292 THE WEASEL. 



THE WEASEL. 



1 Una ministrarum, media de plebe Galanthis 

 Flava comas aderat, faciendis strenua jussis." 



GALANTHIS, in days of yore, was lady's maid to 

 Alcmeria the mother of Hercules. She cheated 

 Juno and Juno, in revenge, changed her into a 

 weasel. 



I think it probable, that Galanthis, like many 

 abigails of our own times, must have been fond of 

 my lady's lavender-water bottle, and that Juno, 

 knowing this, took the opportunity of punishing 

 her to some purpose, by placing in her seat of honour 

 the gland which now causes her to be so very 

 offensive to us. But this is mere conjecture on 

 my part. I can find nothing to corroborate it in 

 the pages of heathen Mythology 



Let us look into the real habits of this interesting 

 little quadruped, and try to place them before the 

 reader in so clear a point of view that he may be 

 able to judge for himself whether its good qualities 

 or its bad ones have the greater claim to our 

 consideration and interference. 



Our zoology calls for the labour of a Hercules 

 to clear away its collected impurities. Authors of 

 former days have sent down to us some of the 

 most extravagant opinions concerning quadrupeds 

 that can possibly be imagined ; whilst divers writers 

 of the present time are so little versed in the real 

 habits of these animals, as not to know whether or 



