THE FROG. 315 



ride triumphantly, and to bite and torment the pike till his 

 strength failed, and then the Frog sunk with the pike to 

 the bottom of the water : then presently the Frog appeared 

 again at the top, and croaked, and seemed to rejoice like a 

 conqueror ; after which he presently retired to his secret 

 hole. The bishop, that had beheld the battle, called his 

 fisherman to fetch his nets, and by all means to get the 

 pike, that they might declare what had happened. The 

 pike was drawn forth, and both his eyes eaten out; at 

 which when they began to wonder, the fisherman wished 

 them to forbear, and assured them he was certain that pikes 

 were often so served." 



THE TOAD. 



IF we regard the figure of the Toad, there seems 

 nothing in it that should disgust more than the frog. Its 

 form and proportions are nearly the same ; and it chiefly 

 differs in color, which is blacker ; and its slow and heavy 

 motion, which exhibits nothing of the agility of the frog : 

 yet such is the force of habit, begun in early prejudice, 

 that those who consider the one as a harmless playful ani- 

 mal, turn from the other with horror and disgust. The 

 frog is considered as a useful assistant, in ridding our 

 grounds of vermin ; the Toad, as a secret enemy, that 

 only wants an opportunity to infect us with its venom. 



As the Toad bears a general resemblance of figure to the 

 frog, so also it resembles that animal in its nature and ap- 

 petites. Like the frog, the Toad is amphibious ; like that 

 animal, it lives upon worms and insects, which it seizes by 

 darting out its length of tongue ; and in the same manner 

 also it crawls about in moist weather. The male and 

 female couple as in all the frog kind ; their time of propa- 

 gation being very early in the spring. 



When, like the frog, they have undergone all the varia- 

 tions of their tadpole state, they forsake the water ; and 



