FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



CHAPTER I. 



DARWIN AND DELUSION. 



Mr. Darwin's clever Book on " The Origin of Species " — Must we 

 give up air the pleasant illusions of our Childhood? — Early- 

 Impressions — Man and Ape — Dog — Tails — Sincerity of Tails — 

 A Supposed Case — Fossil Kemains — Curious Fact — Traveller's 

 Tales — Apollo and the Nine — Beards veisus Legs — Tale of the 

 Lady and the Frog — Tales to be cautiously received — Truth- 

 telling Tails. 



When a man sits down to write on sjDort, on 

 hounds and horses, on riding, shooting and fishing, 

 and on the natural history of the living things that 

 render beautiful this sunny ^ Avorld and tempt him 

 out to brave the gloom and inclemency of winter, 

 his ideas ought to be based on practical experience. 

 He should cease to think of the dictum of the 

 bygone historian, and cast from his mind every 

 obsolete prejudice. My endeavour thus to under- 

 take the task in hand has been somewhat baffled by 



VOL, I. B 



