3 2 The Poets and Natiire. 



" Down to those cells obscener reptiles creep, 

 Where hateful newts and painted lizards sleep, 

 And shiv'ring snakes the summer solstice wait." Garth. 



And here out of sheer malice, I will quote Wordsworth, 

 whose errors of natural history and lack of sympathy with 

 nature are as deplorable as inexplicable in a rural poet : 



" How disappeared he? ask the newt and toad, 

 Inheritors of his abode ; 

 The otter crouching undisturbed, 

 In her dank cleft ; but be thou curbed, 

 O froward fancy ! "mid a scene 

 Of aspect winning and serene ; 

 For those offensive creatures shun 

 The inquisition of the sun ! " 



Why is the newt, a charming ornament of the waters it 

 frequents, " offensive ; " and why does it shun the sunlight 

 any more than trout or salmon do? 

 Again : 



"The tapers shall be quenched, the belfries mute, 

 And 'mid their choirs unroofed by selfish rage, 

 The warbling wren shall find a leafy cage 

 The gadding bramble hang her purple fruit ; 

 And the green lizard and the gilded newt 

 Lead unmolested lives, and die of age." 



Why "gilded" newt? The scarlet fringe of its tail is 

 sufficiently conspicuous, and worth noting, but why gilded ? 

 Why not electro-plated ? 



