652 Ko'lex of Ihc Month on [^NoV 



Grosvenor-square, by her alarmed mother, who had been present when 

 the accident occurred. The mother who suffered her child to get loose 

 from her hand in such a place was of course a fool ; and all that we can 

 wish on such a subject is, that she did not make the experiment in place 

 of her unfortunate infant. Our only surprise is, that fifty accidents of 

 the same kind do not happen every day, for the mothers let their chil- 

 dren rove, just as if they were in the most innocent company on earth ; 

 and due credit ought to be given to the wild beasts in general for their 

 considerate conduct in not eating up half the rising generation that pay 

 their shillings a-piece to see the zoological show. But if mothers will be 

 flirts or fools, or will " trust," that as their children have never been 

 eaten yet, they never will be eaten ; the conductors of the gardens ought 

 to interfere, and interpose the physical prudence of a few more and 

 stronger bars. At present a single fence before, with apparentlj^ little 

 more than a slight deal partition behind, stands between the spectator 

 and instant deglutition. There gazes the plump Englishman ; and two 

 feet from his stomach crouches, with his nose between his knees, the lord 

 of the wilderness, the majesty that has many a night shaken the African 

 forest with his roar, and that now, if it so pleased him, could with a single 

 spring, burst into splinters his flimsy cage, or carry himself and it upon 

 the head of the astonished John Bull. 



The gist of our exhortation is, at least, the construction of an outer 

 fence, which would alike prevent foolish and flirting mammas from seeing 

 their children devoured before their flirtations were done ; and give the 

 speculative John Bull two chances for one. It would even be voted 

 imanimously, we think, by the forest luonarchs themselves ; for we have 

 seen their slumbers disturbed in a very teazing manner by silly people. 

 It has been said that a /f/r/y, a few days ago, thrust the end of her parasol 

 into the lion's eye, to ascertain whether he was asleep or awake. The 

 statement has been since denied. But it resembles so much some of the 

 facts that came under our o^vn observation, that we are strongly inclined 

 to believe in the parasol experiment. 



The conductors of this menagerie must not think us hostile to it or 

 them. On the contrary, we think that they have done themselves great 

 credit by their beginning, and that the m.enagerie is not merely a very 

 pretty, but a very curious and a very instructive place, and that it might 

 be made more instructive still by a few simple regulations. In the first 

 place, by lowering the rate of admission to a fourth of its present 

 amoimt. The shilling being an embargo upon a vast manj^ respectable 

 persons who would be glad to give their children and themselves />e- 

 quent opportunities of studying the forms and habits of those animals ; 

 and acting as a complete exclusion upon a vast multitude, who ought not 

 to be overlooked in systems of public instruction. Schools, workmen, 

 and the general crowd of the lower orders must thus be totally shut 

 out, except perhaps once in their lives. 



A very valuable addition would be made by a printed sheet, to be sold 

 for the smallest possible sum, at the entrance of the gardens, explaining 

 some of the principal features of Zoological science, and describing the 

 animals, an enlarged catalogue ra?TOW7;t' of the collection. A pubhcation on 

 a more extended scale, but in which cheapness should be essential, might 

 give a more general knowledge of the science, the valuable properties 

 of the animals, the more curious peculiarities of their instincts and habits, 

 their suceptibility of pain and pleasure, the mode of taming and rearing 



