240 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



that Britain was more than a match for the whole power 

 of Napoleon, that agriculture is the only basis of enduring 

 national prosperity, and that British agriculture cannot 

 flourish without the aid of corn-laws. 



The Introduction was published in four separate volumes 

 between 1815 and 1826. It proved so interesting to 

 the public that seven editions were called for during 

 the life-time of Spence, who outlasted his colleague by 

 ten years. The authors owed much to earlier naturalists, 

 especially to Reaumur, but they worked for themselves 

 too, and described many contrivances which they were 

 the first to discover. A reader of the Introduction will 

 often find that Kirby and Spence furnish the most valuable 

 part of some popular books on insects in which their 

 names are barely mentioned. One would suppose from 

 examination of their separate writings that Spence must 

 have been the livelier writer of the two. When he was 

 disabled by illness, Kirby wrote almost by himself the 

 third and fourth volumes, and these are far less readable 

 and less valuable than the first two. But the testimony 

 of the authors does not allow us to give the credit of what 

 is best in the Introduction to either author separately. 

 They declared that it was in every sense a joint work, 

 and that it was impossible to distinguish the part which 

 each had contributed. Their friends remarked, not- 

 withstanding this protest, that whenever a particular 

 anecdote or description was praised, Kirby was inclined 

 to say that it belonged to Spence, and Spence that it 

 belonged to Kirby. 



The Introduction is of permanent value ; it has helped 

 to make many a naturalist already, and its virtue is not 

 yet lost. Like the Natural History of Selborne, it shows 

 how profitable as well as how interesting it is to study 

 our animals alive. 



