Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 449 | Page 4

the patriarch's library for the purpose.
It was well that the school-room was rather remote, and had thick walls;
for, missing his supper, the bear naturally became not only hungry, but
savage, growled in the most ferocious manner, and rampaged about his
cage like a fury. But he got nothing by it; and when he had drunk up
the water, and exhausted his powers of growling and raging, he went to
sleep. In the morning, Titus brought him merely some fresh water and a
cake of barley-bread; but in the afternoon, thinking it was now time for
his pupil--who was tolerably tame after his unwonted exercise and
fasting--to begin his studies, he brought with him the great book he had
prepared for his use, and placed it open on the desk, which now stood
before the horizontal opening between the bars already described. All
the morning had been employed in preparing the desk and the book;
and the former was now so contrived that, by means of a screw, the
latter could be raised or lowered at pleasure. The book was no sooner
placed before the opening, at the distance of a few inches, than the bear,
which was on the look-out to see what was going forward, began to
snuff and poke, and shewed a most eager desire to reach it. In fact, all
along the lines of large letters, which were widely divided by the
musical staves, the tutor, well knowing the taste of his pupil, had stuck
little figs, dates, raisins, almonds, morsels of cake, comfits, and dried
fruits; in short, all such little sweet things as bears so particularly
delight in. The book was placed at such a height and distance, that the
pupil could only reach the top line; and the eager manner in which he
cleared it, gave promise that he would prove an apt scholar in that
branch of learning. One page only was thus prepared for him; for at that
period of his education it would have been impossible, without harsher
measures than his tutor wished to adopt, to prevent him from
cross-readings, which would greatly have blemished his scholarship.
Some minor offences, such, for instance, as inordinate efforts to begin

upon a second line before he had regularly perused the first, were
punished by switching him on the nose, turning the double desk
round--in which case it presented him with a mirror, that frightened
him dreadfully--or even, in case of perverseness, leaving him to himself,
without giving him the substantial honey-cake, which always rewarded
a well-said lesson. In a short time the parties began to understand one
another, and as Titus had prudently taken care to be known to his pupil
only as a benefactor, he soon gained his confidence. The bear who, like
all his race, had an ardent love for such dainties, found that he was
welcome to eat all he could get, if he did but do it in a decent
methodical manner. He soon learned, therefore, to take each line as it
came; and, indeed, after a short time, his instructor not only ventured to
cover the lines of the two open pages at the same time, but by enlarging
the opening in front of his cell, he put it in his pupil's power to go on
from one line to another without the book being raised; and after the
tutor had for a week or two turned the leaf when necessary, the pupil
began to shew that, if it was not done for him, he could do it for
himself.
As the time drew on, the patriarch was most anxious to know, but did
not venture to ask, how matters were going on. At length he summoned
courage, and put the question, somewhat indirectly, to Titus; and
although he received no particulars, yet he could not help feeling
comforted by the cheerful manner in which his affectionate deacon
assured him that everything was going on rightly, and that he need have
no fear for the result.
In the meantime, the sultan, though less anxious, was intensely curious
to see what would come of the matter, and frequently entered into
conversation on the subject with his physician, who was, on somewhat
different grounds, still more curious than himself. His sublime highness,
however, who could not expect from a Jew much information
respecting the secrets and mysteries of the Christians, rather confined
the discourse between them to the physiological part of the subject,
expressing his wonder--first, that bears should be able to learn to read;
and, secondly, that such a capacity was not more frequently cultivated,
asking him, withal, whether he had ever himself heard a bear read? The

doctor, in parliamentary fashion, blinked the question; observing that as
it was done by secret practices, and no doubt for wicked