1 80 The Poets and Natiire. 



Nor are they small in size. Some of our English moths 

 are larger than any of our butterflies. Nor, again, are they 

 to be depreciated as night-flies, for many fly by day and 

 among them some of the prettiest. Moreover, in character, 

 robust differences of temperament, and physical habit there 

 is no comparison between the two. They are absolutely 

 equal. Tell me of your purple emperor that tantalises you 

 from the tops of oaks (and is caught eventually on a dead 

 cat), and I will give you the sphinges the humming-birds 

 of our isles, the wondrous ones that make our petunia-beds 

 tropical, our heliotropes and honeysuckles redolent of 

 California and the Brazils. What splendour of wing ! 

 What a delicate adjustment of velocity ! See them round 

 the clematis : it is a spectacle to remember all your life. 

 What mechanism of man's genius can equal the lightning- 

 flash apparition? that instantaneous immobility, still as a 

 star? that lightning-flash departure? If we could only 

 imitate it, we should have sky-ships and sky-trains, and 

 every man would call to his servant in the morning for his 

 "wings," as he does now for his boots. Or take your 

 stately flighted "white admiral," your luxurious fritillaries 

 Aglaia and the rest or swift Edusa. Can I not match 

 them? 



The poets, therefore, knew nothing whatever of moths. 

 They supposed that they "corrupt," because they knew 

 that rust does, and that thieves break through and steal. 

 But this is after all poor reasoning, or else sparrows ought 

 to be selling at twelve a penny. Besides, translators of the 

 Bible took extraordinary liberties with natural history. Our 

 marginal readings warn us to read " badger " instead of 

 " swan," and so on verse after verse. Albeit I consider the 

 wondrous language of our translations as one of the most 

 positive evidences of " inspiration " that has been vouchsafed 

 to us. 



Now, for myself, I have a singular sympathy with creatures 



