128 A BOOK OF MORTALS 



because, through long centuries of breeding at the command 

 of man for his purposes only, it has become unwieldy in 

 body, weak of limb, burdened to an unnatural extent by its 

 fleece. " In short," as Buffon puts it, " whatever changes 

 have been wrought in this animal by the industry of man 

 are entirely calculated for human advantage and not for that 

 of the creature itself." So much mutton, so much wool. 

 That is the sheep as Man has made it. No wonder it 

 looks out on the green fields with such a lustreless eye ; no 

 wonder there are no tales in earth or heaven of the sheep, 

 save as a sacrifice. It is a large square of mutton supported 

 on inadequate decrepid feet. 



Yet truly its two gigots, its two shoulders of mutton, 

 support more than the loins and the cutlets. They have to 

 support the countless villainies which man has written on 

 its skin, the bonds in vellum which have exacted so many 

 pounds of flesh from the poor, the foolish, the unfortunate. 



Then it has the unmerited contumely of being used 

 with the adjective " black," as the scornful designation for 

 a man when he is hopelessly depraved. 



" A black sheep ! " That is a thing too contemptible 

 for the law to touch. And yet the real black sheep is as 

 foolish as peaceful, as easily herded as the white one, and 

 the little black lamb on its jerky, irresponsible legs, a 

 far more fascinating creature than even Mary's pet with 

 its fleece as white as snow. 



Still the sheep is even with us at the last, for most 

 of us sleep our last sleep close happed in a woollen shroud, 

 De mortuis nil nisi bonum ! 



Though their sins be as scarlet let them be as 

 white as wool ! 



