ns d'un si brave chien a se rendre
aussi bons que lui, et encore meilleurs_. It was great pity the Cardinal
d'Amboise had no bastard puppies, or, to be sure, his Majesty would have
written his Prime Minister's life too, for a model to his
successors."[80]

MARTIN LUTHER OBSERVES A DOG AT LINTZ.

In the "Table Talk" of Martin Luther, it is recorded:--"I saw a dog at
Lintz, in Austria, that was taught to go with a hand-basket to the
butchers' shambles for meat. When other dogs came about him, and sought
to take the meat out of the basket, he set it down and fought lustily
with them; but when he saw they were too strong for him, he himself
would snatch out the first piece of meat, lest he should lose all. Even
so does now our Emperor Charles; who, after having long protected
spiritual benefices, seeing that every prince takes possession of
monasteries, himself takes possession of bishoprics, as just now he has
seized upon those of Utrecht and Liege."[81]

THE POOR DOG AT THE GROTTA DEL CANE.

Henry Matthews,[82] like other visitors of Naples, went to the
celebrated _Grotta del Cane_, or Dog Grotto, on the borders of Lake
Agnano, so called from the vapour in the cave, destructive to animal
life, being shown by means of a dog. In his diary, of March 3, 1818, he
records:--"Travellers have made a great display of sensibility in their
strictures upon the spectacle exhibited here; but to all appearance the
dog did not care much about it. It may be said, with truth of him, that
he is _used_ to it; for he dies many times a day, and he went to the
place of execution wagging his tail. He became insensible in two
minutes; but upon being laid on the grass, he revived from his trance in
a few seconds, without the process of immersion in the lake, which is
generally mentioned as necessary to his recovery. From the voracity with
which he bolted down a loaf of bread which I bought for him, the vapour
does not seem to injure the animal functions. Addison seems to have been
very particular in his experiments upon the vapour of this cavern. He
found that a pistol would not take fire in it; but upon laying a train
of gunpowder, and igniting it beyond the sphere of the vapour, he found
that it could not intercept the train of fire when it had once begun
flashing, nor hinder it from running to the very end. He subjected a dog
to a second trial in order to ascertain whether he was longer in
expiring the first than the second time; and he