IMPERFECT VIEWS OF EARLY WRITERS. 17 



a considerable structure was raised by Dr. Penny, a physician 

 and botanist in the reign of Elizabeth, but he too, after 

 fifteen years of partial employment, died and left it incom- 

 plete. His manuscripts, purchased by Mouffet, a contemporary, 

 also a physician, were arranged, augmented, and prepared for 

 the press ; but ere he had time, according to his intent, to 

 dedicate this fruit of his own and other men's labours to the 

 maiden Queen, he, as they had been before him, was summoned 

 to submit all his works to the judgment of the Court Supreme. 

 His book lay buried with him, till, in the next century, it was 

 once more brought to light, and published by Mazerne, a 

 court physician. An English translation"* followed, and a 

 curious old book it is, giving a complete view of all that was 

 then known on the subject of Insects, with much informa- 

 tion since confirmed, and with it an infinitely larger portion 

 of gravely and quaintly affirmed nonsense, perhaps not the 

 least amusing part of the production. It is amply adorned 

 with figures, many of them amusing too, from their very im- 

 perfection. Some of the greatest men are, perhaps, to be 

 found among those who pursue little objects, those, we mean, 

 held as little in general estimation ; such people are great in 

 their discernment to discover the real worth of what is com- 

 monly despised, and they are greater still in their independence 

 of spirit to follow up objects whose pursuit exposes them to 

 ridicule, and whose attainment is little likely to bring them 



* Theatre of Insects, Mazerne. 



