A WALK THROUGH AN ENGLISH LANE. 99 



a Nvinged tiger would not be more destructive among 

 beasts than is the tiger-beetle among insects. What 

 enormous projecting eyes it has ('the better to see you 

 with, my dear,') and what long and powerful fangs 

 (' the better to eat you with '). How firmly it is clad 

 in bright and shining mail, deep, steely blue below, and 

 green bedropped with gold and crimson above. Just 

 look at its wing-cases through the pocket-magnifier, 

 and see what a wondrously magnificent creature it is. 

 Solomon was not robed half so gloriously as the lilies, 

 nor were the Nepaulese princes half so gorgeously be- 

 gemmed as this little beetle. Take it home; put it 

 under the inch-power of the microscope, concentrate 

 the Hght upon it with the condenser, and then say 

 whether the jewelled beauties of Aladdin's palace could 

 compare with the dazzling radiance of our little tiger- 

 beetle ! Fancy a few square yards of golden network 

 set closely with emeralds, sapphires, and rubies as large 

 as hazel nuts, and with diamonds as big and of more 

 fiery splendour than the Koh-i-noor ; illuminate them 

 with the electric light, and you will then have some idea 

 of the raiment with which God clothes even the smallest 

 of his creatures. None can have the least conception 

 of the hidden magnificence of the every-day objects 

 around them except those who have studied them with 

 a true and observant eye, and a sympathising and 

 loving heart ; and none but these can form so exalted 

 an idea of the glories of a future life, which the earthly 

 eye of man cannot see, nor his heart even conceive. 



