and back; and the younger, who is called
Bianco, is also white, but with red spots. Fido is a grave and serious
personage, walks with dignity round the circle assembled to see him,
and appears much absorbed in reflection. Bianco is young and giddy,
but full of talent when he chooses to apply it. Owing to his more
sedate disposition, however, Fido is called upon to act the principal
part of the exhibition. A word is dictated to him from the Greek,
Latin, Italian, German, French, or English language, and selected from
a vocabulary where fifty words in each tongue are inscribed, and which
all together make three hundred different combinations. An alphabet is
placed before Fido, and from it he takes the letters which compose the
given word, and lays them in proper order at the feet of his master.
On one occasion he was told to spell the word Heaven, and he quickly
placed the letters till he came to the second e; he stood for an
instant as if puzzled, but in a moment after he took the e out of the
first syllable, and put it into the second. His attainments in
orthography, however, are not so surprising as those in arithmetic. He
practises the four rules with extraordinary facility, arranges the
double ciphers as he did the double vowels in the word Heaven, and
rarely makes an error. When such does occur, his more thoughtless
companion is called in to rectify it, which he invariably does with
the greatest quickness; but as he had rather play than work, and pulls
Fido by the ears to make him as idle as himself, he is quickly
dismissed. One day, the steady Fido spelt the word Jupiter with a _b_
instead of a _p_; Bianco was summoned to his aid, who, after
contemplating the word, pushed out the _b_ with his nose, and seizing
a _p_ between his teeth, put it into the vacancy. Fido is remarkable
for the modest firmness with which he insists upon his correctness
when he feels convinced of it himself; for a lady having struck a
repeating watch in his ear, he selected an 8 for the hour, and a 6 for
the three-quarters. The company present, and his master, called out to
him he was wrong. He reviewed his numbers and stood still. His master
insisted, and he again examined his ciphers; after which he went
quietly, but not in the least abashed, into the middle of the carpet,
and looked at his audience. The watch was then sounded again, and it
was found to have struck two at every quarter; and Fido received the
plaudits which followed with as