PEEFACE. XV 



of some nomenclature a duty equally imperious and 

 pleasing. Whether the establishment of Zoological 

 Societies be the cause or the effect, I leave to be 

 settled by others, but it is certain that there is a spirit 

 awakened all over the kingdom, to the love and the study 

 of nature, of which we have had no example in modern 

 times. Till lately, the Country Gentlemen of England 

 knew nothing of their estates save the rent which they 

 yielded, and the animals that were hunted as vermin or 

 as game ; and the consequence was that they did not 

 want the people, except as administrators to the fur- 

 nishing of food, clothing, and the trappings of state. 

 The result has been that, ever since the breaking up of 

 the feudal system, by which baron and vassal were 

 linked together in war, there has been an estrangement 

 of the different ranks of society from each other, a 

 state of things which has every day become more and 

 more unwholesome ; and for which, much as has been 

 said and written on the subject, there is no political 

 cure. One can easily see that such must have been 

 the result. The different ranks had no relation to each 

 other but that of bargain and sale ; and consequently 

 they rated each other at a money price, and nothing 

 more. But the feelings of the human heart cannot 

 be made chattels; and they have consequently lain 

 dormant. 



The study of nature will, however, bring the different 

 ranks together again, and unite them by a bond far 

 more secure than anything feudal. The owner of an 

 estate will enjoy it all, not merely levy and spend the 

 rent, but claim kindred with, and derive pleasure from, 

 the plants and the animals. "Without the love and the 



