CHAP. xm.J A PARALLEL. 433 



It is neither size nor strength exactly which gives 

 the supremacy in these struggles, but unyieldingness. 

 Chi dura vince, says the Italian proverb. Constant 

 dropping will wear out the most adamantine heart of 

 the bravest Gander ; the everlasting nuisance grows to 

 be insupportable ; and it is thus that, without actual 

 slaughter committed, one species of bird or beast will 

 succeed in dislodging another from its rightful locality. 

 Thus the Norway Rat seems likely to exterminate the 

 old black British kind ; the Red - legged Guernsey 

 Partridge would, if permitted, establish itself on the 

 grounds of the genuine gray old-fashioned sort; and 

 the Silver Pheasant would act the same part, where it 

 had the chance, towards the established species of our 

 preserves. A parallel may be found in human life. 

 The meaning of most speech uttered by the arrogant, 

 the overbearing, and the grasping, is, " Depart ; make 

 room for me ; emigrate ! You see how crowded we are ; 

 seek space for yourself elsewhere ; this place is mine, 

 I cannot share it with you ; seek yours in some other 

 spot, where I care not, or with what success, that is 

 ^your affair, my foot is planted here ! " So the weaker 

 body, yields to the collision of the more persevering and 

 powerful : the poor rolling stone goes on, too often 

 gathering no moss, but is battered from pillar to post, 

 drifted from shoal to rapid, till it sinks at last into some 

 quiet earthy bed, to be rolled to and fro and ground 

 to dust no longer. A little vis inertia, or immov- 

 ability, or spirit of resistance to the assumptions of 

 impudence, is now and then quite necessary for self- 

 preservation, and, as a consequence, for the preservation 

 of those dependent on us. Squeezeableness is not a 

 fortunate quality to be gifted with. 



F F 



