Bears and Wolves. ^2,^ 



ravenous wolf." Crime (in Mackay) has a " wolfish grin ; " 

 Plague (in Shelley) is "a winged wolf;" Pride and Avarice 

 (in Cowper) "make man a wolf to man;" Bigotry (in 

 Watts) is " half a murdering wolf ; " and again, in Shelley — 



" Wolfish Change, like winter, howls to strip 

 The foliage in which Fame, the eagle, built 

 Her aerie, while Dominion whelped below." 



Dryden calls the Presbyterians, and Milton the Papists, 

 "hireling wolves," and mischievous teachers "grievous 

 wolves " — 



" Help us to save free conscience from the paw 

 Of hireling wolves whose gospel is their maw." 



Pomfret bewolfs the soldiers of Kirke, Southey those who 

 fought against Joan of Arc, Byron the enemies of Greece 

 and Scotch Reviewers, and Gay the Irish- Holy Writ, 

 no doubt, gives the poets their inspiration for many of 

 their expressions — " ravening," " in sheep's clothing," and so 

 forth ; and the animal is used throughout the Scriptures as 

 the symbol of a cunning blood-thirstiness, from princes 

 of Moab to a false prophet. As an emblem of ferocity 

 it was given to Benjamin, whose standard bore the wolf 

 couched in a field of green com. 



Poetical proverbs about the wolf are numberless : as a 

 specimen the following — "The wolf knows what the ill 

 beast thinks " — " As wolves love a flock, these love the weak " 

 — " A bad dog never sees the wolf" — " The death of a young 

 wolf doth never come too soon " — " The wolf must die in his 

 own skin " — " ^^'ho hates a wolf for his master needs a dog 

 for his man " — " Wolves give a good account of sheep, left 

 to their vigilance to keep " — " The wolf unseen and trem- 

 bling lies, when the hoarse roar proclaims the lion near " — 

 " Hungry wolves, though greedy of their prey, stop when 

 they find a lion in their way." 



The Assyrian was not more fierce in his attack upon 



