SLOTH. 151 



creatures ; nor is it needful that we should. Beauti- 

 ful is the configuration of the animals by which we 

 are surrounded, and wonderful their adaptation to 

 the wants of man ; others there are, the inhabitants 

 of woods and caverns, concerning which we know 

 comparatively nothing. It becomes us, therefore, to 

 be very careful within the conclusions that we 

 form, lest we should unwarily impugn the good- 

 ness of that Mighty Being, whose power is so won- 

 derfully manifested in all that He has made. Some 

 naturalists have erroneously concluded, that the 

 Sloth is necessarily miserable. They judge of others 

 by themselves; they fancy that an animal which 

 moves slowly, and utters a plaintive cry, must be 

 unhappy, because such would be their case, if placed 

 in a similar condition. They say that weakness 

 and misery are synonymous. But this is a maxim 

 which Milton puts ft into the mouth of Satan, the 

 great deceiver and enemy of mankind. It is not 

 correct; for weakness, when taken to signify "not 

 powerful, not potent," as Shakspeare renders it, 

 does not involve misery as its accompaniment. 

 Sloths are deprived, it is true, of all offensive 

 weapons. They have neither power to resist an 

 enemy ; nor speed to fly from him ; nor cunning 

 wherewith to contrive any means of escape. Their 

 senses are said to be too obtuse to apprise them of 

 impending danger ; they cannot climb like the 

 joyous chamois, nor burrow like the marmot, nor 

 bound away with flying footsteps, like the stag. 

 Prisoners in their native wilds, and confined almost 

 exclusively to a few near trees, they are exposed, 

 apparently, to every attack and difficulty. They 



