livery men and callers generally, the wire of which passed by the side
of one of the railings--was sounded. The cook answered the bell, but no
one was there save the goat and kids, with their heads bent down towards
the kitchen window. It was at first thought that some mischievous boy
had rung the bell for them, but they were watched, and the old goat was
seen to hook one of her horns into the wire and pull it. This is too
much like reason to be ascribed to mere instinct.

[Illustration: GOATS KNOCKING AT THE DOOR.]

KING LEAR.

Poor old King Lear, who in ancient times reigned in Britain, having in
his old age turned over all his possessions to his two older daughters,
Goneril and Regan, who professed to love him more than did their younger
sister Cordelia, was by them cruelly deprived of his crown and turned
out of his palace. None dared to give him shelter for fear of the anger
of the two wicked queens. And though he had become blind, he was forced
to wander over the land he once ruled, his only guide being an old and
faithful servant. At last, in his misery and despair, he thought he
would go to his youngest daughter, who had become queen of France, and
see if she would take pity on him. So he crossed over to France. When
Cordelia heard of her father's woeful plight, and of her sisters'
cruelty to him, she wept for sorrow, and at once sent him everything
needful for his comfort. She and her husband then set out to meet him,
surrounded by their soldiers and followers, and brought him in great
state to the palace, and honored him as a king in their land.

The King of France soon gathered an army and invaded Britain. The two
ungrateful daughters and their husbands were killed, King Lear was
restored to his throne, and when he died Cordelia succeeded him in the
kingdom.

[Illustration: KING LEAR.]

THE BRITISH MASTIFFS.

When the Romans invaded Britain they found that the natives had a breed
of large fierce dogs, who would fight bravely for their masters; these
animals they called _pugnaces_, or fighting dogs, and from them the
modern English mastiff is descended.

Soon after the conquest of the island some of the British mastiffs were
sent to Rome, where their sagacity, strength and courage excited so much
admiration, that an imperial officer was appointed to reside in Britain
for the express purpose of selecting the finest dogs to fight with other
animals for the amusement of the vast crowds as