Queries and Answers 383 



the reader's own penetration to say what it is, or what it 

 is not. "I 



And now a word on the Wanderings, Any book which is 

 proved to contain contradictory statements or assertions, or 

 theories which cannot be maintained, ought certainly td 

 receive due castigation, and to have its errors exposed ; but 

 unenviable is that man's lot, whose adventures are disbelieved, 

 solely on the score of want of faith in him who reads them. 

 Some there are, who pronounce certain parts of the Wander- 

 ings to be exaggerated, because, forsooth, they know full well 

 in their own minds that such things could not be done. 

 Probably, the editor of a weekly journal was possessed by 

 this spirit of presumption, when, forgetful of that polished 

 form of diction which sometimes even tends to disarm an 

 unjust criticism of its venom, he pronounced to the world, 

 that I " lied on a serpent's tail." 



If the readers of the Wanderings fancy that they can per- 

 ceive any thing of a contradictory tendency in the work, or 

 if they can point out any suspicious statement, or any passage 

 not sufficiently clear, I shall always be most willing and 

 ready to answer every query, and every remark, through the 

 medium of Mr. Loudon's Magazine; should it suit that 

 gentleman's convenience to admit my correspondence. 



Though some of the encounters with wild beasts may 

 appear hairbreadth escapes, and have a very ugly aspect to 

 readers at their own fireside ; still, I would fain try to 

 persuade those readers that the encounters presented nothing 

 of a very alarming physiognomy to me in the forest. We 

 are told, that death itself is not needed when the battle rages. 

 " In hot pursuit, the wound which brings him, is not felt," 

 said Corporal Trim. In fact, our feelings soon become 

 habituated to circumstances ; and, when honour, fame, or 

 duty, push a determined man forwards, I am of opinion that 

 he never knows what it is to fear. Thus, the soldier marches 

 boldly up to the cannon's mouth. The fox-hunter, in con- 

 scious pride, flies over the five-barred gate. Halfway down 

 Dover's cliff " hangs one that gathers samphire, dreadful 

 trade ! " to maintain his needy family. But, would a " pam- 

 pered menial" storm the smoking breach ? would an opera 

 dancer surmount on fiery steed the turnpike gate ? would a 

 gouty country squire descend the rock of Ailsa, based by the 

 roaring ocean, in quest of seafowl's eggs ? No. Their 

 habits and their ailments would disable or prevent them ; 

 and probably nothing could induce them to face the apparent 

 danger. Now, as regards myself, I was well fitted out for 

 adventures, I went expressly to look for wild beasts, and I 



