VI 



THOSE HORRID EARWIGS 



THIS is an age of vindications. Robespierre 

 has been vindicated, and so has Marat ; 

 officious apologists have attempted to 

 whitewash the unamiable character of Richard III. ; 

 Tiberius has been described as " a wise and great 

 ruler " ; and even poor Caligula has been lamely 

 excused, on the ground of insanity, for such play- 

 ful little freaks as making his favourite saddle-horse 

 a Roman consul. Nobody's reputation is safe 

 nowadays from the vindicator. It is the same in the 

 animal world. New light is constantly being cast 

 on the idiosyncrasies of the rattlesnake ; we are 

 assured from day to day that the cobra, though 

 slightly venomous, is an excellent wife and a 

 devoted mother ; the scorpion only stings when 

 you put him on the defensive or when he runs for 

 his life ; and the tarantula, we are told, has been 

 most unjustifiably and cruelly blown upon. Has 

 not the poet of " The Bad Boy's Book of Beasts " 

 informed us that 



" The tiger, on the other hand, is kittenish and mild ; 

 He makes a pretty plaything for any little child ; 

 And mothers of large families (who claim to common sense) 

 Will find a tiger well repay the trouble and expense." 



