Litchfield enquirer., 1850-11-28

Ia few days, Bisset found himself pos
scssed of nearly n thousand Ponnos' 'e
reward his ingenuity and perseverance,.
This success excited Bissetts desire q
s,,end his dominion over other ANIMALS
;DoIrS;no even the fcathered kind. He
rroaured a Young leveret. and reared il
= heat several marches on the drum,
viii lts hind legs, until it became good
s,out hare. He taught canary birds, lin.
nets. and sparrows, to spell the name OF
any person in company, TO distinguish
the Il ur and minute of time, aud perform
many other surprising feats he trained
six turkey cocks to go through regular
country dance but, in doing this, con-
fessed he adopted the eastern method,
nv which car1els are made to dance, by
heating the floor. In the course of six
months teaching, he made turtle fetch
and carry like dog: and having chalked
the floor and blackened its claws, coulI
direct it to trace out any given name in
the company. He trained dog and
cat to 60 through many amazing perform
ances. His confidence even lod him to
try experiments on goldfish, which he
did not despair of making perfectly tract
able. But, sometime afterwards, doubt
having occurred TO him, whether the OBJ
stinacy Of pig could be conquered. his
usual patient fortitude was devoted to
the subject He bought black sucking
pig, and trained it to lie under the stool
Mt which he sat to work. AT various in
tervals, during six or seven months, he
tried in vain to bring the yonng boar to
his purpose; and despairing Of every
kind of success, he was on the point of |
giving 1t away, when it struck him to
adopt new mode of teaching; in conse>
nuence of which, in the course Of sixteen
months, he made an animal, supposed
to be the most obstinate and pervcrse in /
the world, to become the most tractable.
In August, 1888, he once again turned
itinersnt, and took his learned pig to
Dublin, where he was shown for two or |
three nights. 1t was not only under full
command, but appeared as plant and
good natured as a spaniel. When tie
weather made it necessary that he should
move into the city, he obtained the per-
mission of the chief magistrate, and OK
hibited the pig in Dame Street. ut
was seen, says the author of Arthologia
Hi6ernica, "for tw3 or three days BY
many persons of respectfully, to srell,
without any apparent direction, the
names Of those in the company to cast
up accounts. and to point out even the
words thought of by those present; to |
tell exactly the hours, minutes and sec>
onds; to point out The married, to kneel, |
and 10 make obeisance to the company,
DC. &c. Poor Bisset was thus in fair
way Of bringing his pig to good mar
ket, )" when a man, whose insolence dis
graced authority, broke into the rooms
without any sort of pretext, assaulted the
unoffending man, and drew his sword to
kill the swine, an animal that, in the prac-
tice Of good breeding. was superior TO his
assailant. The injured Bisset pleaded in
vain the permission that had been grant
ed him he was threatened to be dragged
TO prison. He was now constrained to !
return home, but the agitation of his |
mind threw him into fit of illness, and |
he died, few days after, at Chester, on |
his way to London.