to think that there are at the present time in
the British empire, thousands, nay millions, in
a state of starvation, whilst rats are
consuming that which would place them and
their families in a state of affluence and
comfort? I ask this simple question (emphatically
continues our Rat Hater), "Has not
Parliament, ere now, been summoned upon
matters of far less importance to the
Empire? I think it has."

A fine opening this for an oratorical patriot,
whose themes are worn out. An agitation for
protection against rats would inevitably secure
the hearty support of the agricultural interest.

Enough has surely been said to show the
great importance of rats, but it would be
wrong to leave the little book which has
suggested this article, without gleaning from it
a few rat-catching statistics, and without
pointing out the moral of the whole, by giving
the writer's proposition for relieving us from
the scourge he describes. It seems that one
rat-catcher has frequently from one thousand
five hundred to two thousand rats in his cages
at one time—it is not stated, but we suppose—
ready to be killed by "Tiny." It is averred
that these are all brought up from the country
—all "fair barn rats"—and that "it would
not pay to breed them "—a question probably
open to doubt. The natural enemies of the
rat are thus mustered—the ferret, polecat,
stoat, weasel, cat, dog, and man. The ferret's
powers of destruction are estimated very
lightly; the polecats are very rare, prefer
game when it can be had, and do little against
the rat; the weasel also prefers a chicken or
a duckling "to fighting with a rat for a meal."
Hence the farmers destroy them, and they do
little against the rats. Cats, as a rule, prefer
hearth-rugs; and traps, unless quite new, and
consequently sweet and free from the smell of
rats, are useless. No! There is nothing in
Nature capable of saving the nation from
rats, but "Tinies."

"I do not know of any quadruped equal to a
well-bred London terrier for sagacity, courage,
fidelity, colour, symmetry, general beauty, and
economy: in a word, he seems in every respect
formed by nature for man's companion and
protector."

With a fine burst of eloquence, the author
asks—

"Are rats a calamity to be deplored, or are they
not? The voices of religion and patriotism cry
with stentorian lungs, 'Yes!'—the voice of
philanthropy cries, 'Down with them! down with
every barrier and annihilate them!'—the fainting
stomachs of thousands of our starving fellow-
creatures at home and in the sister-country, with
the agonised bowels of their withered offspring
writhing beneath the ruthless fangs of hunger,
shriek forth with horrid yells for their extermination!!

Our friend then takes a higher flight, and
discusses, with equal fervour and more notes
of admiration, the question whether—on
theological grounds—man has a right to kill
these creatures, even though they be rats.
But he soars into such altitudes of rhetorical
theology, that we dare not follow him. He
dismisses, in the same paragraph, several
remedies for rats, with a brevity almost
savouring of contempt; gliding gracefully
from theology to arsenic and other poisons he
returns, with a gush of enthusiasm, to his old
refrain, "Tiny."

The breed of small terriers of the Tiny
breed must be increased. "I do not mean"
he says, "the little pigmy, dwarf terrier;
they are tantamount to useless, even where
they are well bred, not having strength
enough for hunting. A dog, to be of sound
service, ought to be from six to sixteen
pounds weight; I would not recommend
them over that, as they become too large
and unwieldy for the purpose, and too
expensive keeping: besides, little dogs will
kill mice as well as rats, and that is a great
recommendation. I would also recommend,
above all others, the London rat-killing
terrier; he is as hard as steel, courageous as
a lion, and as handsome as a racehorse: the
village dogs, on the other hand, are, generally,
speaking, too large, too coarse, and too soft.
You ought to be as particular about breeding
terriers as they are with racehorses."

The writer suggests the abolition of the
duty upon rat-catching terriers of the "Tiny"
family; that associations should be
encouraged in the rural parts of England for
the promotion of rat-catching in all its
branches; that the bodies of the vermin be
sold for manure; and lastly that rewards be
given to the greatest killers.

Literature has, from first to last, been
strengthened by recruits from nearly every
class; but till now we know of no volunteer
who has enlisted under her banner from the
ranks of rat-catching. We know not if
the publication that has afforded a text
for this article will effectually augment the
exterminators of the rat-tribe; but this
is certain, that, rat-killer though its writer
be, he has produced between forty and
fifty pages, in which, though there may
be much comical exaggeration, there are,
nevertheless, many curious facts and
suggestions for abating one of the greatest animal
nuisances that have infested our homes and
fields, since the days when an English king
levied tribute of wolves' heads upon our
brethren of Wales.

THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE.
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