INDIGNANT CORRESPONDENTS. 93 



ray father had publicly expressed his views upon this 

 subject of animal immortality. To quote his own 

 words : 



Some years ago, when writing my " Common Objects of the 

 Country," I ventured to doubt the truth of the popular belief on 

 this subject, and was rather surprised at the result. Almost every 

 periodical which gave a notice of the book quoted the passage, and, 

 with only one or two exceptions, more or less approved of it. The 

 exceptional cases were those of distinctly religious publications ; and 

 they, of course, brought against me "the beasts that perish." 



I was also inundated with letters upon the subject. Many of 

 them were written by persons who had possessed favourite animals, 

 and who cordially welcomed an idea which they had long held in 

 their hearts, but had been afraid to express. Many were from 

 persons who were seriously shocked at the idea that any animal 

 lower than themselves could live after the death of the body. 



Some were full of grave rebuke, while others were couched in 

 sarcastic terms. 



Two are especially worthy of notice. The one contains twelve 

 pages of closely- written, full-sized letter paper, in which the writer 

 tells me that any one who cherished the hope that animals could 

 live after death was unworthy of his position as a clergyman, ought 

 to be deprived of his university degrees, and expelled from the 

 learned societies to which he belonged. This argument was so un- 

 answerable that I did not venture to reply to it. 



The writer of the second letter remarked that, whatever I might 

 say, he would never condescend to share immortality with a cheese- 

 mite. I replied that, in the first place, it was not likely that he 

 would be consulted upon the subject ; and that, in the second place, 

 as he did condescend to share mortality with a good many cheese- 

 mites, there could be no great harm in extending his condescension a 

 step further. 



But, no matter whether the writers agreed with me or not ; no 

 matter whether they were sympathetic, severe, or sarcastic, they 

 invariably mentioned "the beasts that perish." Some wished to 

 know how it was possible to get over a passage which had always 

 prevented them from indulging in the hope that the animals which 



