Our Philosopher was not better disposed to agree with Aristotle upon this point, than with the more commonly received notion of Father Luis de Granada. He thought that unless men were more humane in the days of Alexander the Great, than they are now, and than they have been in all times of which we have any knowledge, the Stagyrite must have stated what ought to be, rather than what is.
So our Philosopher thought; and so I, faithfully retaining the lessons of my beloved Master am prepared to prove. I will go no farther than to the Poultry Yard, and borrowing the names of the Dramatis Personæ from a nursery story, one of his Uncle William's, which has been told with the greatest possible success to all my children in succession, as it was to me, and their Uncles and Aunts before them, I will question the Poultry upon the subject, and faithfully report their evidence.
Voi ch' avete gl' intelletti sani
Mirate la dottrina che s'asconde
Sotto queste coperte alte e profonde.1
1 ORLANDO INNAMORATO.
“Chick-pick, Chick-pick, which is best for you; to be a wild Chick-pick, or to live, as you are living, under the protection and care, and regular government of Man?”
Chick-pick answers and says, “Nature provides for my support quite as abundantly and as surely as you can do, and more wisely, you do not make my life happier or more secure while it lasts, and you shorten it; I have nothing to thank you for.”
“Hen-pen, Hen-pen, which is best for you; to be a wild Hen-pen, or to live as you are living, under the protection and care, and regular government of Man?”
Hen-pen answers and says: “Had I been bred up as my mother if she had been a wild Hen-pen would have bred me, I should have had the free use of my wings. I have nothing to thank you for! You take my eggs. Sometimes you make me hatch in their stead a little unnatural brood who run into the water, in spite of all my fears and of all that I can do to prevent them. You afford me protection when you can from foumarts and foxes; and you assist me in protecting my chicken from the kite, and the hawk, but this is that you may keep them for your own eating; you fatten them in coops, and then comes the Cook!”
“Cock-lock which is best for you; to be a wild Cock-lock, or to live as you are living, under the protection and care, and regular government of Man?”
Cock-lock answers and says, “Is there a man impudent enough to ask me the question! You squail at us on Shrove Tuesday; you feed us with Cock-bread, and arm us with steel spurs, that we may mangle and kill each other for your sport; you build cock-pits; you make us fight Welsh mains, and give subscription cups to the winner. And what would that Cock-lock say, who was a Cock-lock till you made him a Capon-lapon!”