Bears and Wolves. 63 



And still from bears, by Fate's unerring law, 



Their dance, their manners, men and monkeys draw " — 



and Southey, with excellent humour, using the old slave- 

 trade arguments to persuade the bear that dancing is good 

 for it— 



" We are told all things were made for man. 

 And I'll be sworn there's not a fellow here 

 Who would not swear 'twere hanging blasphemy 

 To doubt that truth. Therefore as thou wert bom. 

 Bruin, for man, and man makes nothing of thee 

 In any other way, most logically 

 It follows, that thou must be bora to dance. 

 That that great snout of thine was formed on purpose 

 To hold a ring, and that thy fat was given tiiee 

 Only to make pomatum. 



To demur 

 Were heresy. And politicians say 

 (Wise men who in the scale of reason give 

 No foolish feelings weight) that thou art here 

 Far happier than thy 'orother bears who roam 

 O'er trackless snows for food ; that being bom 

 Inferior to thy leader, unto him 

 Rightly belongs dominion ; that the compact 

 Was made between ye when the clumsy feet 

 First fell into the snare, and he gave up 

 His right to kill, conditioning thy life 

 Should thenceforth be his property. Besides, 

 'Tis wholesome for thy morals to be brought 

 From savage climes into a ciWIised state, 

 Into the decencies of Christendom." 



Nor were they ignorant of that other elegant Elizabethan 

 pastime of "whipping blind bears." 



But of the "awkward," "uncouth," "shuffling" beas 

 which they are so ready to put into their verse — 



" Rough tenant of the shades, the shapeless bear. 

 With dangling ice all horrid " — 



they had only the most delightful ignorance. 



