176 COMMON TOAD. 



yellow belly and a brown warty and corrugated back as the 

 very ne plus ultra of a comely presence. In the matter of per- 

 sonal appearance we have all of us a little weakness, and we 

 don't know why, in the supposed case, the Toad should not have 

 the same privilege as ourselves. But assuredly the world at 

 large would not acquiesce in the poor wretch's complacent esti- 

 mate of himself ; for if there be one creature which, beyond all 

 others, is loathed and detested by mankind, it is this poor un- 

 offending reptile. Its very name, indeed, has for ages past been 

 a byword of reproach, associated with all that is hateful and 

 loathsome. The poor frenzied queen in the play, in the wildest 

 fury of her passion, can find no more biting words in which to 

 express her utter detestation of the Duke of Glo'ster than "this 

 poisonous hunch-backed toad ;" and Shakspeare has still more 

 emphatically marked the Toad's pre-eminence in horror, by 

 placing it first amongst the ingredients that are cast into the 

 witches' caldron in " Macbeth " 



" Toad, that under the cold stone 

 Days and nights has thirty-one, 

 Swelter'd venom, sleeping got, 

 Boil thou first i' the charmed pot." 



The only foundation for this old-established belief in the 

 venomous nature of the common Toad (Bufo vulgaris), is the 

 acrid liquid exuded from the skin, which is certainly capable of 

 slightly affecting any very tender or wounded surface, but 

 beyond this is quite destitute of poisonous properties. The truth 

 is, the ungainly aspect of the Toad, more than anything else, 

 has earned him his traditional ill repute ; and so long as the 

 world will look upon the poor creature with such deeply pre- 

 judiced eyes, there is no hope of his winning their good opinion. 

 And yet the Toad has his good points, nor are they difficult to 

 discover. That mild beautiful eye of his, for example, where 

 will you find its equal ? It appears to us that in that placid, 

 gentle expression of the eye, we may find the origin of the 

 popular notion that the Toad carries a jewel in his head : 



" Sweet are the uses of adversity, 

 Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 

 Wears yet a precious jewel in the head." 



The comparison is apt and beautiful, and we are not sure that 

 the Toad himself does not afford a good illustration of the deep 



