. To save farther trouble, the indulgence
was allowed. About midnight the chamber door opened, and a person was
heard stepping across the room. The gentleman started from his sleep; the
dog sprung from his covert, and seizing the unwelcome disturber, fixed him
to the spot! All was dark; and the gentleman rang his bell in great
trepidation, in order to procure a light. The person who was pinned to the
floor by the courageous mastiff roared for assistance. It was found to be
the valet, who little expected such a reception. He endeavoured to
apologise for his intrusion, and to make the reasons which induced him to
take this step appear plausible; but the importunity of the dog, the time,
the place, the manner of the valet, all raised suspicions in his master's
mind, and he determined to refer the investigation of the business to a
magistrate. The perfidious Italian at length confessed that it was his
intention to murder his master, and then rob the house. This diabolical
design was frustrated only by the instinctive attachment of the dog to his
master, which seemed to have been directed on this occasion by the
interference of Providence.

[Illustration]

ANECDOTE XXXV.

Elephant Rope Dancing.

The ease with which the elephant is taught to perform the most agile and
difficult feats, forms a remarkable contrast to its huge unwieldiness of
size. Aristotle tells us that in ancient times elephants were taught by
their keepers to throw stones at a mark, to cast up arms in the air, and
catch them again on their fall; and to dance not merely on the earth, but
on the rope. The first, according to Suetonius, who exhibited elephant
rope dancers, was Galba at Rome. The manner of teaching them to dance on
the ground was simple enough (by the association of music and a hot
floor); but we are not informed how they were taught to skip the rope, or
whether it was the tight or the slack rope, or how high the rope might be.
The silence of history on these points is fortunate for the figurantes of
the present day; since, but for this, their fame might have been utterly
eclipsed. Elephants may, in the days of old Rome, have been taught to
dance on the rope, but when was an elephant ever known to skip on