ring which he has been compelled to subsist, as Buffon admits, by sucking his paws, or where the deserts afford him but a scanty supply of food, he attacks his prey with open violence, and terrible rage. Fierce and savage, in proportion to the craving of his voracious appetite, he forsakes his usual haunts, and boldly attacks not only the flocks but the herds also, not sparing the bulls themselves, and pursuing the natives by their scent, frequently comes upon them unawares, and sacrifices them to his fierceness and hunger." But he does not always put them instantly to death; he frequently makes them undergo the most dilatory torments, macerating the bones of some, while the skin remains almost unbroken, and sucking away the flesh of others into long fibrous remnants. Equally dangerous is the cruel oppressor to those that are exposed to his depredations: "As a roaring lion and a ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people." A more formidable enemy never disturbs their habitations; no sentiment of pity and compassion softens his bosom ; no principle of justice and equity regulates or influences his conduct; complaint only provokes him to further exactions ; resistance kindles his fierce and unfeeling heart into savage fury, which no supplications can mitigate, no submissions appease. Poor and miserable indeed are the people whom the anger of heaven has placed under his government, rather subjected to his misrule, and bent under his unsupportable oppressions! If the vigour of their own arm, supported by the justice of their cause, is insufficient to procure them relief and safety, they have

t Ælian. Hist. lib. vi, c. 9.

W

" Cook's Voy. vol. iii, p. 305, 4to.

▾ Forbes's Orient. Mem. vol. ii, p. 287, 288.

" Prov. xxviii, 15. Buffon's Nat. Hist. vol. v, p. 7.

no resource but in the special favour of heaven, no refuge but in the darkness and silence of the grave.

Still more fierce and terrible than the male, is the female bear, after she has brought forth her young. Animated by the tenderest attachment to her cubs, and extremely jealous for their safety, she suffers neither man nor beast to disturb their repose. This important circumstance, the prophet Isaiah has introduced, with admirable skill and propriety, into the striking picture he has given of the change produced in the most savage and ungovernable hearts by the gospel, and of the peace and concord which shall prevail over all the world under the reign of Messiah. "The cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together." The most ferocious animals, laying aside their native fierceness and cruelty, shall, associate in peace with those gentle defenceless creatures on which they were accustomed to prey. The bear shall offer no violence, meditate no mischief, to the cow; and the cow shall entertain no suspicion of the temper or designs of the bear. Even maternal fear and jealousy shall cease to alarm or enrage; the cow shall see, without concern, her young one reposing with the cubs of the bear; and this outrageous animal, softened into forbearance and kindness, permitting the calf in peace and safety, to gambol around her thicket, or lie down with her cubs. Such is the wonderful change which holy prophets and apostles have promised in the name of the Lord, to the church and the world, when his gospel shall be preached to all nations, and his Spirit shall be poured upon all flesh. The blissful event ap

Buffon's Nat. Hist. vol. v, p. 8.

proaches rapidly, and, it is to be hoped, shall ere long fully reward" the faith and patience of the saints."

But the furious passions of the female bear never mount so high, nor burn so fiercely, as when she happens to be deprived of her young. When she returns to her den, and misses the objects of her love and care, she becomes almost frantic with rage. Disregarding every consideration of danger to herself, she attacks, with intense ferocity, every animal that comes in her way, "and in the bitterness of her heart, will dare to attack even a band of armed men." The Russians of Kamtchatka never venture to fire on a young bear when the mother is near; for, if the cub drop, she becomes enraged to a degree little short of madness; and if she get sight of the enemy, will only quit her revenge with her life." "A more desperate attempt, therefore, can scarcely be performed, than to carry off her young in her absence. The moment she returns, and misses them, her passions are inflamed; her scent enables her to track the plunderer; and unless he has reached some place of safety before the infuriated animal overtake him, his only safety is in dropping one of the cubs, and continuing to flee; for the mother, attentive to its safety, carries it home to her den, before she renews the pursuit."

These statements furnish an admirable illustration of a passage in the counsel of Hushai to Absalom, in which he represents the danger of attacking David and his followers with so small a force as twelve thousand chosen men, when their tried courage was inflamed, and their spirits were embittered by the variety and severity of their sufferings, and when their caution, matured by long and

Cook's Voyages, vol. iii, p. 306.

z Sacred Zoology, Christ. Mag. vol. vi, p. 379.

66

extensive experience in the art of war, and sharpened by the novelty and peril of their circumstances, would certainly lead them to anticipate, and take measures to defeat the attempt. "Hushai said unto Absalom, The counsel that Ahitophel hath given, is not good at this time; for (said Hushai) thou knowest thy father and his men, that they be mighty men, and they be chafed in their minds as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field.”a The frantic rage of the female bear, when she has lost her young, gives wonderful energy to the proverb of Solomon: "Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly." Dreadful as it is to meet a bear in such circumstances, it is yet more dangerous to meet a fool in his folly," a furious and revengeful man, under the influence of his impetuous passions, and his heart determined on their immediate gratification. Naturally stubborn and cruel as the bear, and equally devoted to his lusts as she is to her young, he pursues them with equal fury and eagerness. It is possible to escape the vengeance of a bereaved bear, by surrendering part of the litter, and diverting her pursuit; but no considerations of interest or duty, no partial gratifications, can arrest his furious career or divert his attention. son, degraded and enslaved, lends all her remaining wisdom and energy to passion, and renders the fool more cruel and mischievous than the bear, in proportion as she is superior to instinct. When the prophet Hosea foretold the dreadful calamities that were coming upon the ten tribes for their inveterate and diversified wickedness, he alludes to the same facts: "I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved of her whelps, and will rent the caul of a 2 Sam. xvii, 7, 8. b Prov. xvii, 12.

Rea

their heart." Provoked by their numerous and aggravated iniquities, I will pour out upon them the fierceness of my wrath, till as a nation they are utterly destroyed. And none of his words were suffered to fall to the ground: Not long after, the armies of Assyria invaded the country, and carried the miserable inhabitants that remained from the sword, into a long and painful captivity. ...

It

Some writers contend, that the allusion in these texts, is not to the female bear, but to the male; because the words, of her whelps, are a supplement; and consequently a literal translation would run, I will meet them as a bear bereaved; and because both the noun and its adjective are in the masculine form, and as the male bear is not known to have any remarkable attachment to his young, they explain it of the he-bear when bereaved of the female. must be admitted, that the bear, like many other animals, is more fierce and dangerous in the rutting season than at other times; but this is not a sufficient reason to deviate from the common interpretation, which is by far the most emphatical and significant. In that season, the bear is not more dangerous than the lion or the tiger; why then is he selected, for that the inspired writer alludes to him designedly and emphatically, cannot be doubted? But, if the Spirit of God allude to the female bear, the reason of the preference is obvious; her fierceness and rage, when deprived of her cubs, scarcely admit of comparison with the passions of the lioness, or any other beast of prey.

The argument drawn from the form of the noun, is of no force, for the original term, although in the masculine form, is of the common gender. It is accordingly connected at one time with the masculine, and at another with

Hos. xiii, 8.