VI 

 THOSi: HORRID llARWIGS 



THIS is ail age of viiuiicatioiis. Robespierre 

 has been vindicated, and so has Marat ; 

 ofticious apoloj^ists have attempted to 

 wliitewash the unaniiable character of Kichard III. ; 

 Tiberius has been described as " a wise and great 

 ruler " ; and even poor Cahguia has been lamely 

 excused, on the ground of insanity, for such play- 

 ful little freaks as making his favourite saddle-horse 

 a R(Miian consul. Nobody's reputation is safe 

 nowadays from the vindicator. It is the same in the 

 animal world. New light is constantly being cast 

 on the idiosyncrasies of the rattlesnake ; we are 

 assured from day to day that the cobra, though 

 slightly venomous, is an excellent wife and a 

 devoted mother ; the scorpion only stings when 

 you put him on the defensive or when he runs for 

 his life ; and the tarantula, we are told, has been 

 most unjustifiably and cruelly blown upon. Has 

 not the poet of "The Bad Hoy's Book of Beasts" 

 informed us that — 



" The tij^fer, on the otlier hand, is kittenish and mild ; 

 He makes a pretty plaything for any little chilcl ; 

 And mothers of larj^e families (who c'aim to common sense) 

 Will find a tiger well repay the trouble and expense." 



