176 . The Poets Beasts. 



that the badger is a very cleanly person, and that the fox 

 takes advantage of this amiable weakness to drive it out 

 of its burrows, which it then occupies. Thus Phineas 

 Fletcher — 



" So where the neatest badger most abides, 



Deep in the earth she frames her prettie cell. 

 And into halls and closulets divides ; 



But when the stinking fox with loathsome smell 

 Infects her pleasant cave, the cleanly beast 

 So hates her inmate and rank-smelling guest, 

 That far she flies and leaves her loathed nest." 



But there is no foundation for this pleasant fiction of the 

 fastidiousness of the badger. On the contrary, it is rather 

 an ill-savoured animal — to " stink like a badger " is a pro- 

 verb — and is no enemy of the fox, the two being sometimes 

 unearthed together. So in " Reynard the Fox," the badger, 

 Grimbard, husband of the garrulous Lady Slopard, is the 

 nephew of the hero, and the only one of all the beasts that 

 has any influence for good over him. 



Another relative of the fox in the same fable is the strik- 

 ing and picturesque animal, the otter, which is similarly 

 wasted by the poets. " The otter to his cavern drew," and 

 *' forth from his den the otter drew," are the usual refer- 

 ences, and even these are singularly few, to the otter. Rogers 

 has the otter "rustling in the sedgy mere," and two or 

 three others introduce it as an adjunct of the rural scene. 



*' This subtle ?poiler of the beaver kind, 



Far off, perhaps, where ancient alders shade, 

 In deep still pool, within some hollow trunk 

 Contrives his wicker couch, whence he surveys 

 His long purlieu, lord of the stream, and all 

 The finny shoals his own." 



Thus, one of the most picturesque and poetical of our 

 native wild beasts is as neglected as most of our more 

 ]jic:urcsque and bcauiiful birds, the kingfisher, bittern, 



