The pale,
shrunken shadow of a magnificently fiery tiger painted by George
Stubbs--this was dsplayed in a house next to Basire's, where Blake worked
as an apprentice.
A tiger as seen in the first edition of
Encyclopedia Britannica (1771). The article, on the genus
"Felis," comments:The tiger is more ferocious, cruel, and savage than the lion. Although gorged with carnage, his thirst for blood is not appeased; he seizes and tears in pieces a new prey with equal fury and rapacity, the very moment after devouring a former one; he lays waste the country he inhabits; he neither dreads the aspect nor the weapons of men; puts to death whole troops of domestic animals; and attacks young elephants, rhinoceros's, and sometimes even braves the lion himself. The tiger seems to have no other instinct but a constant thirst after blood, a blind fury which knows no bounds or distinction, and which often stimulates him to devour his own young, and to tear the mother in pieces for endeavouring to defend them. He lies in wait at the banks fo rivers, &c. where the heat of the climate obliges the other animals to repair for drink. Here he seizes his prey, or rather multiples his massacres; for he no sooner kills one animal, than he flies with equal fury upon the next, with no other view but to plunge in his head into their bodies and drink their blood. However, when he kills a large animal, as a horse or a buffalo, he sometimes does not tear out the entrails on the spot; but to prevent any interruption, he drags them off to the wood, which he executes with incredible swiftness. This is a sufficient specimen of the strength of this rapacious animal.