136 A REIGN OF TERROR. 



threatening, as it did, to rob them of a monopoly of bug- 

 bears, sprung of ignorance, to wrench from their grasp a 

 variety of rusty weapons, such as they had been used to wield 

 for the subjugation of minds yet darker than their own. Thus 

 wrote, in 1735, the journalists of Trevoux, in comment on 

 another shower of sanguine hue, like the one of 1608, and oc- 

 casioned, like that, by discharges from butterflies on emerge- 

 ment from their chrysalides. " Le public a tou jours droit de 

 s'alarmer ; il est coupable : et tout ce qui lui rappelk I 1 idee d'un 

 Dieu vengeur ri*est jamais un sujet faux, de quelque ignorance 

 philosopJiique giCil soit accompagne" Truly a precious doctrine 

 of darkness and distortion ! and who can read it without 

 being thankful that with us, at least, the reign of superstition, 

 as a reign of terror, is near its close ? Some superstitions one 

 may venerate, others one can scarce help loving ; but such as 

 the above such as would derive, even from the most beauti- 

 ful and innocent of God's creatures, ideas of an avenging 

 Deity, instead of an all-merciful and beneficent Creator 

 thank Heaven, such incubi have nearly taken flight ! 



The caterpillar of the death's-head moth is one of the 

 largest and most beautiful of its tribe, and presents, in its 

 brilliant colouring, a striking contrast to the lugubrious 

 colouring of its perfect form. It is of a fine yellow, obliquely 

 barred by seven green stripes on each side, with intervening 

 lines of blue and black spots. It has the pointed tail-like 

 horn common to hawk-moths, and is endowed, moreover, as in 



