1832.] [ 557 ] 



THE LITTLE GREAT, AND THE GREAT LITTLE. 



EXTRAORDINARY is the mind of man ! He sails in mid-air j he com- 

 passeth the globe ; he blunts the lightning j he writeth Hamlet, Paradise 

 Lost, the Principia, and he chaineth a flea by the leg. He maketh the 

 strong elephant to bend his joints, and he subdueth a flea, if not to " hew 

 wood," at least to draw water. These, the later triumphs of the human 

 essence, are now on exhibition somewhere in that long ark for modern 

 monsters, Regent-street ! Yes, the "Industrious Fleas " at once delight 

 and shame fashionable idlers, sending them to their beds to ruminate on 

 the sagacity of the living world about them. 



We love a monster as much as ever did Trinculo ; hence, we have 

 been bitten ; that is, we have made acquaintance with the " industrious 

 Fleas." Let us shortly enumerate their separate capabilities. One flea, 

 a fine muscular fellow, worthy, did fairies die, to be mourning-coach horse 

 at the funeral of Queen Titania, (how long since the fairies had a corona- 

 tion !) draws a very splendid carriage, constructed from the pith of elder. 

 He curvets, and bounds, and shews his blood, (he must have been fed in 

 some royal stable he hath surely fattened on kings) with the proudest 

 royal coach-horse on as they say at public dinners " the proudest day 

 of its life." Having seen his legs, we shall think more seriously of the 

 kick of a flea ever after. Then, to talk of a " flea bite," as a proverb for 

 a w ife a mere nothing j let those who speak thus vainly contem- 

 plate the terrible probocis of the aforesaid chariot flea, and then think 

 of the formidable weapon, plunged through one's tender skin, and 

 sucking up by quarts (we saw, we looked through a microscope) our 

 heart's best blood ! To go to bed appears no wonder, but to be able to 

 rise again, after what we have beheld, seems to us a daily miracle ! To 

 proceed. Another of " the industrious" takes the air with a chain and a 

 weight to his leg, the wonder consisting in its resignation to its destiny. 

 A third flea, also manacled, draws water. A fourth flea has a more awful 

 duty to bear Napoleon Buonaparte, late of France, but now of St. 

 Helena ; there he is, the victor of a hundred fights, majestically seated 

 on flea back. An enthusiastic Frenchman may, if he have good eyes, see 

 in the minature Emperor, the sallow thoughtful face, the " brassy eye" 

 (vide Haydon's account) of the original despot could the figure take 

 snuff the illusion would be perfect. Two other fleas, soldiers, fight a 

 desperate combat, affording in their proper persons a triumphant refuta- 

 tion to the celebrated dogma of the philosopher, that " fleas are not 

 lobsters." We understood from the Cicerone, that their deadly enmity 

 was excited towards each other by a mutual tickling. We were also 

 informed, that one of the fleas (" epicurean animal !") had the honour to 

 sup off the hand of the Princess Augusta. This fact was shamefully 

 hushed up by the magas of the Court Circular, else how would it have 

 astonished the world to have read, that " last night her Royal High- 

 ness the Princess Augusta gave a supper to the fleas ! " Certain it is, 

 the document contains at times news of less interest.* This condes- 

 cension on the part of her Highness, though it speaks much for her 

 affability, has been the cause of grievous heartburnings and bickerings 



* Her Majesty the Queen, and Prince George of Cumberland, stood the whole of the 

 sermon ! ! Court Circular, April 8, 1832. 



