THE GRASSHOPPER AS A SYMBOL. 19 



locust, we shall perceive the closeness of their analogy to three 

 several classes of worldly pleasure-seekers. 



First, there is the grasshopper, which we look upon as a 

 playful, harmless creature ; and so, by comparison, he is. 

 His appetite is not vitiate and depraved, like that of his house- 

 bred cousin, Cricket, nor inordinately rapacious, like that of 

 the wide destroyer, Locust. He and his enjoyments are simply 

 rustic, and, as such, comparatively pure ; but still he is a mere 

 creature of idle pleasure. His life is neither a pattern nor a 

 type of anything beyond low animal enjoyment. He labours 

 to no prospective end, like the ant and the bee ; although pos- 

 sessed of wings, he rises to no aerial flights, like the beetle 

 and the butterfly. His active powers are exerted chiefly to 

 satisfy his appetite or escape immediate danger, and, unlike 

 those winged insects which were once but worms, he ends 

 existence in a form but slightly altered from that in which it 

 was begun. 



These dwellers in the grass are no unfitting representatives 

 of a multitude of dwellers in the country. 



Of what description may these be ? 



It needs not to specify their usual callings or positions in 

 society. We shall simply ask if there are not, among country 

 residents, a large proportion of harmless, sociable, good sort of 

 people, who are, nevertheless, mere lovers of pleasure, inasmuch 

 as they live only for the gratification of the moment ; persons 

 who, dwelling in the midst of all that is fresh, and green, and 



VOL. in. c 



