A young Dog, not finding employment at home took to sea and became self-centered and expressed contempt for others. A lady dog put him in his place.
Thomas Bewick (The Ship Dog)
A young saucy Dog, having been found not to like any employment at home, was taken by a sea captain on board his ship, where, being well fed, he soon became both stout and fierce, and shewed himself off as such in every foreign port. He no sooner got ashore, than he held up his leg against every post and corner, and scraped the ground with his feet, quite regardless what dog he might bespatter; and if any of them happened to look sulkily at him, he thought nothing of seizing upon and rolling them in the kennel. If he happened to fall into company, he always began to give himself airs, to talk big, and to express his contempt for the dogs of the place. He would boast that he was from a better country, and belonged to a better family than any dog among them. In short, said he, “I come from Cheviot, the highest mountain in the world, and the very heart of all England, where my forefathers, thousands of years ago, assembled to hunt the Wild Bull, the Wolf, and the Boar. “He was once going on at this rate, when he was interrupted by a sedate, experienced Bitch, who assured him that there were good dogs and bad dogs in every country, and that the only difference arose from their education; that many of the forefathers he boasted of, had long since worried each other, and the remainder of them had become so troublesome, that part had been transported across the sea to another place; and she knew, from good authority, that both his father and his mother were hanged.
APPLICATION.
When foreigners speak slightingly of the country they happen to be in, and praise their own, it shews in them u want of good sense and good breeding. It is indeed natural to have an affection for one’s native land, nor can we help preferring it to every other; but to express this in another country, to people whose opinion it must needs contradict, by the same rule that it is conformable to our own, cannot fail of giving them just offence. It matters not how highly some particular countries may stand in the estimation of the rest of the world: this has little to do with private individuals; the advantage of having been born in one of those favoured countries, is accidental, and no man ought to be esteemed merely on that account In order to merit the respect of virtuous and wise men in every foreign land, it must appear to them that by our talents, our acquirements, and our patriotism, we do credit to the country which gave us birth.
