THE BROWN RAT.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14055, 29 May 1911, Page 2

THE BROWN RAT.

» fl. KsioriT Hoasrrci-D. in "The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic Newe." At about the time when the House of Hanover emigrated to England, a singular invasion occurred concerning which the better-known histories of this country aro silent. Yet so terrible was the inroad of the encroaching hostthat the Norman Conquest is a mere incident in comparison with it. The entire population of these islands was practically annihilated. After an increaibly brief period of the bitterest warfare, the old English stock was swept away, murdered in cold blood, it would appear , at any rate, destroyed so completely that since that day only a few stragglers have succeeded in regaining their native shores. That these stirring scenes were enacted mostly underground, and are recorded only in the Rats' History of England, 1 am, of course, aware; _~t they are none the less literally true. From time immemorial the old English or black rat lived in peaceful possession of these islands. His character, judging fronr that of the few survivors of his race, appears to have been generally mild and non-aggressive. .True, ho must have sinned against the laws of property now and thenj for we find.

somewhere at ttio end of the sixteenth century a picture ol the Jving s ratcatcher, a personage re-plondent m a scarlet dress embroidered with yellow worsted on which were figures ot rats destroying wheat-sheaves; but, looked at altogether, he was an infinitely better subject than the crafty and unscru. pulous usurper who has so successfuliy taken his place. "Whence and when came this brown rat—this tyrant, which in Pennants day, at any rate, had no footing on English soil? As usual, the authorities differ. In "Living Animals of the World" we aro told that it came, in the first instance, from China. Goldsmith, most delightful of writers and most inaccurate of naturalists, was assured that tho Norway rat, as it is sometimes called—though until recently it is said to have been quite unknown in Norway—came to us in ships which traded in provisions with Gibraltar. Carpenter states that it originally came from Persia, where it lives in burrows, and that it did not set out on its travels until tho year irlt, when an earthquake induced it to swim the Volga and enter Europe by way of Astrakan. Moro recently Squire WaterI ton 'wrote.*.—•"Tho_g_ I am not aware ! that there are any minutes m tho Z9O--l logical archives of this country which point out to us tho exact time when thi3 insatiate and mischievous little brute first appeared amongst us, stil' there is a tradition current in this part of the country (Yorkshire) that it actually came over in the same ship which conveyed the new dynasty (the •Hanoverian) to these shores." Stili, whenever ho came, the brown rat has won a distinct' plac not only in bi«torv but iv literature. Boswell tells us o"f an ode recited at the house of Sit Joshua Reynolds, and how tho statc-lv invocation, "Now, Muse, let's* sing of rats," brought down the laughter of the wits upon the pompous poet. Browning, in thc "Pied Piper," credits the rat with an inordinate love of musi.. Thi3 is not characteristic of tho species, although singing mice aro occasionally met with, and we aro left to infer that the rnpt attention of the rodents of Hamelin was due to some weird quality in the notes. The moral story of tho wicked Bishop Hatto, who cornered the wheat supply and refused to permit the starving population to touch it. is based entirely upon rats. It may bo remembered that when the L.shop hired the people to his overflowing granaries and burnt them all alive, "rats were the instrument for redress. Not only did they come in thousands to devour his ill-got-ten store, but they proceeded to deal rather summarily with the speculative dignitary himself.

"They gnaw«d the fle3h from every limb, For they ware sent to do judgment on him." Edgar Allan Poe constantly used rats to add the last touch of horror to his pictures, and it may truly be said that no talo of haunted castle, mediaeval dungeon, or ghastly charnel-house would be quite complete without them. The general belief, too, that rats will leave a ship which some intuition has warned them is about to sink supplies an analog which fits many political situations. A statesman who deserts his party when he sees danger looming ahead is said to "rat." "He (Strafford) was the first of the 'rats.' "—Macaulay's Essays. Again, a workman who takes work for l-'ss than the wages current in tho trade, or who accepts employment when the regular hands have struck, is a "rat"—-"rat" being taken here in tho sense of one who seeks his own advantage without reference to the welfaru of the general body. In addition to his other marked features, the brown rat may be taken a> typical of the "commensalistic" animals, a term used by Van Beneden to express the idea of a creature not strictly parasitic, but which yet "feeds at the table" of an unwilling host. This mode of gaining a livelihood places thc si.- w ect ex-.tly midway between a wild and domesticated species. Although the rat obtains no favour from man, and appears, as Jerome has pointed out. to exist mainly that dogs, cats, and chemists may gam credit for killing him, he is none the less civilised in t'.io sense that he depends almost entirely upon civilisation for his support. His position—a position, it must in f-urness be said, which seems to be forced upon him by circumstances—is that of an outlaw who still derives sustenance from supplies created by the law-abiding. This anomalous state has many disadvantages, but it has nevertheless th« crowning advantage of developing tho intelligence and resources to a most amazing extent. It is not here necessary to dwell on the dangers and difficulties which beset the rat at every stage of his career, and no higher tribute can" be paid to his courage and ability than the fact that he overcomes them. That he still thrives and multiplies in places populated entirely by his foes, and has survived to become a menace to tho authorities responsible for the right government of theso islands, is an achievement to which no other animal has attained.