Whittock, Nathaniel: The Art Of Drawing And Colouring, From Nature, Birds, Beasts, Fishes, And Insects: With Plain And Coloured Drawings, From Original Paintings By Morland, Vernet, Howet, Le Cave, &c. (London, 1830)

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because it is superseded by the horse. The goat seems better adapted
for the independent lise it enjoys than the sheep; it is more lively, and
possesses more animal instinct; it more readily attaches itsels to man,
and appears sensible os his caresses ; it is also stronger, swister, more
courageous, more playsul, more capricious, and more vagrant than the
sheep. Though not averse to society, it is with dissiculty confined to
a ssock ; it likes to stray from its companions and to choose its OAvn
pastures; it delights in climbing the ridges os houses and precipices,
and never seems so happy as when, to our apprehension, it is on
the verge os destruction. Nature, indeed, has in some measure sitted
this animal sor traversing declivities with security; its hooss are hollow
underneath, and their edges are sharp, which renders its sooting secure
on the steepest ridges.
The female goat has two or three kids at a time; she goes with
young sive months, and srequently breeds twice a year. Her milk is
sweet and restorative, and well adapted to stomachs whose digestive
powers are weakened ; it is not liable to coagulate like that os the
cow; and, srom the peculiarity os the animal's sood, it has a ssavour
which is grateful to most palates.
In several parts both os Scotland and Ireland goats constitute the
principal wealth os the poor natives; their beds are sormed with their
skins, their milk surnishes a simple aliment, besides being converted
into butter and cheese, and their ssesh is a delicacy fit sor the most
luxurious palate.