XXV 



THIS July, not remarkable for 

 anything but rain and dark skies, 

 has produced a perfect outbreak 

 of wickedness in the village. Our 

 black sheep have turned into 

 tigers without even the excuse 

 of torrid weather to inflame 

 their passions. But, indeed, the 

 public house is always ready 

 to supply the stimulant neces- 

 sary for driving average hu- 

 manity into brutal and insane 

 crime. 



Caliban, whom the reader 

 mayiremember as having once 

 worked in our Fortunate 

 / Island, and always looking 

 as if he had just risen from'all-fours, 

 has, in our recent absence, thrown 

 away all pretence at humanity once 

 and for all. Though, indeed, why 

 should the poor beasts, who generally make ex- 

 cellent fathers and husbands, be compared to the 

 type of man that deliberately ruins his home? To batter 

 your wife, terrorize your children, to squander your 

 substance for an indulgence which ultimately destroys 

 your health, is a mystery of perversity reserved for the 

 superior being. 



Anyway, Caliban, having drifted from place to place, and 

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