A hundred years ago
Mr Sidney Buxton, in one of his amusing papers on animals in the Animal World for February, says that dogs and horses are, as far as he knows, the only animals sensitive to ridicule, while cats and birds are wholly unaware that they are being laughed at. He tells of a pony of his own which gets very cross when disparaging remarks are made upon him, and becomes furious, and stamps about his stall, putting back his ears, and attempting to bite, if he is openly laughed at, while praise greatly pleases him. The truth is, that it is only those creatures which can feel sympathy with men which can also appreciate ridicule. The horse sympathises evidently with many of his rider's feelings and amusements, while the dog can enter into no small proportion of his feelings. But birds and cats, though often exceedingly affectionate, and full of attachment to individuals, hardly ever attempt to enter into human feelings, — as Cowper's dog 'Beau,' for instance, entered into the poet's desire to possess himself of the water-lily. The hatred of ridicule always accompanies a capacity for sympathy.
The Spectator, 1 February 1879
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